[Extraordinary Lounge] Late-night drive to see the stars at the easternmost point of the Kanto region: "Inubosaki Stargazing" edition

"Over and over, over and over..."

A Friday night late-night drive while listening to "Kaiju" by Sakanaction.

This time, our extraordinary experience is a late-night drive aiming for the starry sky.

We met at Marunouchi in Tokyo at 8:30 PM, jumped into a rental car driven by a friend, and held a strategy meeting.

"How about Inubosaki tonight?"

"Are you serious?"

"I want to go to the lighthouse!"

Tonight is the night for our annual year-end late-night drive in search of the starry sky.

We decide on the destination on the day.

This time, it's Inubosaki.

Two hours without a break. It's surprisingly close.

Once decided, we put on a star-themed playlist and set off (thanks as always to my friend the driver).

*

Inubosaki is at the tip of Chiba, the back of Chiba-kun's head.

It is famous as a spot where you can see the earliest sunrise in Japan, and the white lighthouse standing on the cape is a cool sight.

Including breaks, we arrived in about two and a half hours.

Slurping cup noodles while looking at the starry sky has become an annual tradition, so this time too, we filled our cup noodles with hot water at a 7-Eleven near our destination before heading there.

"It's my first time at a lighthouse in the middle of the night."

"Wow, this is amazing!"

We arrived around 11:30 PM.

Everyone let out a gasp of admiration at the massive structure that suddenly appeared before us.

We immediately toasted with cup noodles.

Ramen under the cold sky is pure bliss. However, it seems so much time had passed since we bought them at the convenience store that the noodles had soaked up all the broth.

There are almost no clouds tonight, and we can see countless stars.

I only recognize the Orion constellation and the Big Dipper, but I could see both with the naked eye.

It was so beautiful that we spent an hour and a half taking pictures of each other.

My two friends with older iPhone models that lack Night Mode couldn't get good shots and lamented that they were 'out of the running'.

With the latest models, we were able to use multiple phones to create light and set the cameras to point toward the sky, allowing us to take group photos with the starry sky in the background.

We got quite excited after managing to capture a pretty good best shot.

Once satisfied, we took a one-hour nap before heading home.

In the car, I heard everyone's recent news, like someone getting a proposal soon or someone starting to live with their partner.

In return, I talked about my solo travels, the books I've been reading lately, and the essayist's talk event I attended just before this gathering.

It had only been three months since we last met as a group, but I could feel the passage of time as everyone's lives were moving forward.

We took many breaks along the way, and it was already getting bright by the time we returned to Tokyo.

Finally, we had some Iekei-style ramen for breakfast.

It was warm, and the pork bone broth soaked right into my body.

Inubosaki was a great place even in the middle of the night.

I heard you can climb the lighthouse during the day, so I'd like to try that next time.

I was happy to realize there are still extraordinary experiences left to discover.