{"id":34262,"date":"2016-01-15T14:23:23","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T13:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/tete-vers-les-etoiles-a-tanegashima\/"},"modified":"2020-07-12T18:22:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T16:22:48","slug":"head-to-the-stars-in-tanegashima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peregrinusmundi.com\/en\/head-to-the-stars-in-tanegashima\/","title":{"rendered":"Head to the stars in Tanegashima"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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DISPATCH<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Friday January 8, I leave Yakushima on a rough sea. The two hour ride on an old cargo ferry is a real ordeal for my stomach. The boat swayed on all sides, sometimes oscillating with an amplitude of 3-4 meters. Suffice to say that the boat is moving a lot! With each swing I see through the portholes the horizon tilts and I have the impression that we are going to end up diving into the sea. My stomach hurts.<\/p>

Tanegashima is a long, narrow strip of land twenty kilometers northeast of Yakushima. Not popular with tourists but popular with surfers, the island has one of Japan\u2019s main space centers, the JAXA or Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. It was also at Tanegashima that the Portuguese first introduced firearms in 1543.<\/p>

I welcome the mainland with happiness. My hostel is located in Nishinoomote, the main port town on the island. I stray a bit in the village while I find my accommodation. I barely have time to buy food before a heavy rain appears again. Definitely the bad weather seems to follow me. The temperature is also dropping and with it my motivation. I still force myself to go out and see the Teppokan museum located right next to my hostel. Dedicated to Tanegashima\u2019s armaments history, culture and natural history, the museum houses an impressive collection of magnificent shells, some of them gigantic, as well as numerous firearms (arquebuses, rifles, pistols, etc.). Some are small prowess of minimalist design. I am alone in the museum. I go out and go see the old samurai house Gessou Tei, whose visit is coupled with the museum. It is freezing cold. The interior is pretty, with a reconstruction of life in the Meiji period (1868 to 1912), small cute figures, some guns and bows, calligraphy and a doll that looks alive. The two grannies who take care of the house offer me a homemade tea accompanied by a snack including hot sweet potatoes. Their skin is purple in color and their flesh is honey yellow. The tea is very good, the best I have drunk so far and the little potatoes are a delight. A gentleman also looking after the house shows me photos from last October of a group of fifteen French people who came to visit the house and participate in activities: calligraphy, archery, dance demonstration and traditional music\u2026 I envy them!<\/p>

My morale a little down, I take refuge in the hostel. It is barely three o’clock. I take the opportunity to process my photos and write my articles. The next day, I am entitled to a few rays of sun. I take some photos of Nishinoomote. The city’s calm and relaxed atmosphere is reinforced by the many small designs and assemblages that line the walls of the town. A gigantic fresco made up of small wooden rectangles stretches along the walls of the port. Representing a rocket, a heart, trees, fish, it seems to have been made in 2014 and is entitled \u201cMirai no kaze<\/em>\u201d. Or \u201cThe wind of the future\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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