Winter Vacation Part 1: Kagoshima and Sakurajima

Now that winter break is less than a week away, I figured it's a fair time to post about LAST year's winter vacation. I decided to stay on the Japanese mainland. However, I wanted to go as far south as possible to escape the frigid Aomori winter, which meant a trip to southernmost main island: Kyushu.

After the usual night bus from Aomori to Tokyo (which almost didn't happen because of full bookings), we flew from Narita Airport into Kagoshima on the budget airline Jetstar. They are the cheapest method of air travel in Japan, but also the most inconvenient. Most cheap flights operate in the early hours of the morning before the trains are even running. Your only options are to sleep in the airport (Narita is much more uncomfortable to sleep in than Haneda) or stay in a nearby hotel. Many hotels in the area have free shuttle buses between Narita Station and Narita Airport, but many of them don't even begin running until it's too late to catch your flight. We stayed at Narita Excel Tokyu, which runs an airport shuttle bus starting at 5 am.

Arriving in Kagoshima early in the morning, we greatly enjoyed "one jacket weather", a nice 15 C temperature increase compared to Aomori. We rode the airport limousine (1200 yen) into Kagoshima City, dropped off our baggage at the hotel, and immediately headed toward the ferry docks. Like Hakodate, Kagoshima has a cute little cable-car system that you can take around the city, even though the stops are somewhat far from many destinations. We reached the ferry terminal after a short ride and a short walk, and were soon on our way to Sakurajima, a volcanic peninsula on the other side of Kagoshima Bay. The ferry is a mere 5-10 minute smooth ride and costs a measly 300 yen round trip for passengers without a car. 

Sakurajima from aboard the ferry.

Sakurajima is home to a very active volcano that constantly erupts on a small scale and emits clouds of smoke. I noticed while on the island that I was having a lot of trouble with my contact lenses. The whole area is constantly covered with a thin film of ash from the eruptions, and that ash was constantly getting in my eyes as well. While that might be slightly annoying, the volcanic activity has its benefits as well. Firstly, it's great for the local agriculture, where farmers can grow sweet mini tangerines, 桜島子みかん, and gigantic round daikon radishes. Secondly, naturally heated ground makes for an abundance of hot springs!

Sakurajima komikan, with 10-yen coin for reference.

They are seriously tiny...

Near the visitors center and hotel, there is a patch of open space beside the bay. Here lies an extensively long footbath, where you can enjoy views of Kagoshima facing one way or the towering volcano facing the other direction. There were a lot of shy stray cats hanging around as well, and one bold fellow strolled right up next to us and parked himself like a sphinx. Sitting there with our legs dipped in warm water while scratching the head of a purring local feline was pure relaxation at its finest.

Sakurajima, footbath, and a friendly feline.

Beside the footbath (behind us in the picture), there is a small hotel and restaurant connected to a hot spring bath. This bath is called the Magma Onsen, and while you won't have the pleasure of seeing magma itself, it features murky brown water heated naturally underground. The water is quite hot, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if there wasn't a strange old man doing squats and pushups in the pool, knocking about waves that splashed me to and fro.

In the other direction, there is a small visitor's center that gives the history of  the island turned peninsula. We were running out of time to catch one of the few local tour buses, so we only took a peek before dashing out the door. We wanted to complete the lava trail walk before getting on the bus at the end of it.

Along the beach, there is a short trail through a hardened lava flow. It's not particularly long, at around 1.5 km, and it offers a great view of some volcanic rock formation. Every so often along the trail, you'll run into a pile of berry seeds that's been pooped out by a small animal. Birds of prey are constantly gliding overhead trying to catch whatever is leaving that poop behind, and you'll spot them perched on the craggy volcanic spires if you're lucky.

At the end of a trail, you can board a tourist bus that will take you to the remaining interesting sites on the west side of the island. For example, there's a large monument to a legendary all-nighter rock concert held in the local quarry.

The main attraction is probably an observation tower halfway up the side of Sakurajima's mountain. You can get great views of both the volcanic peak, as well as Kagoshima Bay below. There are some videos and displays inside the tower that explain the various lava flows that created Sakurajima and connected it to the mainland.

After the entire round trip on the bus, there is still one more interesting attraction just east of the ferry terminal. It's a short walk along a very steep winding road, but the destination is a public park atop plateau. You can get good views of the bay and the mountains, but the most interesting thing about this park is the playground equipment.

DINOS! There is a multitude of dinosaur-shaped playground equipment that you can play on and take funny pictures. While the park itself isn't particularly popular or entertaining, we spent a good hour here messing around on the dinosaurs and trying to take the most comical photos and videos as possible. There's also a huge roller slide too, but the rollers are old and don't rotate very well, making it a slow and rattling ride down.

As the sun set, we trampled back onto the ferry and rode it back to Kagoshima City for the night. The next day would bring the REAL adventure...