Visiting Japan’s Most Active Volcano 🌋🇯🇵

Visiting Japan’s Most Active Volcano 🌋🇯🇵

Good morning from Kagoshima, Japan, where today’s plan is to head over here to this island, this volcanic island. The whole island is a volcano and an active one at that. You can see the smoke pouring out of it right there. So this island, there’s a few people, there’s few villages and stuff, a few people actually are daring enough to live on this active volcano, which does erupt. There was an eruption, I think a few months ago, and the whole island was evacuated. But today, I’m gonna take a ferry over there. I can see the ferry, they leave every 15 or 20 minutes from over there, and I’m gonna cycle around the 36-kilometer circumference of the island. It’s gonna take like four hours. Today’s baking hot, but your man’s up for it. First thing, gonna take the tram to the ferry port. It looks like I’m just gonna make this one right here. Fantastic. Now, these trams, they don’t take the Hayakaken card that I’ve got in Fukuoka, unfortunately, so I can’t tap it. I think I just pay cash when I get out. Okay, good. And that looks like it’s my ferry over there. So these leave every 15 to 20 minutes. No ticket necessary. Pay the ferry. Ah, no ticket. Okay, okay. So there’s a ticket office, and then the sign on the ticket office says you just pay when you got off the ferry, I guess in cash again. It’s always good to have some cash on you in Japan, you never know. And that’s the price, 250, for an adult. So about $1.75 or something each way, it’s not too bad. And one just left, so I guess this one will be leaving in like 15 minutes. It’s a huge ferry, so people take their cars on and off this. Apparently, this ferry is like the lifeline to the people who live on Sakurajima, they come and go. And the ferry operates 24 hours a day, so they can come and go as much as they please on this. There’s a big roof section here. This is nice. It wasn’t air-conditioned downstairs, which actually I feel like using right now a swelter. Once the ferry starts moving, I’ll get the breeze and all that, I’ll come up for the breeze. But right now, I can’t sit around like that. Oh man, this is… yeah, I’m not sure this was the best idea to come and cycle this island. And this weather’s a decent chance that I’ll get heat stroke, guys. This is nice and air conditioned in here, and we’re moving now. I thought I had brought myself a tasty snack for the journey, but it is not in my bag. I left it in my fridge in my room. I bought the tastiest looking fruit sando, had kiwi and strawberry. Oh wow, the breeze. Yeah, as you can see, we’re not even that far away. We’re not even that far away from the island. It should only take like 5 or 10 minutes together. And this area for the cars, there’s no cars on it, so it’s just become like a photo taking area for everybody that wants a selfie with Sakurajima. And up here is a drinks vending machine. Which one have I not tried before? Maybe this, the Qoo or… Yeah, I’m not interested in any of the coffees. How about this one, Skal, since 1971. It says Skal is new and it says since 1971. It’s a carbonated beverage made by a dairy manufacturer, Skal. Hmm, looks proper weird. Oh, wow. Yeah, it’s sweet. It’s getting sweet and like a little bit frothy. It doesn’t really taste like milk. It’s more like that sweet kind of ice creamy dairy taste. Hmm, that’s nice and absolutely packed with sugar. This whole bottle is 260 calories of pure sugar. Wow, no wonder it tastes so sweet and so nice. But I think I’m gonna be needing the energy if I’m gonna cycle around this. There’s a lot of people coming and going from this island. I’m surprised. Didn’t expect to see… I guess they’re mostly tourists. Yeah, I guess they’re mostly tourists. I just thought this would be like a smaller ferry and mostly just villagers coming and going, but yeah, it seems like this is tourist central right here. And this is where we pay, I guess, and tap my credit card. But no MasterCard, only Visa. I do have a Visa as well, so it’s all good. Ah, I got an error message. Fail on the Visa. Okay, okay, keep it nice and simple, guys. Cash never fails. Oh, Endo. This apparently is his hometown, Endo. I think he’s well retired now, but he played in the Japanese national team for like one or two decades. He’s like a legendary player. Played for Osaka. Yeah, Gamba Osaka. That’s his number seven top right there. Yeah, this is where he was born. This is his hometown. They’ve got a lot of memorabilia from Endo, Endo Yasuhito. Yeah. Cool. Now I’m trying to find the visitor center. Apparently, that’s where you can rent a bicycle. Yeah… around there. Ah, and they’ve got some place where you can dip your feet in the hot spring water. Wow, it absolutely stinks here. It stinks like rotten eggs. You know that sulfur smell. I think this is the visitor center here, but I can see right there, that’s the foot bath. I don’t know if you have to pay for it or what, you can just… Yeah, it looks like it’s just open to anybody. If you want to sock your feet, you can sock them here anytime from 9:00 AM till sunset, and it’s a hundred meters. Make sure you have to rinse your feet before placing them in the water and it may discolor your clothes. Don’t put soap in and behave yourself. There’s always rules, guys. We’re in Japan. There’s always rules. So where do you rinse your feet off before sticking them in? Ah, there’s a wee tap there. Ah, these have all got the shady part. That’s what your man needs. I need the shady part. Here we rinse, and then get them all dirty again. So walk over here and let’s… oh, it’s like a hot bath. Yeah, like if you run a bath and it’s just a wee bit too hot, that’s what it’s like, guys. Oh, that’s nice, yeah. I should probably do that after the cycling if that’s where I’m gonna rent a bike from. Probably I’ll need to soak my legs after that. All right, let’s see if I can rent a bike in here. Ah, so they’re only open till 1700 hours. It’s almost 1:00 PM, and it takes four hours to cycle around the island. So yeah, I probably need to just rent the bike and go right now. They’ve got some info about different major eruptions. There’s one in 1779 and there was a huge one in 1914. There’s an absolutely huge one, yeah. And it erupted in 2022 and then 2025 as well. That’s where we are, about here, where the ferry took us, and that’s where the smoke is coming from. And you see here, it’s not actually an island. It used to be an island, and then in 1914, the massive eruption, it kind of filled in the gap there. So this is all from 1914 and it connected it to the mainland, but on the other side, not from the main Kagoshima city center. So on the other side there’s now like a road that you can just drive onto the island with. But yeah, your man’s gonna hopefully cycle around this thing if I can rent a bike. Yes. Not e-bike, okay? Not e-bike? Yes. Oh, okay, only difficult bike. – Oh, okay.
