种子 岛 Tanegashima, 60 km long and 10 km wide, is the island in which firearms were been introduced for the first time in Japan by the Portuguese. It is also an island that is home base for launching rockets Japanese JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, which offers free tours, which turned me on this island while I was spinning straight Yakushima.
The word "tane" means "seed", and the island is divided into 3 sections, 西 之 表 Nishinoomote, 中 种子 Nakatani (the "seed of the center") and 南 种子 Minamitane (the "seed of the South"). The island has 33,000 inhabitants.
Welcome facts

Nishinoomote I arrive at the "big city" (20,000 inhab.) North of the island, very quiet and deserted, with that special atmosphere of the villages islands.
Port 西 之 表 of Nishinoomote


It is around noon, and the third and final visit the space center at the southern end of the island is at 15:30. After consulting the schedules, the lady of the tourist office informs me that the few buses will not take me there on time. Regardless, I'll still ...
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I am overtaken by a bus that goes to Minamitane, the site of the Space Center, then he should not have any ... so I tend angry inch and the first car stops. A chance, but young lady to go shopping conbination 200 meters ...
The second wrinkle is not now. A mother recently installed on the island following the transfer of her husband is actually the car ride with her 2 son, Hiroto and Akihiro, history of discovery. So much the better, it also makes me a little visit. And before going to the Space Center, it was time to stop by 千 座 の 岩屋 Chikura-no-Iwaya, the cave with 1000 seats.
Akihiro strikes a pose in the cave

It bears this name because it is a place to shelter for many people. Carved into a huge rock at the edge of the ocean, there are several cavities. It has an input side ground, and can leave by the sea at low tide.
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Small cave passages to explore the different cavities

Besides, the oil win the torii. Then easier to file his lucky stone ...

Beaches surfers, sport popular at Tanegashima

Finally, we come to the highlight of the day: Tanegashima Space Center 種子島宇宙センター , where rockets are launched Japanese humbly " Known as The Most Beautiful rocket-launch complex in the World .
Entry Complex

The museum is free and explanations are well done. And there are pretty good English for a Japanese thing. Meanwhile the guided tour (free) website (free access forbidden) in 1530, so I stroll among the remains of old rockets, engines, models and diagrams in this nightlife and interesting. Apart qu'Akihiro still wants to play and mouth "JB" running between rooms.
Launch Sites Worldwide

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Model of the launch site

Cup engine

International Comparison

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Satellite

Variety in the diet of astronauts

Double Module Kibo

Cup turbopump

Under the launcher

Then comes the start of the tour of the complex. We are a small group of 6 in a van with driver + guide. This is my first time as "Japanese tourist", this new breed of sheep which moves without thinking group and follows the lady to the flag in obedience to orders and time constraints, mostly retirees, a findable across Japan, the European capitals and other world heritage sites by UNESCO.
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Map complex

Break photo photo booth overlooking the launch site. The dazzling green of the island is expected to meet the blue lagoon from the ocean to give "The Most Beautiful rocket-launch complex in the World ", it is still necessary that the sky will put his own

Behind the large hangar to assemble vertical is 27 storeys, 81 meters high. And he owns the world record for the largest door Sliding out the rocket. The total area of the complex is equivalent to 12 Tokyo Disneyland.
The 2nd stage of the visit is a shed which is stored a copy of the Japanese rocket H2. This is the old model of the H2A (15 launches). From September 2009 it will be replaced by H2B (4 launchers instead of 2). Besides, there are now preparations for H2B on the launch pad, so you can not go near.
H2 rocket lying on 2 rows


rockets, built by MHI (Mitsubishi) in Aichi Prefecture (even where Toyota built 10 million cars per year), near Nagoya, were transported by ferry to 3 days Tanegashima at port 岛 间 (south-west of the island), which looks more like a dam that port. From there, the pieces are trucked to the site on a narrow road, winding in 6 hours (instead of 30 minutes per car (not carrying rocket)).
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This site was chosen because at the decision, in 1969, Okinawa (the most northern Japanese islands, more than Tanegashima) was still under U.S. control (and that, until 1972). Tanegashima was therefore the nearest Japanese possession of the equator at the time.

The rocket that reddish color because of the coating, an anti-heat

The third and final Judgement is in the control room. That you see on TV. Moreover, the chamber which can be accessed is the official cameras.
Everything goes well

The room is actually much smaller than it seems on TV pictures. It seems rather a small museum of the first computers that ever existed.
Tables launches, the last (15th) dated January 23, 2009

Back to the museum, behind a launch site mini-rockets

One end of the site

Passage to the store where you can buy food cosmic

To the evening, I plan to go to onsen 河内 温泉 センター Kawachi, according to the best local onsen on the island. I'm caught in stop quickly at the Space Center by Yoko, who moved to Minamitane Express for surfing and join the community of a hundred surfers in this village. The onsen is at 300 yen for a benefit that would be 600 in the Kansai.
The water is very oily, like Gero, and the bathrooms are full of children, not common, they cause me even less. This is all the effect of gaijin in remote areas.
Leaving, waiting quietly in the lounge 9 am, closing the onsen to go find a corner of nojuku, not very motivated by weather feces. But before that, the jailer Kawano, with whom I had done before entering (he studied at Kobe, Kyoto and knowing me, I wanted to see if the perceived difference Kyotoïtes between the wicked and the rest of Japan), suggested to me by his host brother. Shortly after the two women come to fetch me and we go home with the grandmother and two children, with a good meal and warm.
I am entitled to 安纳 芋 anno-imo, supposedly the best sweet potato in Japan (of course, local production). Indeed, it is delicious. Here, instead of central Japan, the products are usually expensive flights (herbs, vegetables, fruits) or free (exchange between people), but in return, there are no products on TV (cakes surreal and all the stuff imported).
The two brothers are from Tanegashima, but have studied the great city, Kobe and Hiroshima. For them too, Kyoto is humanly cold, and the boundaries between the omote and ura Kyotoïtes of indecipherable, and feel better in the south. True, we have a normal conversation, frank. And most interestingly, a criterion not common among the false ideals of dialogue, futility and politeness that I am now accustomed.
种子 岛 A Tanegashima, there were 50,000 inhabitants of their time, or 15,000 more than now. The business premises are dying slowly with rich industrialists Kagoshima who open stores on the island. Suddenly, the small trader to continue to support his family, committed suicide, in which case the rest of the family shares the government pension.
Kawano's brother (wearing jacket with a real pride of the Air Force) (which gave him) and his wife

After this busy day and tiring, we fall asleep every 3 side by side in our respective futon in the living room.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The next morning, they accompanied me to the small port of Shimama 岛 间, right next to my take ferry to Yakushima 屋 久 岛, the other island. But the ferry boat not the month for repairs, Kawano me back to Nishinoomote 西 之 表, north of the island, 1 hour drive to take the Toppy which circulates. And given the weather outside, I'm lucky to be in a car.
In the southern islands, a storm is like the rainy season in one day

I separate myself there and Kawano, 24 hours after fantastic 种子 岛 Tanegashima. Even Japan, the more one goes south and they are better people. And yet, I still Yakushima, a long journey and adventures ... (more here )
This adventure is an episode of Yakushima hitchhiking trip
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