Kagoshima

Overview

An adorable city, this is Japan at walking pace and an excellent base to use for walkers and hikers wishing to explore the volcanic region. There's great history in the tree-lined city, the last stronghold of the Samurai, and a walk from the station to the bay will take you past walkways with koi swimming alongside, to the castle and museums, a hill-top walk with views all along the bay and out just by Louis Vuitton!Kagoshima - as you can see from the map - is built on a beautiful bay opposite the volcanic island Sakura-jima (cherry blossom island). The volcano itself is just a 15min ferry ride away and is excellent for activities from a stroll in the heat though the old lava flows to a great cycling route. The main attraction is a small mini-bus ride away to a multi-sex 'onsen', a naturally heated hot-spring right on the edge of the sea and beneath a shinto shrine.

The shopping and restaurants here are impressive for such a small city. The variety of shops is excellent, there's every brand or individual retailer you could wish for in very modern shopping malls and smart streets. But, as the city sevices a wide countryside region, you still get a valuable feel of a small town... kids hip-hop dancing in the small park together, young couples meeting by the river, old men fishing together, all adds to an altogether very different experience of Japan that is rarely found in the bigger cities....more

History