– Yeah, it’s normal bike. Cross bike. – Cross bike, yeah.
– Ah, okay. A to B is flat, but here is steep. Ah, okay. And the other area has many up and downs. So A to B is flat and steep… Oh, wow. …up and down. Oh, wow. That looks crazy. Yes, crazy. Okay, yeah. And the Sakurajima is very active now, so it falls down the volcanic ash everywhere. Ash is on the road? Yes. Ah, it can be slippery. Yeah. – Ah, okay.
– Be careful downhill in the corners. Okay. This way, right? Yes. Okay. So she recommends that I do it clockwise. Oh wow, this is good. So I’ve seen on the terrain map, the very start of it looks easy, and then there’s a massive, a massive uphill stretch, and then from there it’s just up, down, up, down, up, down. I should imagine on a volcanic island. And something I wish I brought with me is a pair of sunglasses, not just for the sun, but there’s like bits of ash, bits of like smoky ash. I can feel little bits of grit getting into my eyes, and yeah, at that visitor center. Nearby, there’s a [inaudible] convenience store that I probably would’ve got up here, but I’m well past that now. I wonder if there’s any other Konbinis on the island. But yeah, this is where people are living. Nobody really lives towards the crater. I actually can imagine that would be a crazy idea, but everybody seems to just live right here on the coast. And their houses, I wonder how much it costs for home insurance if you want home insurance on that, if that’s your home. We’re kind of far from the crater, but you’ve seen what the 1914 eruption did, so yeah, that was only like 111 years ago. So yeah, I wonder about the insurance. Probably either you can’t get insured or it’s so expensive that over the years you’ll end up paying double for your home just through the insurance. But yeah, this is the map. And the interesting thing for me is this one, there’s a buried Torii gate. So that’s from the 1914 eruption, there’s like a Torii gate is like the entrance to a shrine and it’s like almost buried in lava, which is now rock, and it’s still like sticking out at the top, so that’s what I wanna check out. But that’s 17 kilometers away. And I’m seeing these a lot, the shelters. Not just these, these are the bush shelters. They’re made with corrugated iron, I guess, so people can actually use them as shelters. But there’s actually a bunch of these, this is number 22. I’ve already passed a bunch of them, but this is where if it starts spitting out clouds of rocks, and ash and everything, and you’re kind of caught in it and you’re in the neighborhood, you can just dive into there, into one of the shelters. What’s this? Do not enter the prohibited area. Mount Sakurajima has been active since the Showa eruption in 1955. So yeah, it’s constantly active. So it’s been constantly active since 1955. This time, do not enter the prohibited area. So the prohibited area is… we won’t be going anywhere near that, guys. We are just gonna go around the circumference, but yeah. So, you can’t do a hike or anything. I think you can get to some like viewpoints or some hikes. You can even like cycle up to some observatory viewpoint, which is like, ah, it’s only like half the way up. I don’t see the point really. You’re getting the same kind of view, unless you’re getting to the top of something like that, I don’t see the point in a hiking like a third of the way, for example. But yeah, you have to stay at least two kilometers away from the top off the volcano, okay. Oh wow, I wish it was like this all the way around, it would be much more comfortable to cycle. Oh wow, yeah. Exposed to the 1:00 PM sun. But there’s some kind of, I don’t know if that’s like a forest or what through there, or some kind of community that lives under these beautiful trees. Wow. If only, guys, if only it was like this all the way. This looks good to me. A shelter and two vending machines. Better try this, Craft Boss, it’s a fruit tea with peach and mango, and absolutely rammed with sugar, 33 calories per… not per bottle, per hundred ml, and it’s 500 mls, so 165 calories. But I guarantee you whatever ice cream and sugary drinks I consume during this tour of the island, I’ll have burned off way more calories than I’ve taken in. Oh, it’s nice. It doesn’t taste too sweet either. And I haven’t seen anyone else in either direction cycling. I think I’m the only mad enough person to do that. I’ve seen tons of people at the ferry port, tons of tourists, but none of them are over here. I haven’t seen anybody the whole way. I haven’t seen anybody anywhere. Everybody’s just… that’s kind of main area where the ferry goes and there’s like a onsen there, I think some kind of like hotel beach, like spa, like all that stuff is there for the tourists. I think there’s some like dinosaur park for the kids and there’s a bunch of like family stuff. There’s a… maybe an aquarium or something, I don’t know. But yeah, that’s where all the action is for the touristy tourists, for the mad lads like me, this is what we are doing. So I think we were here somewhere. I think the ferry’s like here somewhere and we’re here already, so almost like 20% of the way round. And how long was it? 50 minutes. Oh my god. So we’re 50 minutes and about 20% of the way in, and the Torii gate I want to check out is like over here. And yeah, also, there’s a bus stop I think once every hour or so, a bus will come up, a bus had passed me. So I mean, you could get to these points of interest if you wanted to see them without cycling. You could come and just use the public bus. But I mean, at each stop, you’d have to stay for an hour or wherever you stop at because it’s an hour till the next bus, and apparently on the island there’s only two taxis and you’d have to know their phone number and you’d have to hope they weren’t used by anyone else. But I think this is the way to get around, guys. But 29 kilometers still to go, and then I need to put the bike back before three hours and 10 minutes. So, I can’t be making too many of these pit stops, guys, as tempting as it is. And now it’s all uphill. It is 10 kilometers in, and oh wow, it’s getting even steeper, I can see. Yeah, this is what the girl warned me about who I rented the bike from, there was this outta the 10-kilometer point, there was this really steep part. Oh, wow. Guys, if I could go back in time and choose whether to come and do this or not, I would not do this. I would not do this at all. I would… Oh, wow, I would decide not to do this and decide to come and do this in like, I don’t know, the time of the year whether it’s like 16 degrees C or something, then I would enjoy it. But now, ah, it’s a slug and boiling heat. Oh, I think I’m near the top of this. I think it’s just over here, but that’s how far I’ve come up. Oh, wow. Well, yeah. Oh, I’m dying. Hopefully this is the top, and then I think this is the worst of