On July 22, people in Japan got excited at the solar eclipse. Most areas of Japan were unfortunately covered by clouds, but it was very lucky that it was fine near Ogasawara Islands where the umbral path crossed. Amateur stargazers, tourists, and scientists on cruise ships in this area enjoyed the total eclipse which is expected to have the longest duration of totality in the 21st Century. The right photo was taken on a cruise ship near Iwo-shima by Hideo Fukushima, PR Center NAOJ.

NAOJ staffs were actively involved in broadcasting of the total eclipse. People in the main island of Japan could not see the total eclipse. More over, clouds obscured even the view of the partial eclipse. Lots of people watched TV programs or accessed internet to see the phenomenon. NAOJ's broadcasting team filmed the phenomenon on Iwo-shima (Latitude: 24° 46' 60 N, Longitude: 141° 19' 60 E) and distributed the movie to broadcasting stations, planetariums, museums, public observatories, and educational facilities.

Dr. Oe, the leader of NAOJ's total eclipse broadcasting team, said, "we wanted to share this beautiful, mysterious, and rare experience with as many people as possible". "The largest concern was weather. The average cloud amount of Iwo-shima was statistically smaller than other areas along the central line of the total eclipse. That was one of reasons to chose Iwo-shima."

On Iwo-shima, NAOJ scientists observed the total eclipse to obtain data on the Sun's corona.