If you look closely at a map of the stretch where the Orange Railway runs down from Yatsushiro Station(八代駅) to Sendai Station(川内駅), you’ll notice it’s a railway that runs with the sea right beside it. That’s exactly the point that got me interested.
What’s interesting, though, is that from Yatsushiro to Izumi(出水) you’re looking at the Yatsushiro Sea(八代海), and from Akune(阿久根) on you’re properly looking at the East China Sea.
The Yatsushiro Sea is an inland sea with a large island blocking the view in front, and the East China Sea is wide open all the way to China, so they feel a bit different.
:: Sunset Road, the sunset spot at Akune Port
Maybe it’s because Akune is where you can see the sea open all the way out to the East China Sea. One of the well-known sightseeing spots at Akune Port is exactly this place, Sunset Road.
It’s a spot where they’ve laid a long wooden deck along the breakwater in front of the port and made it look nice.
Since Akune’s sea faces west toward the East China Sea, it seems like a place where you could see a beautiful sunset every day as long as the weather holds.
That’s probably why they named it Sunset Road.
I left my luggage at the guesthouse, rented a bicycle, and the first place I went was here, Sunset Road.
I was curious what Akune Port looked like, and I also needed to check whether it was the kind of place where I could get good photos if I came back around sunset.
The port in the middle of the day was quiet and empty. That’s probably because it isn’t a port with passenger ferries.
Across a wide open lot there were low buildings of unclear purpose scattered here and there. I couldn’t tell exactly, but they looked like seafood factories or warehouses. Honestly, it’s not the scenery of a tourist spot.
So I didn’t have high expectations, but Sunset Road itself was well maintained, which was nice. And it was good to be able to see the sea in the distance.
That said, you don’t get an unbroken view of the sea — the long breakwaters come into view along with it, and they get in the way a bit. The fact that Oshima(大島) Island sits right in front is a good point, though, since it keeps the view from getting dull.
After lunch I did laundry back at the guesthouse and took a shower. Riding a bicycle around in midsummer was no easy thing. My sunburned skin needed a rest. I took it easy under the air conditioning, drinking water.
Then around 6:30 in the evening, I got back on the bicycle and headed out. To take sunset photos.
The sun sets about thirty minutes earlier in Japan than in Korea, but Kagoshima is fairly far west even within Japan, so there isn’t much difference from Korea’s sunset time. And it’s summer, so the days are definitely long. Today’s sunset time, according to the weather app, was 7:22 p.m. So I figured the peak of the sunset would be somewhere between 6:50 and 7:10.
It took about ten minutes by bicycle to reach Sunset Road.
The port and the sea were turning gold, bit by bit. I’d arrived a little early for the sunset proper, but if anything I think it was good that I got out there in time.
There were a lot of people fishing up on the Sunset Road breakwater. And there was one more person besides me who’d come to take sunset photos.
About thirty minutes or so. I moved around the area taking sunset photos.
The scenery at this hour changes, literally, by the second. So you have to keep pressing the shutter. And it’s better to pick out the ones you like later, from among all those photos.
The exposure conditions change moment by moment too, so you have to keep an eye on that, though these days most people shoot in auto mode, so it probably doesn’t matter much.
The sun, which had been yellow, grows redder and larger as it nears the water. And then it disappears below the surface in an instant.
This moment is truly fleeting, so you have to stay sharp and press the shutter.
Look away for a second and the sun will already be gone.
Even after the sun has vanished completely below the water, the darkness doesn’t fall right away. There’s still red left in the air, lighting up Akune Port.
I rode the bicycle around the area near Akune Port a bit longer, taking photos. Because it isn’t a tourist spot by the sea, I was actually able to take photos with a distinctive mood.
By the time I got back to the guesthouse, the dark had fully settled in.
I put the bicycle back in the shed, and —
right, now it’s time to go feel out the night in Akune.