it. From there it’s downhill, and then it’s just a few up, down, up downs, nothing big like that again for the rest of the route. Oh, my word. And this shelter doesn’t have any refreshments that I could really do with right now. I’ve absolutely smashed that bottle of peach tea. Yeah, about 10 kilometers, 9.9 kilometers from the porter, so 26 kilometers to go, guys, and it looks like, oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, wish your man luck on this. The chances of getting heat stroke, it is definitely not anywhere near zero. I would put it in the low percents. There’s, I don’t know, maybe 6 or 7% chance that I pass out before the end of this. Oh well, I’m usually well balanced on bikes, now I’m all over the place. Oh, what is this? Somebody’s house where they’ve set up? Oh yes. Where they’ve set up a vending machine. Nice cold green tea. Baby, oh, nice and cold. Ah. And it seems we aren’t done with the steep climb after all, guys. Ah, surely this is the top. Surely, we’re at the peak of how high we’re gonna get on this. Look around the island. Okay, yeah. Here’s the good part. This is the good part where you can just coast, where you can just coast, guys. Woo. Yes, yes, yes, yes. What is this? I don’t even know what that is, but I know what this is. It’s a downhill. Oh yeah, tremendous. Absolutely tremendous. And this is the hourly bus right here, the number 70. So there’s something or some sign there of something interesting. Should I cycle all the way back uphill to see what that says? Some kind of point of interest right there. Ash from the great eruption reached Edo. I thought they were gonna show me something. There’s nothing at all. It’s just a random information sign about ash. Catch ’em from Pokemon. Yeah, Japanese, they love their Pokemon, so they do. Okay, let’s continue. Oh wow, some fishing nets there. So I guess that’s an industry for the villagers that live around this kind of area. Ah, what’s this? Chill. Ah, it says closed. Ah, it says chill. I wanna chill. Well, wherever that chill place is, it’s closed. Ah, my god. No worries. They’re somewhere for me to chill right here. And that’s, I think, it’s just left out for anybody to take. If you want an ash covered umbrella, you can have it. Yeah, that’s a common thing in Japan, I’ve been noticing is rather than throw their stuff away, they’ll leave it for if anybody else in the community has a need for it. There’s something up there. I don’t even know, guys, I just wanna do the lift. There’s a few points of interest and stuff. The one that I’m really interested in is just the Torii gate that’s buried from the 1914 lava. The rest of the stuff, it’s mostly viewpoints, and I can view the volcano as I go around. But right now, I’m gonna have a look at these drinks. I think I’ve tried everything, but not that Apple one yet. Ah, this is just a wee one, [inaudible] here. 48 calories per hundred mils. These are all packed with sugar. This is like the only kind of time I drink these sugary drinks, is when I’m doing something mad like this, yeah. Oh, wow, I need it. Mmm! Oh, yeah. It says it’s 20% apple juice, but it tastes like a… yeah, it tastes like it’s just like 50% watered down natural apple juice. Let’s see where we are. So we started off down there at the visitor center, and we are a third, we’re about a third way around the island. So we’re about 12 kilometers round, and we’re not that far from this Torii gate that I went to visit. And there’s lava, just before that Torii gate, there’s some lava from the eruption during the Showa period that we can see as well. How far are we from that? Three kilometers. Guys, my Holafly e-sim is really coming in clutch on this Japan trip. If you’ve watched my previous videos in this series, you’ll know how important having a fast and reliable data connection has been for me. I’m always needing to check public transport times, get directions and complicated places like the massive train stations or translating signs that are only in Japanese so I can order the tastiest local food with confidence. Yum, yum, yum. Even in the remotest of areas like on islands and up mountains, my Holafly eSim has been reliably connected and that’s given me the peace of mind to travel and explore freely. But the best thing about Holafly for me is the unlimited data plans. Having no restrictions on my data usage has meant that I’ve been able to upload as many videos and stories as I want every day, and even live stream in high quality directly from my phone without having to worry about running out of data or incurring extra charges. So, if you’re planning a trip to Japan or anywhere, in fact, as it’s supported in over 200 destinations, I recommend that you get yourself an Holafly eSim. It’s quick and easy to set up, and if you buy a plan before you travel, it will be instantly activated as soon as you arrive in your destination. So click the link in the description or download Holafly from the app store, and don’t forget to use code DALEPHILIP to get a discount on your plan. Thanks to Holafly for sponsoring today’s adventure in Sakurajima, yeah. So, four minutes’ drive away, maybe like 15 minutes on the bike. Let’s go. It is so quiet and peaceful and remote up here, but they still have perfect paved roads, perfect infrastructure, and all that. That’s really nice, wow. That’s the main crater there. You can see where the smoke’s coming from. It’s all that smoke that we keep seeing that’s covering Sakurajima, and that’s where it’s coming from. Whew. Ah, here, two kilometers to the Kurokami buried Torii shrine gate. So, that’s a major tourist spot, a major thing to see on this island. Oh, wow. Could they view you yet as you go around? This kind of reminds me of taking the bike around, well, it was a motorbike that I took around Samosir Island, also a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Indonesia. It was like that, as you did the loop of the island, you’re always getting amazing views, yeah. And as I say that, now we just get a view of like, whatever this is, I guess it’s a lot of this stuff that you see, it’s like infrastructure for if there’s an eruption, or flooding or whatever, eh, because people actually are up here living. And this is all ash. This is from… this has been spat out, the volcano, right there. Yeah, yeah, like this, this looks like it’s been, I don’t know. Maybe this was lava and then it’s been carved out. I don’t know, there’s like pipes through it and stuff. I don’t know, guys, I think this is like to maybe stop landfills or something they cement over it. That’s what I’m guessing. So, I mean, there’s always an expert in the comment section who’ll let us all know what it’s for. But yeah, there’s the fact that there’s like pipes through it, but then the pipes are all like cemented. There’s like, yeah, the pipes all cemented, so I don’t know what the pipes are for. Oh, okay. Concentrate on the cycling, Dale. I was actually in the pavement because I thought it’d be a safer place to cycle, but there’s no ash on the road and loads of ash on the cycle path. So, I’ll just brave it with the cars on the road. Oh, another downhill stretch to take us to the Torii gate. We can’t be that far away. And I’m hoping, because it’s like a tourist spot, I’m hoping I’ll get some ice cream or something. All the vending machines… ah, see we’re 16 kilometers from the port, so 20 kilometers still to go. This is where we are and this is where we started. So we’ve done this halfway, almost halfway. All the vending machines I’ve been seeing are all… I wanna make sure I don’t go past that. I don’t wanna fly down there and then find out that, ah, there would be a sign in there. I’m hoping that I can get some ice cream basically, guys. