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Kagoshima-shi is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. It is located at the southwestern tip of Kyushu. It is often compared with the Naples, Italy for its bay location, hot climate, and Sakurajima volcano, the Vesuvius of Kagoshima.
Kagoshima City is approximately 40 minutes from Kagoshima Airport. Transportation options in the city include the Shinkansen or bullet train, local train, city trams, buses, and ferries to-and-from Sakurajima.
Attractions:
1. Sakurajima volcano
Sakurajima is one of Japan’s most active volcanoes and the symbol of Kagoshima. The volcano smokes constantly, and minor eruptions often take place multiple times per day.
Before a powerful eruption in 1914, Sakurajima used to be an island in the bay, but the massive lava flow from that eruption created the volcano’s current land connection to the Osumi Peninsula in the east. For the majority of travelers, however, the volcano is still most easily accessed by the ferries that run the 3.5 kilometers between Kagoshima Port and the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal.
There is a loop bus around Sakurajima island, between ferry terminal and Yunohira observation point, 500 yen 1-day pass. This can be used as a sightseeing bus, reserved from Sakurajima visiter center. See here:
We drop by a few places of our interest, like Karasujima Observatory, Akamizu View Park, the place where you can see the sculpture made of lava, Yunohira Observatory. We also walked a little towards Nagisa Lava Trail which is a 3 km walk.
credit:
2. Satsuma “kiriko” cut-glass factory where visitors are welcome to view the glass blowing and cutting processes.
Satsuma Kiriko is a form of overlaid colored glass that is famously delicate and luminous. The glass is cut boldly as well, giving it a beautiful gradation of color. Nariokira Shimazu, the 11th generation Shimazu clan lord of Satsuma, Kagoshima invited glass craftsmen from Tokyo to his domain to produce Satsuma Kiriko in the mid 19th century. Lord Shimazu foresaw that Kiriko cut grass would be an attractive object of international commerce, and bring wealth into his ruling province. Kiriko is done cutting glass by hand, using a clear crystal glass and overlaying color glass of 1 to 3 millimeters in size. Extra layers of colored glass are then added to create a graduation of color. This is the most unique characteristic of Satsuma Kiriko.
Details here:
3. Sengan-en Japanese garden is not included in the video, but that one together with the adjacent Shōko Shūseikan museum it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.
Main source: Wikipedia
Access: Kagoshima port to Sakurajima port: Ferry
Kagoshima port to Satsuma kiriko cut glass factory:
Kagoshima Ball park bus stop to Kajiya cho, by city Bus 11. Then N10 Bus to Sengan-en. 50-55 mins, 410 Yen
Sengan-en to Kagoshima station:
Bus N11, 8 mins, 190 Yen
Kagoshima Station to Aoshima Hotel
JR Nippo line to Minamimiyazaki Station by JR Nichinan line to Kodomonokuni Station. Then Walk to Hotel
Train time ~190 mins.
We share our travel details done on Sept 2013, through ensemble of photos and tips.
This is episode 2 of 7.
AloJapan.com