Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kagoshima City is the capital of Kagoshima Prefecture, which is close to where Kyushu
Island terminates. It's an important place because it is the Japanese mainland's hub of ferry
traffic to all the islands to the south. From here, one takes ferries to the relatively close islands
of the Ōsumi and Tokara chains, plus it's the departure and arrival points of ferries to the
more distant Amami Islands and Okinawa. It's a city of about 600,000 people and famous for
its multitude of hot springs resorts.
Starting at Kagoshima, near Kyushu's southern end, the land cleaves most dramatically
into two long pincer arms. The western fork is the Satsuma Peninsula (
薩摩半島
; Satsuma-
hantō). The longer eastern arm is the Ōsumi Peninsula (
大隅半島
; Ōsumihantō). The Ōsumi
Peninsula's extreme final tip is Cape Sata (
佐多岬
; Sata-misaki), the southernmost point of
mainland Japan. Within the fork is an extraordinary deep water inlet and natural harbor, Ka-
goshima Bay (
鹿児島湾
; Kagoshima-wan), which is also widely known as Kinkō Bay (
錦江湾
;
Kinkō-wan), where Kagoshima City is located. The city is known as the “Naples of the East”
and is, in fact, a sister city to Naples. Like its Italian counterpart, a gorgeous bay overlooked
by volcanic Mt Vesuvius, Kagoshima also enjoys a spectacular vista. Upon the clear, blue wa-
ters of its bay floats a great volcano, Sakurajima (
桜島
; Sakura-jima).
One of the most active volcanoes in Japan, if not the world, Sakurajima has had a number
of violent and destructive eruptions in its history. Its 1914 eruption was the most powerful in
20th-century Japan. Its activity commenced again in 1955 and it has more or less been erupt-
ing ever since. Thousands of small explosions occur every year and not a day goes by that
residents and visitors do not experience a minor earthquake or witness a rising smoke plume,
volcanic ash or some other pyroclastic display. In fact, the continual emission of volcanic ash
is a real annoyance to the people who live there. Cars must be continually washed, windows
cannot be left open and hanging laundry must be rushed into the house. Most people carry
an umbrella not for rain but for ash.
Kagoshima Harbor, mainland Japan's jumping-off point for the Ryukyus.
