Light

You might think that in a country as developed as Japan, there would be a ton of light pollution. Well, there is. At any time of day, you can look west from the park near the seminar house (dorm) and see the horizon, silhouetted by either daylight or the lights from Osaka. However, given how urbanized it is, they still do a good job of minimizing the effect all that civilization has on your stargazing prospects.
Most streetlights shine downward toward the street or sidewalk rather than in every direction below 90 degrees as American ones do. So on street level, your path is lit and you can't see more than 7 or 8 stars (assuming there isn't a building in your way anyway.) But as soon as you put some altitude between yourself and sea level, it gets surprisingly dark, especially if you're in a larger park. When Dan and I went to Kyushu over winter break, we slept pretty well in the city parks. And on those late bus and train rides between cities, if I wasn't within municipal limits, I had no light to read by at all!
So, kudos to the Ministry of Coexistence with Nature for caring about migratory birds and telescope enthusiasts.

From the air, areas like this...

...look like this.

I blame the low image quality on double-paned airplane windows and Admiral Perry.

In my next post, I will tell you all about the time when I got kidnapped by the mayor of Nara and was forcibly taught kanji with a cattle prod.