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Japan has one of the busiest - and also one of the most dangerous - coastlines in the world. This accounts for the fact that Japan hes in excess of five thousand lighthouse stations scattered around it's coastline. This one lies a few miles from my home and was built atop Hinomisaki, which loosly translated means 'Cape of the sun'.
A lighthouse has existed on this site since 1895. The original lighthouse first operated an oil lamp before converting to electricity in 1917. It later suffered the ignominity of being bombed by the US air force during WW2 before it eventually burned to the ground.
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This particular lighthouse building was erected in 1951 and up until the last couple of decades was
occupied by a lighthouse keeper and his family. Now, like most lighthouses around the world, it is fully automated and is operated by the Japanese Coast Guard Service.
The lighthouse itself is not so tall at 14 meters, though it was built on top of a cliff 141 meters above sea level.
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The building itself has three levels. The ground floor houses ancilliary equipment, the rotation gear is on the
second floor with the lens apparatus at the apex. This photo is taken from the second floor looking up to the light.
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| Hinomisaki lighthouse operates a cycle which gives three pulses of light in a 15 second period and then has a 25 second break. I always imagined that the light was spun around three times and then stopped for 25seconds. Not so! The light itself rotates quite slowly and the three pulses are provided by three different lenses.The 25 second break is created by a blanked off area between the two lenses which are visible here on the left and right.
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The light itself has the power of 540,000 candles, which is probably quite a lot. in normal conditions it is visible from a distance of 50 Km.
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And finally a note of thanks to Yukio Itou of the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency ( otherwise known as the Coast Guard ) who was kind enough to show me around and explain everything to me.
Keep up the good work, guys. |  |