Kagoshima/Sakurajima - 鹿児島/桜島

The Island of Cherry blossom (Sakurajima - 桜島) and the Kagoshima, where constantly ash from two volcanoes precipitate, were our next targets on our rout for day number two.

Kagoshima and Sakurajima. My GPS track stopped by the time we left the Island. GPS tracking is rather battery consuming.

When we arrived in Kagoshima it was time for lunch and of course my Japanese follows have long discussed in the car what to eat. Do you see the detour towards the south of the city on the map? That is were a famous Ramen (Japanese noodles soup) restaurant is. I have to admit, that it was one of my first noodle soup experience were I left the restaurant and had to say honestly this was really really good! Don't get me wrong! Most things are very good in Japan and there is hardly any dish I dislike, but this was just really tasty, especially as I'm not a big noodle soup fan.

We quickly checked in our luggage and the hostel we were planning staying in (close to the harbour) and were off to catch a ferry to Sakurajima. I don't want to write too much about it, as I visited the Island for the first time end of September last year and wrote about it; but two of us haven't been there!

Always smoking from the caldera - Sakurajima.

So what was different this time? Well first of all there was no Taifun coming and the weather was just great. We enjoyed ourself at the park, close to Sakurajima ferry port, and since it was still quite chilly we relaxed our feet in a hot onsen bath.

Onsen (Hot spring) foot bath!

As I was a bit hungry we ate some Mandarins (Mikan) from the Island and Ice cream made from these Mandarins, which was really refreshing. While we were strolling over the Island and gave the visitor centre a brief visit to check some facts on the Island, we also got a chance to discover our first Cherry Blossom this year.

First cherry blossom on the Island!

 After a beautiful sunset over Kagoshima, which we could follow from a dinosaur park on Sakurajima, we went back by boat. On our way back we found out that there is a cheap "romantic view spot" bus that brings us up the mountains of Kagoshima to see the city. It was indeed a good opportunity to discover something new in the city and a nice lady was talking during the ride about sights we could spot. After we were back in the hostel we quickly changed and were off to a Sentou (public bath) before jumping in our beds after a sec. round of Wizard.

Next stop was Kumamoto and Aso National Park.

Sunset over Kagoshima.

Kyushu trip - Kirishima 九州旅 － 霧島

From the first of March (Friday) until Tuesday the 5th of March I went on trip to Kyushu with my fiancée and two very good Japanese friends.

GPS tracking of our first two days. (1) Our hotel, (2) Shinto Shrine, (3) mountain museum. The smoke from Sakurajima is visible too!

It was a kind of trip I haven't done before in Japan.  In order to travel as cheap as possible to Kagoshima, I booked a bus to Kansai Int. Airport close to Osaka (~ 4.000 Yen) and met the other three there who came from Kanazawa. We flew with a flight from Peach Union to Kagoshima and arrived at the airport after about one hour flight at 1 p.m. (~8.000 Yen). 

Right after we landed, we borrowed a car and drove in direction of Kirishima (霧島). It was raining like hell, but we didn't care at all. It was just great to be outside, in spring Kyushu, with lots and lots of Onsen waiting for us. 

Short stop in rain on the way to Kirishima

Since Kirishima means literally "Island of fog", I was indeed expecting an Island, but instead we drove higher and higher into the mountains and vanished in the fog. I should have done my homework before and read more about where we are going, but I have to admit than my part of the travel organisation goes towards zero.

So much smelly fog!

This fog was partly made of clouds and partly from steam, rising from the numerous hotsprings. It smelled wonderful like sulphur when we arrived in the little town of Kirishima (霧島). We tried some local products, such as sulphuric steamed eggs (intensified), sausages or (of course) sweet potatoes, since the old district of Satsuma is famous for these.

Rain can be pretty positive when you visit a waterfall, because it will have much more water!

Sulphur steamed eggs. Taste still like normal eggs, just look yellow after you've peeled them.

After a short hike in the hills around the city and a short stop at a waterfall, we checked in our hotel-like Ryokan (a Ryokan is a traditional Japanese guest house), where we were really happy to put all our luggage down in our Tatami room. It felt like on a school trip, as we four were going to sleep on the ground in Futons in one room, looking forward to playing cards before falling asleep.

First room, first night!

After the check-in we made a brief stop in one of the big shrines (Shintoism) in Kirishima. It was an amazingly huge ground, devoted to at least three goddess. Among them "Tengu", a long nosed daemon-like creature with incredible sword skills. Apparently it taught sword fighting to Miyamoto Musashi. I talked a lot with Bito-san about Bushido and it's origin and he recommended the book "Bushido" from Nitobe Inazo, which I'm currently reading. You can download it for free from the Gutenberg-Projekt homepage.

Kirishima Jinsha, entrance stone!

The shrine and rain! Was still very pretty to look at!

Overall, I was confronted with so many unconnected historical facts (for me, as uneducated being) during our travel that I decided to study much more about Japanese history and especially about the time before, during and after the Meiji-Restauration, as well as about the history of Christanity in Japan, as soon as I'm back in Okayama. Kyushu was a main base for the first Christians in Japan, which got later extinct during a revolt. But more about this later.

We spent the evening in the Ryokan with its three building and confusing floor numbering, as the building had different elevations and hence the floor number changed according to the buildings basement. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture). We had a great Japanese dinner, green tea in our room, a table tennis match, and two hot bathes in the hotel Onsen.

Furthermore I was able to motivate three new player for the game wizard (^.^)/.

Dinner! There was still soup, rice and some extra meat served.

 The next day we left early in the morning. The sun was shining and we decided to visit a museum in the mountains, almost 800 m above sea level, before going to Kagoshima. The museum offered some interesting but also quite disturbing art, but we enjoyed much more the outside area with its sculptures.

View from the museum.

No one really wanted to go there on Saturday morning, as it seems!

Race to the ring! Who do you think has lost?

Three friends finished their Bachelor degree!

From there we drove down to Kagoshima to visit Sakurajima and the city itself. 

More about this next time!