2 September 2035: a total eclipse from Beijing to Japan

In the summer of 1887, a new woodblock print appeared in Japan. Its title promised “a solar eclipse, the likes of which hasn’t been seen for 101 years.” Prints about astronomy were rare, and this one was probably handed out as a special newspaper edition, in full colour.

The eclipse came on 19 August. Astronomer Terao Hisashi and the American David Todd had worked out its timing in advance. They even described what people might see if the sky turned dark: strange colours overhead, faces looking pale blue and plants starting to wilt. Researchers travelled north and watched totality from Nikko, because the path of the shadow missed Tokyo. At the Tokyo observatory the Sun was only about 99% covered.

No total eclipse has crossed Honshu, Japan’s main island, since then. On Sunday 2 September 2035 one finally returns, crossing the north of the Kanto plain close to the 1887 track. Nikko is inside the path again, and Tokyo misses out for a second time.

Two capitals in, two just out

The path starts in Inner Mongolia at sunrise and runs east across northern China. Beijing is inside it, and so is the Forbidden City, with about a minute and a half of totality at 8:32 am. According to historical eclipse calculations, the city’s previous total eclipse came on 28 October 1277, when Kublai Khan was building his new capital on the same ground.

Pyongyang gets almost two minutes. Across the border the shadow passes about 120 km north of Seoul, and the South Korean capital gets 96.6%. Only the very tip of South Korea, right by the border in Gangwon Province, touches the edge of the path.

Tokyo’s miss is even closer. The southern edge of the path runs through Saitama Prefecture, about 30 km north of central Tokyo, and the city gets 99.4%. Even that thin sliver of Sun is far brighter than a full Moon, so the sky stays light and the corona never appears. Only inside the path does it get dark enough for stars and the corona.

Japan’s turn

The shadow reaches Japan on the Noto Peninsula just after 10 am and crosses the country in about seven minutes. Toyama, Nagano, Maebashi, Nikko, Utsunomiya and Mito are all inside the path. The Sun stands more than 50 degrees up, high enough to clear mountains and buildings.

Mito and the Ibaraki coast get the most on land, about 2 minutes and 37 seconds. Inland it drops a little, to about 2 minutes and 35 seconds in Utsunomiya and 2 minutes and 20 seconds in Nagano.

For the 14 million people of Tokyo, the trip is short. The Tohoku shinkansen reaches Utsunomiya in about 50 minutes, and local trains to Mito, Tsukuba or Kumagaya take only a little longer. Northbound trains that morning are likely to be crowded, so book seats early.

Forecast: typhoon season and sunny Beijing

Where to watch the eclipse: China, Japan or out at sea

After Mito the shadow heads out to sea and reaches its longest totality, 2 minutes and 54 seconds, about 1,900 km south-east of Tokyo. It ends at sunset south-east of Hawaii. On land, the main choices are these.

• Beijing About a minute and a half, with the best weather odds on the path. The Forbidden City and the Badaling section of the Great Wall are both inside it.
• Qinhuangdao and Shanhaiguan About two minutes near the centre line, where the Great Wall runs down to the sea. Fast trains from Beijing take around two hours.
• Mito and the Ibaraki coast The longest totality on land in Japan, about 2 minutes and 37 seconds, and a little over an hour from Tokyo by train.
• Utsunomiya and Nikko About 2½ minutes, 50 minutes from Tokyo by shinkansen. Nikko is where researchers watched the 1887 eclipse.
• Nagano and the mountains About 2 minutes and 20 seconds, with the option of driving to another valley if clouds settle over one.
• North Korea Pyongyang is in the path, but the country is closed to most visitors.

The choice comes down to time against weather. Japan gives about a minute more of totality, and Beijing gives better odds of a clear sky. Whichever you pick, book early and keep an eye on the typhoon forecasts in the last week of August.