Kagoshima

What?
Historically better known as Satsuma (薩摩), the region of Kagoshima (鹿児島) played an important role in the evolution from Japan as a closed country to Japan as one of the world powers – and all that entails. Now the southernmost city of Kyushu (九州) is known as a somewhat laid-back city with a mild climate.
Where?
Kagoshima is the capital of the prefecture with the same name. Due to its remote location, the most convenient is to access Kagoshima by air. However the city is also served by the Kyushu shinkansen and is linked to Fukuoka in less than an hour.
URL
Japan Guide Outline JR Kyushu Bus (JP)

Most of the time I travel alone. That’s mostly a choice, as I like to keep to my own travel pace and own interests. But when your family comes over all the way from Europe, I gladly alter such a travel habit to accommodate them.
At first the idea was to show my family the beauty of Hokkaido’s nature. However my sister dreads the cold, so eventually we headed for the complete opposite direction – the most southern prefecture of Kyushu.
My personal goal was to enjoy a bit of hiking on Yakushima, but before that we’d spend a day in Kagoshima and a day on the Satsuma Peninsula.

It might not be the ideal way to explore a city, but with a group of four I opted for a guided bus tour to get to know Kagoshima City. Doing it any other way without own wheels would take too much time, because the public transport on Sakurajima volcano isn’t all that frequent.
The tour was provided by the JR Kyushu Bus Company and started and ended very conveniently at the Kagoshima-Chuo Station (although several other pick-up points are also available).

One important thing to keep in mind is that this is a “Japanese-style” tour. That means an overload on information (I don’t think the guide was quiet for more than 10 seconds) and a pace that doesn’t leave too much time for exploring. That being said, I didn’t have the feeling the tour should have lasted longer than it did.

After stepping on the bus, the first stop was the Shiroyama Observatory. I read about the beautiful night view of Kagoshima you could have on this hill, but I’m happy we visited in the early morning; the Sakurajima volcano was half covered in mist making for a beautiful backdrop for the city. With the base of the volcano barely visible it looked like it was floating, reminding me of many of the Chinese and Japanese decorations on sliding doors.
After that the bus rushed to catch the ferry to Sakurajima. The bus circled the whole base of the volcano to only stop at two observatories: the Arimura Lava Observatory and the Yunohira Observatory. The first has a dramatic view on the volcano itself which was livened by a real live eruption – yes, Sakurajima is one of the most active volcano’s in Japan. The second observatory also guaranteed a good view on Kagoshima city and the bay in front of it.

Sakurajima from Shiroyama.

Eruption of Sakurajima.

The volcano from Yunohira Observatory.

The volcano from Senganen Gardens.

Returning with the ferry to Kagoshima, the next stop was the Senganen Gardens. In this “in-between-season” – too late for blooming flowers, too early for colorful autumn foliage – we didn’t expect much, but the gardens really stood their ground. They weren’t breathtaking but did allow for a stroll, and the use of outside elements like the bay and the volcano is outstanding. In this garden I really understood the grandness of Sakurajima for the inhabitants of Kagoshima.

Lastly, the bus halted at the Museum of the Meiji Restauration. The opening of Japan towards the outside world in the latter half of the 19th century was as turbulent as it is interesting. That made me actually look forward to this visit. Unfortunately the museum is guilty of the same flaw that happens in a lot of museums of historical important periods: it is a very one sided and sugarcoated version of the probable truth. Hence this last stop was quite a disappointment, although truthfully we didn’t spend enough time in it to make a definite conclusion.

The bus passed another few points of interest like the hideout and statue of Saigo Takamori and the castle ruins, but these rightfully didn’t deserve more than a mentioning. All in all this was a decent way to explore the city, although I did wish the guide would have skipped the endless talk about giant pumpkins in favor of a little bit of silence.