After our amazing trip to Yakushima, we came back to Kagoshima and I got to spend the whole weekend with S and her husband before heading back to reality (aka Tokyo).
Kagoshima is a really beautiful prefecture surrounded by many volcanic mountains (most of which aren’t active anymore). This means that they also have many onsen (温泉), or hot springs, to enjoy. Kagoshima is famous for many things including Sakura-jima (桜島), the still active volcano, and Kuro-buta (黒豚), the Kagoshima black pig (which I’ve never eaten because I’m vegetarian…but I hear it’s really good!).
They also seem to be very proud of the rich history they have, such as the Satsuma-han (薩摩藩), and you will see statues of various scenes from history all around the city. You can even listen to a recorded explanation of each scene. If you’re into history, you’ll love it.
The city of Kagoshima also has a very convenient tram system. One of the things I noticed was that every tram station had grass growing on the tramway. Apparently this is one of the city’s countermeasures for the urban heat-island effect which they started in 2006. And according to data regarding these areas, not only has the temperature gone down but so has the noise level. Isn’t that great?
I have a few more Kagoshima posts coming up, but until then, here are some photos of our day hanging out in the city! x
The beautiful tram station in front of the JR Kagoshima-chuo Station.
The statues of a scene in Kagoshima history…my friend said they are life-size statues!
Heading to the organic chikyu-batake cafe for lunch!
I got the delicious korokke set, which also included a salad bar.
We had a choice of regular, brown, or black rice to go with our set menu.
The tempura set looked delicious, too. You can see we were pretty happy with our lunch!
Kagoshima is also known for their Shiro-kuma shaved ice. Yum!
S and her husband are always fun to hang out with…love them both!
The prestigious Hotel Shiroyama has a fantastic view of Sakura-jima.
It also has a great view of the city below…and it’s all free! 😀
CHIKYU-BATAKE CAFE (地球畑カフェ 草原をわたる船)
3-17-1 Shimo-arata
Kagoshima-shi, Kagoshima JAPAN
鹿児島県鹿児島市下荒田3丁目17番1号
TEL: 099-201-7000
HOURS: 11:00am-10:00pm (closed Tuesdays)
HOTEL SHIROYAMA
41-1 Shinshoin-cho
Kagoshima-shi, Kagoshima JAPAN
鹿児島県鹿児島市新照院町41番1号
TEL: 099-224-2211
Kaori Square Feet 
Kagoshima is another place that I've never been to that I definitely would love to visit someday. The tram station looks lovely.
(Embarrassingly enough, for a long time I thought Kagoshima was the name of a small island off the main island of Japan… Well, in my defense, I never studied the map of Japan growing up so how would I know? Shima=island. End of story…)
And this is completely off topic, but I recently started my own blog. Just me rambling. I know my shared blog is basically me as well, but I've always wanted a space for myself and finally got around to creating one. Not sure if it'll last, but drop by if you're ever bored 😉
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Kagoshima looks beautiful. I wish the Toden Arakawa would do the same. The grass just looks divine!
PS: Black pork is supposed to be Berkshire Pork. Although everyone in Canada/US probably has no idea what that is anyways. 😉 I have had it in Japan and it is… … pork. 😀
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I know what you mean by the name. We have a lot of prefectures with the kanji 'shima' that aren't literally islands. (Although Japan itself is an island…but not sure if that counts or not. haha) It's like Iceland and Greenland, isn't it? Very tricky!
I am so excited to go read your blog. You know I love how you ramble! ;D
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It really is a beautiful prefecture. And the grass was the first thing that caught my eye when I got to the city. I read on their city website that other cities are starting to implement grass as well after learning about the perks 😀
PS:
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