The sky full of stars in Nobeyama Postcard

The sky full of stars in Nobeyama

About the area

 Nobeyama Highland is a famous tourist site with scenic beauty, and is also known as one of the places with the most beautiful stars in Japan. It has also been selected as one of Japan’s Three Most Beautiful Starry Skies by astronomers, along with Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture, and Biseicho, Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture.
 Nobeyama Highland is located in high altitudes, as shown by the fact that the highest point (1,375m) of all JR lines is on Nobeyama Highland. The air is dry and clear, and is free from radio waves. That is why National Astronomical Observatory of Japan installed a radio telescope in Nobeyama to observe cosmic radio waves. Nobeyama is free of light pollution for the city lights do not reach the area. You can see clear starry skies with the naked eyes. In addition, Nobeyama Highland is a unique highland because of vast farming areas. It is a mountain without forests, but with open fields, which gives you a view of open skies full of stars. 
 The photo is a winner of the Saku Wide Area Hometown Photo Contest 2018. The starry skies over the Yatsugatake Mountains were viewed from the parking lot of Hirasawa Pass in Minami Maki Village. Hirasawa Pass is also famous as one of the best viewing spots of the Yatsugatake Mountains.
 For more details about Nobeyama Highland’s tourist and star information, please see the brochure of Minami Maki Village Tourist Information( The external site opens in a separate window ).
 In addition to Nobayama Highland, Saku Region has more spots and facilities to view starry skies. In the Saku area in Nagano, the city of beautiful stars, please enjoy skyfull of stars that you can never experience in any other places.

Points and Facilities to View Starry Skies Nearby

A Gift for You, from Saku and Karuizawa

 Saku Regional Development Bureau created postcards for tourists in Karuizawa so that they will discover more about the Saku Region. There are 10 postcards, and they will be available free of charge at facilities in Karuizawa Town.

 For information, please visit the “A Gift for You, from Saku and Karuizawa” page.

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