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’m hoping there’ll be an ice cream vending machine at this Torii gate. Ah, here. Ah, yeah, this is the lava field. This is from the 1914 big eruption, the lava field, whole villages, helplessly engulf. So they’re roofing villages up here. People thought they were fine to be living up here for some reason. Yeah, this is the floor continued. All right. So it erupted, and then for months later it just kept flowing lava, lava. Just, people probably had enough time to get out their homes, but then it would’ve slowly come down the lava field from the Showa period. Yeah, late 1800s early. Well, it was 1914 when it was. So yeah, you can’t see anything. I don’t know what the point in this is. Or maybe it’s this, what you can see them now is the… this is the lava or that, but yeah, they’ve said all this is basically lava. Well, there’s nothing to see really, but I guess if it comes down massive amounts of lava again, they’ve kind of built something, some kind of like tunnel like we seen earlier on down there, yeah. So instead of it coming all over the place, it’ll be like channeled down there. So we have to be just like one minute away from this buried Torii gate, which was from the same eruption covered in lava and it’s still sticking out. That’s what I mainly want to see. This is the main event for me. Ah, another cell. That’s a big shelter, that one. Wow, yeah. What the heck? Oh, my stand is still up. There we go. Yeah, this is what they’ve built, this kind of tunnel here. Oh, wow. So is this actual old lava that’s down there? I guess it will be, yeah. And the rocks and all that, yeah. Well, look at it, just all the time like a cauldron just bubbling away, smoking away until it decides to blow its load. It’s just edging all that time till it’s ready to climax, guys, and spit it all out. Wow, what a magnificent thing that is. Oh, incredible. Isn’t nature incredible, guys? And nope, that’s not it. I’m kind of enjoying these downhill park spot? Is this it? I wanna make sure I don’t fly past it. Village buried under molten lava. Gatepost buried by eruption. Ah, it’s not this, this isn’t the Torii gate. This is some gate post, yeah. So this would’ve been… you can imagine how tall that was and that was part of the village or something. And this was like some… ah, it’ll be this. I don’t think it’s this, I think this is like modern. I think it’s this, this is… yeah, that would’ve been the top of someone’s gate post maybe to a home or something like that, and that’s everything we’re standing on. It’s like Pompeii, like the old village, and everything is completely underneath where we are right now. Yeah, there were signs that something was gonna happen for three days and the villagers thought it’s maybe like one of the other volcanoes like Aso, which is way north that’s near Kumamoto. But gradually the tremors became more frequent and more violent and then they gotta realize it’s gonna be Sakurajima, isn’t it? And the moment they had all been fearing came on the January 10th, 1914, this gatepost was completely buried in ash, pumice and lava, which was so hot that any houses it touched burned to cinders. 200 meters south of this gate post, a torii was also buried. That’s what I wanna see, the Torii. Yeah, so where’s the Torii? 200 meters south from this. Does that mean I just continue down this road? Ah, there’s the same post here. Torii buried under lava. Yeah, well, that’s it right there. This is it, the Torii gate. So that would’ve been a Shinto shrine and that would’ve been way above head level right there. That’s where people would’ve stood and bowed before going through to the temple, and now it’s completely buried. Look at that, wow. Yeah, the Torii gate that would’ve stood there for hundreds of years before the lava came down and engulfed it. That probably would’ve been one of the highest structures in the area, other than the trees. I wonder how old the tree is. I’m assuming all the trees would’ve… they wouldn’t have survived. Yeah, I guess that would’ve grown from the fertile soil, the ash after the eruption. But people seem to be coming and going from there. People are driving here. That’s a good idea, isn’t it? If you don’t wanna die of heat stroke. People are driving here just popping up under their umbrella, freshening up in the bathroom, grabbing an ice-cold drink from the vending machine. They’re doing it the smart way. I’m gonna take a look up there and maybe they’ve made a new shrine or something. I should probably move my bike out with this one. Probably, I’m supposed to park it in there, but, oh well, I’m doing everything different from everyone, aren’t I, guys? Let’s have a look in here. I think it is just a, maybe a nursery. Ah, it’s actually a community. There’s people living here. Yeah, this isn’t a shrine or anything. Or is it? It’s something. Yeah, this is like some kind of Shinto thing. You do prayers in front of these things. That looks like it’d be a nice little trek. I don’t know what’s up there, guys. That’s what I came to see. I like little unknown paths that look interesting like that, but what time is it? Oh my god. It’s quarter past three and I’m only halfway around the island, so I’ve got an hour and 45 minutes to get the bike back. An hour and 45 minutes to do 18 kilometers. If I just cycle back a little, yeah, I don’t really have any more time for sightseeing. This is what I came to see. That is badass, eh. That is cool, yeah. So it gives you an idea of the depth of the, eh, just like whole villages just completely covered as if they didn’t exist. But things like that show you, things that were built tall like that show you that there were, there was civilization there. Okay, the Coke Zero they have is cans. I need the bottle so that I can put it in my bag and sip. I guess the green tea again. Oh, yeah. Not much time, guys. When did I start? I started at one o’clock, right? So it’s been two hours and 15 minutes to