KAGAYA, who held special screenings with a stage greeting at Manten NAGOYA on July 16, 2022 and at Planetaria YOKOHAMA on July 23, said, “The LED dome was the perfect place to express the luminous bodies made of starlight that exist in the world of “Night on the Galactic Railroad,” and that this film and LED KAGAYA spoke of the compatibility between the film and the LED dome.

Unlike conventional planetariums, the LED domes at Manten NAGOYA and Planetaria YOKOHAMA are new planetariums that can reproduce vivid colors and brightness because the images are produced by LED elements laid on the dome screen that emit their own light.

This work vividly recreates “Night on the Galactic Railroad,” the masterpiece of star-loving author Kenji Miyazawa, who read the book when he was a child and wanted to actually ride on the Galactic Railroad. As he drew it in computer graphics, the planetarium work “Night on the Galactic Railroad” was born.
After taking the stage, Mr. KAGAYA joined the audience and enjoyed the screening of the film.

This work has many highlights, including the beautiful world of the Galactic Railroad running through the starry sky that fills the planetarium dome, as well as the scene where the viewers look out the train windows and are rocked by the train.

A question-and-answer session was also held for visitors, who asked for tips on how to take beautiful starry sky shots and how to improve their physical fitness, which KAGAYA answered in detail. When asked when he sleeps, he answered, “When do you sleep? He answered that he goes to bed around sunrise because he “wants to keep his eyes on the night sky as much as possible,” an answer that conveyed his passion for the stars and space.

When asked, “If you could fly off the Earth, what would you want to photograph? one of the respondents answered unexpectedly, “If there were no restrictions, I would like to stand on the rings of Saturn and take pictures. Mr. Kagaya has made it his life’s work to depict the scenery in his mind with computer graphics.

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Artist depicting the world of space and mythology.
His planetarium production “Night on the Galactic Railroad” was a huge hit, attracting more than 1 million visitors when it was shown nationwide.
On the other hand, he is also popular as a starry landscape photographer and has published a collection of his best photographs, “Starry Nights-The Best of the Best,” among others. He has about 850,000 followers on Twitter, where he posts and publishes his photographs.
In honor of his achievements in popularizing astronomy and as an artist, asteroid 11949 has been named kagayayutaka (カガヤユタカ).
He is the Hanamaki Ihatov Ambassador.