Cruises to Tanegashima
種子島Kagoshima Prefecture, in the sea forty kilometres south of Kyushu
About Tanegashima3 upcoming voyages call at Tanegashima
- Autumn Holiday Tanegashima & Kochi Cruise
Kobe → Tanegashima → Kochi → Kobe
- Calls here
- September 21, 2026
- Day
- 3 of 5
- Autumn Tanegashima, Nagasaki & Kagoshima Cruise
Yokohama → Tanegashima → Nagasaki → Kagoshima → Yokohama
- Calls here
- October 6, 2026
- Day
- 3 of 7
- Ashore
- 07:00–18:00 (11 hours)
- Spring Tanegashima & Naha Cruise
Kobe → Tanegashima → Naha → Naze (Amami Oshima) → Kobe
- Calls here
- March 13, 2027
- Day
- 3 of 8
- Ashore
- 08:00–18:00 (10 hours)
Times shown are as scheduled and can change. Weather, sea conditions and port operations may shorten a call or prevent it — always check the latest information from NYK Cruises, and once aboard, from the ship.
About Tanegashima
A long, low island with two claims on history four hundred years apart. In 1543 a Chinese junk carrying Portuguese traders was blown ashore here, and the guns they had with them were copied by a local smith within a year — which is why Japanese matchlocks were called tanegashima for the next three centuries. In 1969 the country built a rocket launch site on the southern headland, and it is still in use. Ships berth at Nishinoomote on the north-west coast, near enough to the middle of the island to reach either end of it, or to cross to Yakushima and come back.
Within reach of the port
Tanegashima Space Center
The pads stand on a headland above a coral reef, with the buildings scattered back through forest. The Space Science and Technology Museum on the site is free and open to anyone. Launches close the roads and cancel visits, so a scheduled launch is worth checking before you plan a day around it.
Yakushima, and back in a day
Fifty minutes by jetfoil from Nishinoomote. Yakushima is a granite dome covered in cedar, some of it thousands of years old, and was one of Japan's first natural World Heritage sites. The forest walks start about an hour inland and a thousand metres up, where it is markedly colder and wetter than the coast — the island is said to rain thirty-five days a month.
Yakushima Tourism Association ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it
Chikura no Iwaya
A sea cave on the east coast, cut by the surf. Its name says it is wide enough for a thousand people to sit inside. You can walk in at low tide and not at high, so the sea decides whether the visit happens.
The gun museum at Nishinoomote
A short walk from the berth. The museum holds the Portuguese guns that came ashore in 1543 and the first matchlock made in Japan, alongside the island's rocket age, which is the other thing Tanegashima is known for.
Shore excursions
NYK Cruises run their own guided excursions at each port, booked by guests themselves through My ASUKA PLANS — the booking window opens before departure and depends on your cabin class. They are conducted in Japanese. Going ashore independently is always an option.
Official sources
- Tanegashima Tourism Association ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it