14/05/2026
To Nobeyama Radio Observatory. The cool mountain air was perfect, and we had booked a night tour to observe the stars through the radio telescopes, so during the day we went hiking nearby.
Unfortunately, the long-awaited guided tour was cancelled because of bad weather. No stars visible ☁️
It is notoriously (?) difficult to get a reservation, so I was genuinely disappointed. I guess there is nothing to do but try again and have my revenge another time.
Still, since we had come all the way to Nobeyama, we visited the radio telescopes the next morning. And honestly, that turned out to be wonderful in itself.
For the first time in almost 30 years, I came home and rewatched . Having stood in front of real radio telescopes only hours earlier made the film feel incredibly immersive.
I also noticed the quiet tribute to Sagan. Embarrassingly, I had not known he was such a famous astronomer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, nor that he had been so deeply involved in making the film but passed away before seeing it completed.
Apparently, he disliked the kind of “ridiculous fantasy” often found in sci-fi films, and continued advising the production staff almost until his death so that the astronomy, physics, and radio telescope scenes would stay faithful to real science.
It reminded me again what a good film it is. And now I understand why the observatory site in the movie looked so much like Nobeyama.
Right then… perhaps tonight is the night for Interstellar.
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