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TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome fellow adventures. This is the hundred and first day on our adventure and we are in Kagoshima, Japan. Kagoshima is the southern most major city in Japan’s southern island, Kyushu.
Kagoshima is visually and physically dominated by the majestic and active volcano, Mt. Sakurajima. This volcano hovers 3,500 feet above the city and the bay, and it is said to erupt about 400 times a year, so that means on some days it erupts more than one time. In fact, it was erupting while we were here!
We took a bus drive from the cruise terminal through town and onto a ferry to get to the volcano. There was a huge cloud of smoke and ash in the air and the cloud got bigger the closer we got to it. When we arrived at the viewing point, there was ash all over the ground and as a result, Kagoshima has very fertile soil.
It is a perfect area to grow crops and Kagoshima is known for its production of Sencha tea, rice cultivation, and black vinegar. In fact, Kagoshima is the most southern major city and trading port of Japan. It also was the first trading port in Japan to trade with the Europeans.
Interestingly enough, the first Roman Catholic missionaries came to Japan through Kagoshima. In fact, today, Kagoshima is a major Christian city due to the exposure to the west. It was also the first city in Japan to modernize with steam power and electricity. It was considered to have started the industrial revolution in Japan.
Since this is our last stop in Japan, I wanted to give you some of my imppressions of Japan. Japan is an incredibly clean country with no trash anywhere. I found the people to be very generous, kind, and absolutely respectful, and if I had to come up with one word for Japan, it would be purposeful.
They have a purpose, a reason, and a function for everything they do and it is well thought out and you can see that in their cities, their streets, their food, their dress, and the way that they interact with you.
Unlike other Asian countries where I would consider it almost chaotic compared to what you find in Japan and it is such a dichotomy of extremes coming from China, Vietnam, Thailand, all these other countries, and then going in Japan and it’s like peaceful.
Now I’m going to bring up the subject and change it drastically to toilets. You go into Asia and it’s really common to find a hole in the ground (a porcelain hole in the ground) for a bathroom, and they consider a toilet as we know it as a Western toilet. Well, when you go into Japan, not only do you have western toilets, they play music and the toilet seats are heated!
They also have like a bidet where you can wash yourself, dry yourself. You can do everything. In fact, I took a picture and a video of this because it’s so hard to imagine, and this is in the public bathrooms. I’m not talking about people’s homes. It’s in the public bathrooms.
It actually put a big smile on my face because as I said earlier, they’re purposeful. They have a reason and function for everything. I had a lot of preconceived ideas and thoughts before I got to Japan because this is the first time I’ve been to that country and I have to say I was so surprised and delighted by my experiences being in the country.
First of all, when you go to a Japanese toilet, they play this sound like running water. And then you’ve got the choice of a bidet, you can get a dry clean if you want instead of using paper, and it’s quite an experience!
I have learned so much from the Japanese people, from their food to their practices with their Buddhism and shintoism and shrines and architecture to their high speed bullet trains.
I’m very thankful I had the opportunity to go to Japan and I do look forward to going back. Our next stop on our adventure is going to be Manila in the Philippines.
In closing, my wish for you is that you will love abundantly, protect your health, and be adventurous for life. You are beautiful. Let your light shine, Aloha!
~ Kari
AloJapan.com