Online dictionary of geography and travels in Japan: Tanegashima

種子島
alternative words: Tanegashima Island, Tanegashima, Tanega-shima
keywords: island , kyushu , research center
related topics: Kagoshima Prefecture , Yaku Island , Oosumi strait
related web sites: http://www4.synapse.ne.jp/minamita/ , http://www.synapse.ne.jp/~tanegashima/ , http://spaceboy.nasda.go.jp/Index_j.html
explanation: Tanegashima is an long island stretched along North-South direction and located in the northwest of Yaku Island. The area is about 450 km2. Formed of flat sea erosion terraces, its highest point is 282m. It is well known that Portuguese have brought for the first time guns into Japan in 1543 at that place. Now it has become a base to launch satellites.