The lines of 140°east latitude and 40°north longitude pass almost right through the center of Ogata Village. As this is the only place on Japanese soil where lines of even 10 degree intervals cross, there is a monument where the two lines meet. This used to be the bottom of Hachiro Lagoon. When Hachiro Lagoon was drained during the land reclamation that began in 1957, a new land was born from the bottom of the lake, and with it, the first “Earth’s Crossroads”, where the intersection of even 10 degree lines was revealed on Japanese soil.
Note: The Tokyo Datum, used from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) until April 1st, 2002, was a coordinate system that set latitude and longitude based on the old National Observatory in Tokyo. In the days of GPS, the coordinates are set by the World Geodetic System, which places the intersection of 140°east latitude and 40°north longitude 430m southeast of the monument.