get halfway, and I’ve got one hour and 45 minutes to do the other half. All these people just chilling, like not a drip of sweat on them. Your man, layers of sweat pouring out your man. Yeah, some photos from back in the day. The Torii gate, yeah. And there’s another sign in English here from three days before the people knew it was coming because the water and the wells all over the island, they started boiling. So the wells that they would normally get their water from, they all started boiling. There were shoals of dead fish floating ashore, and then the earth shook. Yeah, they knew, then they knew what was about to happen. Yeah, here in Kurokami, 687 houses were buried in hot ash. Only the top beam of this, three-meter-high Torii to Haragosha Shrine can be seen now. So that’s three meters tall, and now it’s only like, what’s that, like one meter tall? So two meters worth of ash covering everything, and that’s probably how big their houses were. They wouldn’t have had like multiple stories, village chief, and those will stop excavation work to show the fury of the eruption to later generations. Oh, okay. So yeah, they were excavating stuff and they just decided to leave it. It’s like to show people and future generations what happened and what can happen from the volcano. See, that’s what you want. How are you supposed to do that with a can? That’s what you want. And then they just stopped for like literally like 30 seconds. They did some kind of like stamp in there or something where you can stamp something. They came and they got their stamp and then they just left. They didn’t really even have a proper look, eh, they’re just stamp collectors, I guess. Gotta catch them all Pokemon style. Gotta catch them all. And these ones are waiting for the bus to get back, the hourly bus. So they must have come just to see the Torii gate. They took the bus to the Torii gate and they must have had to hang around for an hour to get back. That’s one way of doing it. And this is another way of doing it. I think probably the easiest way is with a car, eh, if you can rent a car. But this is the adventure, guys, this is the adventure, and this is the best view so far of the crater. That is incredible. That is incredible. See, you don’t get to appreciate it at this pace when you take the bus or you fly past it in a car. That’s the beauty of cycling. It’s just being able to… you might even want to rock up and just park up for like, I don’t know, just 20 seconds and take it in. Wow, what incredible sight. But yeah, I’ve got one hour and 40 minutes to cycle 18 kilometers on this kind of up and down terrain. So yeah, I’ve gotta make sure that there’s some late fee if you bring it back after 5:00 PM that is signed for, because they close at 5:00 PM, which means, I don’t know, they have to stay late or something. But the late fee was 11,000. Was it like 11,000 or something? It was like, yeah, like $80. So there’s like an $80 fine if you bring it back after 5:00 PM. So, yeah, I’m working hard here to save myself 80 bucks. Oh! Wow! Yeah, so… this is the way, if you wanna go into the mainland, I believe you go that way. So that would be the new land from the lava from 1914 when this was an island and it became like a peninsula, okay. It’s the first traffic light I’ve had the whole way around, it’s literally the first, probably the one and only traffic light on this island. Otherwise, it’s just like one road that loops the island, and then, of course, the little side roads to people’s homes and 13 kilometers for two thirds of the way. Well, I’m all the way knackered, guys. Check it out. Well, yeah, so that over there would be the mainland, the other side. I don’t know what’s over there. If there’s anything interesting over there. It looks like it’s a big fishing community. Looks nice, but oh, how much time do I have? I have an hour and 25 minutes. I should be timing it right. I should be timing it right to get back in time. It’s 13 kilometers. Oh, okay. Oh, that looks good. Forgot I had this. It’s not exactly the best place to stop. I didn’t plan on stopping here for a drink break. I just wanted to check out the view. But yeah, I’m gonna use the last remaining energy in my body to get this bike back to the visitor center. Some lava observatory here. It’s like a viewpoint, I don’t know. Actually, they’ll have a vending machine, won’t they? Oh, what is this? Is this an… Oh my god, you got an ice cream shop. Okay, that looks good to me. Ah, okay, ice cream. Soft cream. Okay, sounds good. Macha, kudasai. Okay. Arigato gozaimasu, okay, okay. See, that’s the thing with your vlogging, guys, you got one less hand, and that’s almost ended up on the ground. But it didn’t. Mmm, oh, that’s so good. Mmm. Oh, oh, mmm. Oh, that’s so tasty, mmm. I think I can just leave my bike there. What’s going on? I’m battling two cars. Well, it’s melting already, guys. That’s how hot it is. Oh, I don’t know what’s in here. Like nothing. But it looks like it’s might have air conditioning. Looks like a toilet in that exhibit space. This is dripping everywhere. Ah yeah, ah yeah, there’s no AC. It’s just a empty room with no AC. Yum-yum. I wonder if you can actually see anything from this lava observatory, people seem to be turning up at, but yeah, I mean there’s no active lava, so unless it’s like the old lava, I don’t know. Ah, what is this place? Ah, I think it’s just a viewpoint so that when there’s lava coming down, you can have a safe place to have a safe space, guys, you can have a safe space to bloody watch it without getting covered in it. And yeah, I think there’s absolutely zero point in me coming up here. Yeah, I’m just wasting time and energy. I’ve got, what have I got to do this last 12 kilometers or so? One hour and three minutes. Ah, man. Yeah, this is gonna be tough. I think I just need to cycle straight for one hour and not stop again. Ah, man. And just seven kilometers to go. We’re getting closer. About 80% of the job has been done. It’s got that last stretch. And thankfully a lot of it seems to be downhill. I think I’ve done all the hard work. The two strong legs, I’ve done most of the hard work. But yeah, very little of this journey has been on flat land like this. Almost all of it has been up, down, up, down. It’s been… yeah, it’s not what I expected. It’s been a lot more difficult than I expected. A lot more grueling, guys. And I knew it was gonna be hot today. I knew the temperature was gonna be pretty extreme, but even that is more extreme, and I thought it was gonna be. So it’s even harder than I thought, and yeah, the terrain is even steeper and more difficult than I thought. But this is where most of the people are living, so we’re getting close to civilization again. Most of the people are living near where the ferry port is, and it’s just the few random people that live up on the