Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands. Robert Walker
more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) of pure white sand, in fact the whole southern end of the island. It’s not for nothing that JAXA claims on its web-site that “It is known as the most beautiful rocket-launch complex in the world.”
In addition to its fine beach, the southern end of Tanegashima holds three prominent capes: one famous historically, the other two occupied by the Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The two controlled by JAXA hold a number of islets/rocks just offshore. We’ll describe them below. The southernmost (and southwesternmost) point of the island is occupied by Cape Kadokura, previously mentioned as the first European landing place in the empire of Japan. There are several small monuments, memorial stones and a Shintō shrine in commemoration of this event at the cape.
Cape Kadokura looking northeast.
Approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) to the northeast is a second cape, Ōtakézaki (大竹崎; Ōtaké-zaki), which holds two sets of islets. A bit more than a mile (3 kilometers) to the north and east is the final cape, Yoshinobuzaki (吉信崎; Yoshino-bu zaki), which has a double set of islets offshore. Of these twin capes, it could be said that Cape Ōtaké occupies Tanegashima’s southernmost eastern point and Cape Yoshinobu occupies its easternmost southern point. Both capes are fully developed and covered with numerous administrative and service buildings, a launch pad and other high-tech equipment of JAXA. Offshore, each cape peters out to a series of large rocks. Coincidentally, in each case there are two separate collections of rocks off each of the capes. We’ll describe these four islet groups in our usual north to south sequence.
YOSHINOBUZAKIIWA (吉信崎岩 Yoshino bu zaki-iwa. The more northerly of the twin capes is Yoshinobu-zaki (Ōtaké-zaki is about a mile (1.5 kilometers to the south). Directly off Cape Yoshinobu there are approximately 20 rocks in all. There is one batch of about a half dozen large rocks (see photo page 24) to the southeast of the cape and around 15 more smaller ones (not visible in the photo above), some 1,000 feet (300 meters) to the northeast.
A rocket on display at the Tanegashima Space Center.
Cape Yoshinobu and its offshore rocks.
The large rock islets start only 100 feet (30 meters) offshore and extend about 1,640 feet (500 meters) to the south and east. They vary in shape and size from ovals 490 by 575 feet (75 by 175 meters) in size to more or less round islets about 500 feet (150 meters) in diameter. The smallest ones in this batch measure close to 165 feet (50 meters) across.
The second batch of Yoshinobu rocks is several hundred meters north above the first set. They start approximately 490 feet (75 meters) offshore and extend 1,310–1,640 feet (400–500 meters) north and east. The islets in this group vary in size from 33 by 50 feet (10 by 15 meters) in diameter to the largest, which is about 330 feet (100 meters) long. Almost all the islets in this double set of rocks are covered in vegetation and several of them have nice beaches. Given their proximity to shore, at low tide you can walk or swim out to a number of them.
ŌTAKEZAKIIWA (大竹崎岩; Ōtaké zaki-iwa). The most extreme southeastern point of Tanegashima is called Ōtakézaki, which means “Big Bamboo Point.” The cape is about 2,620 feet (800 meters) across, 660 feet (200 meters) wide and entirely covered in clean, smooth white sand. It’s a beautiful beach and there’s a small fishing port and marina there as well. There are two sets of rocks just offshore at the point. Those to east are the Ōtakézaki rocks and those to the west are the Kawasoenohana rocks. The Big Bamboo Point rocks start about 660 feet (200 meters) east offshore and continue about another 1,970–2,300 feet (600–700 meters) further east and southeast. Altogether, there are more than dozen of them. They range in size from as small as 80 feet (25 meters) in diameter to as large as 525 feet (160 meters) across. Almost all are half of the rocks are covered in vegetation and thus none of them have any good beaches.
Rock outcrops at Cape Ōtakezakiiwa.
KAWASOENOHANAIWA (カワソエノ鼻岩 Kawa so éno hana-iwa). At the western end of Ōtaké cape, a little more than a kilometer west of the Big Bamboo Point rocks, are the Kawasoenohana rocks. They begin a mere 410 feet (125 meters) due south of the marina and continue south another 1,640 feet (500 meters). Most of them are quite large, ranging in size from the smallest at about 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter to the largest, which is 1,310 feet (400 meters) long. There are about a half dozen of these rocks. Together with a number of strategically placed giant tsunami jacks, they effectively and completely shelter the marina.
As mentioned earlier, from the cape at Big Bamboo Point (Ōtakézaki, the island’s south-eastern end) to Cape Kadokura (Kadokuramisaki, the island’s southwestern end), it’s about 5 miles (8 kilometers). This entire stretch of coast is a fine beach. There’s a designated campground along the shore and it has freshwater showers and toilet facilities.
Kawasoenohanaiwa boasts a fine beach along its southern coast.
2 MAGESHIMA 馬毛島
Magé Island is a tiny, almost uninhabited islet about 7 miles (12 kilometers) due west of Nishinoomote Port on Tanegashima but there’s no ferry service from that port, or any other port, to Mageshima (馬毛島; Magéshima; lit. “Horsehair Island”). Although Mageshima has a port and a good-sized concrete dock for landing watercraft, you’ll have to pilot or charter your own to get there. The island is privately owned and there is no commercial service to it. A couple of families live on the island and raise some sugarcane, but it’s marginal. The island is no longer productively farmed and most of it is covered in scrub vegetation. Mageshima is triangularly shaped, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) long from north to south and about a mile (1.5 kilometers) wide from its east–west base to its middle section. From there, it tapers down to its pointy northern end.
At one time there was a working airstrip on the island but it was abandoned a long time ago and is no longer operable. Recent press reports have stated that the Japanese government is negotiating with the US Forces Japan to convert the island into an airbase in replacement for the present, widely disputed, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma on the island of Okinawa. If that were to occur, presumably the airstrip would be reconditioned and upgraded. The island is completely flat and could easily be converted to a good airbase. Whether several thousands of young and single Marines would wish to live on this remote, isolated and almost uninhabited islet is another matter. But, for the moment, the talk of US base relocation is in a real paralysis. and the former agreement to move the Futenma Air Station to Okinawa’s northern Marine Camp Schwab seems to have been put aside and forgotten.
3 YAKUSHIMA 屋久島
Bring your raincoat because the locals boast that in Yakushima (屋久島; Yaku-shima) “It rains 35 days a month.” In fact, it is Japan’s wettest place—and one of the wettest in the world with annual precipitation ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 millimeters (16–30 feet or 5–10 meters). For comparison, Mt Waialeale on Hawaii’s Kauai Island, often cited as earth’s wettest place, receives 39 feet (12,000 millimeters) per year. Rain or shine, Yakushima is considered one of Japan’s most beautiful islands and it is a true nature-lover’s destination. Over 90 percent of Yakushima is forested and a good percentage of the island has either been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site or is a protected zone under Japanese law.
Mageshima, a small, low-lying islet to the northwest of Tanegashima.