Kagoshima

Kagoshima exists at the edge of Japan—and therefore at the beginning of everything. The Satsuma domain based here produced the samurai who overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868 and launched the Meiji Restoration. That same frontier mentality made Kagoshima the birthplace of Japanese space exploration: Professor Itokawa Hideo launched Pencil rockets here in 1955, and on February 11, 1970, the Ohsumi satellite became Japan's first successful orbital launch.

Today, Kagoshima hosts two JAXA facilities that anchor Japan's space program. Tanegashima Space Center—described as "the world's most beautiful rocket launch site" with its blue waters and white beaches—covers 9.7 million square meters as Japan's primary spaceport. Uchinoura Space Center on the Osumi Peninsula, carved into mountainsides, has launched over 400 rockets and 50 satellites since 1962. A navigation satellite launch in February 2025 continued the tradition.

Beyond space, Kagoshima's southern location creates subtropical agriculture (sweet potatoes, tea) and tourism (sakurajima volcano, Ibusuki sand baths). The Shimazu family's Satsuma domain history—including early contact with the West via Portuguese traders and the development of Satsuma ware ceramics—provides cultural tourism. By 2026, Kagoshima's bet is that space tourism and tech spillovers can diversify an economy still dependent on agriculture and construction. The prefecture that launched Japan into space may launch into the space economy.