mountain. This is the main community down here. Ah, wow. Yeah, Sabo. Wonder what that is. Looks like it’s a hotel. Sakurajima Sabo branch office. Whatever Sabo is, that’s one of their branch offices. Huh. It looks like a hotel. I think there are hotels but they’re near the ferry port. I haven’t seen a hotel as I’ve been cycling around. Yeah, an interesting place to have a hotel, wouldn’t it? Like yeah, I don’t know if anybody’s gonna invest in that though. One, they kind of get insurance, and two, their investment might be swallowed up by lava. So that probably explains that one. And I said I wouldn’t stop again, but I think I’ve got time. I’ve been going at quite some pace and not vlogging too much. So, how much time do I have? I have 33 minutes. And I think it’s only like four kilometers, so yeah, I’ve got time. I finished that ages ago. I think I finished that just after I had that matcha ice cream like half an hour ago. But now what does this have? This has some other stuff. This has… What is that? I can’t even make that out. Is that a cake or sushi or something? It has like… what is this? Steak. It looks like it’s comes out warm or what? And what is that? I don’t even know. Some kind of sweet potato. And what is that? Hmm, so many interesting things here. Looks like there’s full meals. It looks like a stew. You can get a bloody stew from a vending machine. And what else? Some cuddly toys. Yeah, I don’t know what comes out. I don’t know if that’s like stew in a packet that you take it home to microwave it or it cooks it for you. Gifts from Kagoshima. Yeah, it’s like, hmm. Yeah, I don’t know what that is. I think the safer bet is like the confectionary items, like that. That looks good, doesn’t it? Some kind of like pastry and whatever that is. Looks like some kind of like sweet potato or something. First thing’s first, quench the thirst. And this vending machine, you can buy yourself a spider as well. Where’s the button for the spider? Wee spider found himself in there. That’s his home now. Well, I’m gonna get this one. This is my favorite one, my favorite green tea, bold green tea. It’s really dense, it’s like a really dense green tea. And that’s the one I always get to stock the mini bar when I’m staying in hotels, so I can get some of that. A nice cold one. Yes, nice and cold, mmm. Yes, that is good, mmm. Now, let’s get whatever this is, 20c. Hmm, is that the temperature inside? I don’t know what this is. It’s 650. It’s some kind of Sakurajima jelly. Hmm, it’s some kind of like jelly drink. Hmm, I want this. I want that one. Okay, let’s try this little thing. It’s called a Platinum Sweet tart and it is absolutely tiny for 150, which is like a dollar, a dollar for this wee thing. Mmm, mmm. Yeah, it’s like a soft pastry. It’s like a soft cakey pastry with some kind of sweet… yeah, mmm, it’s kind of like a… I don’t even know what I’m testing. It’s kind of like sweet and creamy, and yeah, maybe sweet potato cream and sugar, something like that. Some kind of like mixture like that. And a pecari sweat for the road. Yes, oh yes. Ah, yes, okay. We’ve got 15 minutes. Hopefully, we’ve timed this just right, guys, hopefully. Ah, side quest. I was almost at the… I’ve just seen this, I was almost at the visitor center, maybe like two kilometers away and I was just driving past, I don’t know what this is, but there’s some kind of, I don’t know, like lookout point or something, but this looks mad. This kind of mad volcanic passion lives here. 2004, 2006, some artist has done this. Ah, that’s like a guitar. So it’s like he’s coming out of the… It’s like he’s made off like hardened lava. That is cool, eh. That is a cool piece of art right there that somebody has made. That is badass. Looking right out onto the volcano. They’re screaming guitarist right there. How cool is that? That is very cool, yeah. And I think the sign said this was some kind of like concert venue or something down there. Portrait of a Shout, yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, there’s some kind of… I guess at some point this can be down there in the bay. It can be like a venue for concerts and all that. Oh yeah, there was a concert held in 2004, 21st of August, the all-night concert with 75,000 people gathering from all over Japan on Sakurajima, population 6,000. Imagine how much the hotel… But I think there’s like one hotel or something down there. Imagine how much the rooms are, or even in Kagoshima, how much the… Yeah, at least there’s like a 24-hour ferries to and from Kagoshima. But can you imagine how much the hotels cost in Japan? The very dynamic pricing with the hotels, I’ve been noticing that on Saturday nights, it can be double or triple when all the Japanese do their domestic tourism. Like weekdays are pretty cheap for hotels, and then Friday nights are like double, and Saturday nights are like triple, and then by Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, it goes back to normal prices, guys. So if you’re coming to Japan for five days, just say you’re coming for a five-day vacation, arrive on the Sunday. That’s my advice to you. Don’t arrive on like day one is Friday, day two is Saturday, because you’ll be paying a lot more for your hotels. But yeah, I’ve been here for months, so yeah, every Saturday I’m paying like double or triple for my hotel. It’s kind of annoying. Yeah, I’m gonna have to go fast now, guys. I’ve got four minutes. Yeah, I didn’t really have time for that side quest even. Yeah, I’m just trying to just nail it right on 5:00 PM. See, there’s side quests everywhere, but I can’t do them anymore. That is completely wrong. That is not the time. The time is 4:56 PM. And the visitor center, oh, this says it’s all downhill. This is good. I think it’s like another one kilometer or something. So, if it’s like this, we should do it. Hello. Ah yes, this is it here. No problem at all. We’ve got 90 seconds, guys. We’ve got 90 seconds. I’m pretty sure this is it. Yeah, visitor center, wow. Okay, so I’ll just have to pay for the extra one hour. I paid for three hours at 1:00 PM, so I paid for it until 4:00 PM, they close at 5:00 PM, so it’s 5:00 PM now, or it’s one minute? I absolutely nailed it, guys. It is literally… Here it is, this is where I got the bike. It is literally 60 seconds. I think I came out the other end. Well, I wonder if they think I was gonna be late. They were probably thinking they’re gonna get that fine out of me for the bringing it back a day late. Hello. Five o’clock? Yes. Just five o’clock. Yes. Sorry, I came the wrong way. Two minutes. Ah, okay. I think one minute, but it’s okay. Did you cover the whole… Yeah, I’m so tired. Yes. I’m so hot. Feels like 40, 45 degrees. That’s what it feels like. 44. Yeah, it feels like that. Yeah, I think, but real temperature is like 36 or something, but feels like 40, 44. – Because of shades.
