After Okinawa, we flew to Kagoshima. I didn’t really have any set plans there, so we just wandered around town.
Apparently Kagoshima is very proud of being the home of Saigo Takamori. Just wandering randomly around town, it seemed everything we ran into was related to Saigo Takamori.
Above is a monument for when his sword thrust through his mother’s vagina. Seriously, that’s the memorial for where he was born. We also saw the grave of his friends, the place he grew up in, the place where he died, his friend’s house…
Here’s the cave where he hid in the mountains. It was quite a disappointment, actually. We climbed over a mountain, then walked around the other side to see this.
There were lots of amusing English signs at the sites. Like this one, “his personality is like General Grant Jackson”. I wonder if they meant Andrew Jackson, Stonewall Jackson, or Ulysses S. Grant…
We also saw the castle, or what was left of it, at least.
We climbed the mountain behind town which had some pretty trails in our search of Saigo Takamori’s secret hideout.
It was filled with tons of wild cats.
We also saw this cutie. No idea what it is.
The Buddha statues behind the mountain were also pretty cool.
For lunch we had this.
In all of Japan these were the most popular vending machines. “The boss of them all”. We thought it was amusing.
Next we took the ferry to the island across the bay to see the volcano.
There’s what we saw of the volcano.
But we did get to see the dinosaur park.
It’s like a yakuza dinosaur or something… There were like ten dinosaurs.
There was a really pretty road to the dinosaur park too. I liked all the moss growing on the side.
For dinner we had some tasty katsu stuff. The katsu in Japan is way better than any I’ve tried in the US… It’s more light and fluffy.
Our hotel folded origami for us.
Kagoshima was nice but not the most exciting place to travel. Although it would have been better if we could have seen the volcano.
Next stop: Miyajima.
Wow I didn’t even know about the dinosaur park, or this trail. Kagoshima has some pretty scenic views from the surrounding hills, it is too bad you didnt get to see the volcano which perodically belches a scary black cloud that then rains down on the city; you can usually see it from that hot water foot bathing trough near where you got on the ferry. Sometimes so much ash falls it covers the streets in grey soot, and in response you’ll see guys washing their cars to get rid of itor these trucks that spray water going up and down the street. I would find it to be a dreadful place to live for that reason. Like most large cities, it does have a decent shopping arcade, and I liked the trolley car system. I suspect kagoshima is the southernmost bastillion of civilization in kyushu, and there nothing to see south or east of the volcano except farming communities, separated by winding roads. I don’t think the other compass points (west, south, or even north of Kagoshima) offer many attractions or ammenities either.
My friend *really* wanted to check out the dinosaur park which is why we took the ferry across the bay despite it being too foggy to see the volcano.