04-Oct-2026 -- For me, this was my first visit to the Degree Confluence in twenty years. Whilst on a business trip to a nearby city, I remembered that there was a confluence here, so I hired a car and went to visit it.

The site is situated in the centre of Japan’s largest rice paddy, alongside an unpaved farm track. However, it is well known that this is the point where 40° north latitude and 140° east longitude intersect; a monument has been erected here, and next to it stood a sign in Japanese stating that the local museum would issue a certificate confirming one had reached the intersection of these coordinates upon request.

It is an impressive monument, but the location where it was built appears to be based on an older geodetic system; the GPS on my smartphone indicated a slightly different spot. I moved according to those coordinates and took a photograph at the point where the figures were closest to zero.

It was midday on an autumn Sunday, but there was no one else around, and the quiet landscape of the rice paddies stretched out before me.