– Yeah, no shades. So humid. – Yeah, humid is like 96% or something, yeah.
– Yes. Wow. How many persons with bike? No, fine. Yeah, totally. Good, I’ve got your chain as well. The ISP. Yeah. You and then more one person. – Me and one person take the bike today.
– Yeah, yes. Ah, okay. Only? – Yes.
– Okay. And he goes up to the observatory and comes back here. So they didn’t go for… Oh, they didn’t go around, they just went to the observatory. Oh yeah, I did the full work, yeah. You want me to pay for extra one hour? Ah, yes. Yeah, okay. And we’ll take one of these as well. And this, this looks good. Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, okay, thank you. Thank you so much. Have a nice day. Okay. I’m gonna go to the foot bath. I don’t really… Oh, I don’t really feel like doing something where the water’s all hot and stuff. I’d rather dip my feet in an ice bath to be honest. Hello? Hello. How are you? Fine. How are you? Where are you from? I’m from Nepal. Nepal, okay. Nice to see you, okay. [Inaudible], but also Kathmandu? Yes, Kathmandu and Pokara, and Sarangkot. Your YouTube name? Dale Philip. I think I’m your subscriber. Really? Let’s see. [Inaudible]. Yeah, Sarangkot. Sarangkot, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know. You go to Sarangkot? No. But I like to visit. Ah, you’re from Kathmandu? Yeah. Ah, okay. Your channel name? Dale Phillip. Dale. D-A-L-E. Phil. Phillip. Spell Phil. Phillip, like Prince Philip. David. Dale. Oh. Ah, you don’t subscribe. Ah, you lie to me. Now you subscribe. Okay, good. Now you subscribe. Okay, thank you for subscribe. You can also visit Nepal. Yes, I did before, yeah. Okay, look at this. – Oh, wow.
– Can I take one picture. This looks tremendous, okay. Yeah, sure. Your wife? Yeah. Okay. Friend. Friend, okay. Couples, couples. Ah. No couples, we’re just friends. Future wife. Yeah. Okay, Okay, nice to see you. – Nice to see you, too.
– Okay, where are you going today? Just around. Just roaming around? Yeah, like that. Oh good, oh yeah, I need this. Oh, thank you so much. – You forgot it.
– Yeah, I’ve got the perfect combo now. Pocari… yeah. Not live, recording. Recording. Yeah, you’re working here or tourist? Student? A student. Ah, okay. University? [Inaudible]. Huh? [Inaudible]. Oh, okay. Both of you? Ah, both of you? Yeah. Oh, okay. Same college. Ah, same college. Ah, okay. That’s good. Yeah, I’ve seen many of the Nepalis here, mostly in Fukuoka, yeah. Many Nepalis in Fukuoka, yeah. Nice to see you. Okay, nice to see you. Have fun. Okay, I’m gonna enjoy this. My Pocari Sweet and some shade… Oh, this is… oh that is tremendous. Oh, mmm. Oh wow. All chumps of different fruits, and it’s all like chewy and sweet, and the ice cream’s all, mmm, the ice cream’s all ice creamy. The ice cream’s all ice creamy, guys. Mmm, the fruit’s all fruity. Oh wow, the sweetness tastes so sweet. See, your man doing a food vlog. Keeps it real. Not one of these pretenders. Oh, oh, the rich taste of truffle and, mmm, giving hints of, mmm, like soil and, mmm, earthiness and bark, and it’s a fruit ice cream bar, guys, it tastes like fruit and bloody ice cream, doesn’t it? Oh, wow. This hot spring water was all the way over here. I need the shed. Oh, that’s what I need. It looks like one ferry is just leaving now, so yeah, that’s probably the one I’ll be taking back like 15 or 20 minutes. I was gonna soak my feet and maybe visit the ash beach and see what temperature the water is and all that, but oh, I’m knackered. This sun even at 5:00 PM is ridiculous. I can’t even describe how hot it is, guys, but yeah, I’m gonna head over to the porch. Oh, there was a Lawson, that’s good. There was a Lawson half the way towards the port. So I’ll get myself another refreshment there, something for taking on the ferry, I guess. I’ll snack and a drink and make a way back to Kagoshima mainland. Can’t beat it. Ah, I was hoping to get a delicious fruit sando, like the one that I was supposed to bring here. There’s a delicious fruit sando sitting in my fridge in my hotel that I got from Lawson back in Kagoshima. It had like pieces of kiwi, and I don’t know, like mango and strawberry and stuff, and the only fruit sando they had there was one lousy looking jam, like strawberry jam sando, in Scotland, we call that a jam piece. When you want something to eat and there’s nothing in the house, it’s Thursday, your mom does the grocery shopping on a Friday. You’re like, mom, I’m hungry. Go make yourself a jam piece still, make yourself a jam piece. You get a couple of bits of bread and just slap on some strawberry jam. That’s what that is. Ah, yeah. Shopping for the fruits. And so I got a Japanese tomato omelet sandwich instead. I haven’t tried… I had plenty of egg sandwiches since I’ve been here. Probably the most popular sandwich is the egg sandos. I’ve had plenty of them, but never one in the omelet style, so I’ll try that. And all these cars loading up onto the ferry, and these people, that will be the ferry that I’ve seen. I