Sea and Stars
The planetarium in the Yaidzu Discovery Park in Yaidzu, Shizuoka, is currently showing “Feel the night sky—fall in love with the stars”, a program I narrated. I stopped by for a visit.
Discovery Park is right on the ocean. Though it was a scorching midsummer day, the scent of the sea breeze pulled me into taking a walk along the shore. The blue sky and blue sea felt so good that I couldn’t keep myself from running around.
With it being summer vacation, the planetarium was full of children. When I recorded the narration for “Fall in love with the stars”, I thought the subject matter was somewhat artistic and oriented toward adults, but when I actually saw the finished version, the lively imagery and the sense of speed that feels like traveling on a spacecraft caught me by surprise! By the way, the reclining chairs here lean back quite a ways, so you’re practically lying down. If you’re not careful, you might just fall asleep underneath the pleasant blanket of a starry sky….
After the show, the planetarium staff showed us the rooftop observatory. The sun was far from setting, but the stars were still there behind the bright sky. Looking through the giant telescope, I was able to find Jupiter and Vega, in the constellation Lyra—objects you can’t see during the day with the naked eye. I could just make out the bands of Jupiter, and beautiful Vega sparkled brightly in the blue sky like fireworks.
From the roof we had a clear view of Yaidzu and the sea stretching to the horizon below, and the evening sky was incredibly beautiful. I felt like I could have stood there and watched forever, but unfortunately it was soon time to return to Tōkyō. Though it was a rushed, one-day excursion to Shizuoka, I didn’t forget to pick up some of the dark fish cake famous in that area. I’m going to try some now.
maaya