The Day in Kagoshima

After our amazing trip to Yakushima, we came back to Kagoshima and I got to spend the whole weekend with S and her husband before heading back to reality (aka Tokyo). 

Kagoshima is a really beautiful prefecture surrounded by many volcanic mountains (most of which aren't active anymore). This means that they also have many onsen (温泉), or hot springs, to enjoy. Kagoshima is famous for many things including Sakura-jima (桜島), the still active volcano, and Kuro-buta (黒豚), the Kagoshima black pig (which I've never eaten because I'm vegetarian...but I hear it's really good!).

They also seem to be very proud of the rich history they have, such as the Satsuma-han (薩摩藩), and you will see statues of various scenes from history all around the city. You can even listen to a recorded explanation of each scene. If you're into history, you'll love it.

The city of Kagoshima also has a very convenient tram system. One of the things I noticed was that every tram station had grass growing on the tramway. Apparently this is one of the city's countermeasures for the urban heat-island effect which they started in 2006. And according to data regarding these areas, not only has the temperature gone down but so has the noise level. Isn't that great?

I have a few more Kagoshima posts coming up, but until then, here are some photos of our day hanging out in the city! x

The statues of a scene in Kagoshima history...my friend said they are life-size statues!

The tempura set looked delicious, too. You can see we were pretty happy with our lunch!

It also has a great view of the city below...and it's all free! :D