guess they work in Kagoshima, so yeah, locals, they’ll commute. We’ll just use that as commuting. Probably it’s a good place to live. Probably not that expensive and it’s very beautiful. And then they can live here, but they can work in the city just with a short ferry ride. And this one is, please pay in advance, no ticket, pay directly at the gate. So when you come here, you pay here, and when you leave here you pay here. So all the payments are done here, whether you’re coming or going. Ah, credit the card, okay. Yeah, they don’t accept MasterCard, only Visa. So, I’ve got both. Sometimes it is very rare that one of them isn’t accepted, but it’s better to have all options. I’ve got a MasterCard, the Visa, I’ve got the IC card, the Hayakaken, and I’ve got cash, so I’m covered, guys, no matter what. And I think I’ve timed this well. It looks like this is already loaded up and ready to go. So, as long as they don’t, in fact, I should just make a wee run right now just in case. Oh, in fact, that sound sounds like they’re about to take off. Not take off, it’s not a plane, but it’s about to go. Ah, yes. Oh, nice. Nice, nice, AC. All right, let’s see how this is. Feels all soft. Yeah, there’s a kind of wasabi mayonnaise on it. Mmm, oh yeah, tastes good. Nice and soft. Easy digestible like all the sandwiches in the Konbinis. But off we go back to Kagoshima. Okay, back in Kagoshima, and the plan now is to get a lunch. And right beside the ferry port, I spotted something yellow behind those trees, and it is the Golden Archies of Mickey. These, guys, I’ve been meaning to try that samurai burger that they have. I’ve tried the shrimp cutlet, that was really nice. That’s a unique thing that they have. I want to try their samurai burger, which is like, I think it’s like a quarter pounder with like soy sauce, sweet soy sauce or something like that. So, we’ll see what that’s like. I always do like to try the unique local food, guys, okay. It’s American food, but they always have a local variety, don’t they? Good old Mickey D’s. Okay, Samurai Mac. I put bacon. Okay, do you want a sip? Yes, please. With Coke Zero. Phillip, you know? Yeah, I know. Okay, good. From Nepal? I’m from Nepal. Oh, okay, good. You’re the second Nepali I see today, okay. Thank you very much. Okay, I’m gonna try this Samurai Mac. Delivered by a Nepali here in Japan. Okay, so this Samurai Mac is beef. Oh wow, look at the bun. Oh, the bun looks proper. It’s a beef party with soy sauce on the bottom and a slice of bacon on top. I’ve wiped my hands, guys, don’t worry, as I disassemble this, and a slice of cheese on the bottom. It looks proper and it looks messy, but I mean, it’s all good. I’m already in a sweaty mess from doing that four-hour cycle, so this burger is nothing. Oh wow, that’s a huge slice of egg as well. Mmm, oh wow. Oh, the soy sauce is so sweet, mmm. It’s proper bacon, egg, beef, sweet soy sauce, and a really nice like seeded bun as well. I think you can imagine how it tastes. Absolutely great, mmm. I want to give this 10 out of 10, but I realize I’m not in a good unbiased position to give it a score considering I’ve just done a four-hour cycle and I’m hungry. Like anything, like a dry biscuit is gonna taste like 10 out of 10 food right now. But this, oh, tremendous. That’s it for today’s vlog, guys. Hope you enjoyed it. And I’ll see you on the next one.

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I visited Sakurajima, the active volcano that I’ve been looking out onto from my hotel window in Kagoshima. It’s Japan’s most active volcano and is constantly spitting out smoke and ash.

I got there cheaply and easily by taking a tram and ferry. The ferry costs just 250 Yen each way, about $1.70 USD, and one leaves every 15 minutes. Really convenient.

At the Sakurajima visitor centre they have some footbaths set up so you can enjoy soaking your legs in the mineral-rich hot spring water. It was a nice experience but I probably would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t already boiling hot outside of the water. I visited Sakurajima on one of the hottest days of the year.

Somehow I thought it would be a great idea to rent a bicycle and cycle the loop of the volcanic island, despite the extreme weather. Thankfully there were plenty of vending machines on the route and I pretty much stopped at every one to quench my thirst.

The most interesting thing to see on the Sakurajima loop is the Tori Gate that’s buried under lava from the massive 1924 eruption. The entire village in that area was buried and the Tori Gate (the entrance to a shrine) is left there as a reminder of what can happen.

0:00 Intro
1:24 Ferry to Sakurajima
5:21 Arriving in Sakurajima
7:23 Hot Spring Footbath
9:55 Bicycle Rental
17:45 Uphill Torture
21:22 Downhill Relief
35:20 Lava Covered Tori Gate
46:53 Matcha Soft Cream
57:07 Portrait of a Shout
1:02:32 Fruit Ice Cream
1:08:21 Japanese Omelet Sandwich
1:13:09 McDonalds Samurai Burger

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