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Kagoshima prefecture (鹿児島県 Kagoshima-ken) is the southernmost prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. The prefecture also covers a large number of islands around the southern coast extending halfway to Okinawa.

[edit] Cities

• Kagoshima - with the view over steaming Sakurajima volcano
• Kanoya
• Chiran - has the Chiran Peace Museum, for kamikaze pilots
• Izumi

[edit] Islands

In addition to the mainland, Kagoshima includes a spray of subtropical islands, extending south to and culturally strongly influenced by Okinawa. The northernmost group is the Ōsumi Islands (大隈諸島 Ōsumi Shotō):

• Kuchinoerabu — active volcanoes, hot springs and fishing
• Mishima Islands — three small but very volcanic islands a short hop from Kagoshima City
• Tanegashima — home to Japan's largest spaceport
• Yakushima — subtropical island with giant cedar forests

Next are the tiny and rarely visited Tokara Islands, followed by the much larger but still sparsely populated Amami Islands, a part of Okinawa in all but name.

[edit] Other destinations

• Cape Sata, the southernmost point of the Japanese mainland
• Kirishima-Yaku National Park — volcanoes on the mainland, ageless giant cedars on the islands

[edit] Understand

Saigo Takamori in Ueno Park, Tokyo

Kagoshima prefecture is located at the south end of Kyushu, which is the southernmost of the four main islands in Japan. Here you can find the majestic cedar forests of Yakushima Island, active volcanoes such as Sakurajima, abundant hot springs and rich nature.

[edit] History

Kagoshima was formerly known as Satsuma (薩摩) and was one of the strongest Japanese provinces, at its height ruling an empire whose effective domain extended from Okinawa in the south to northern Kyushu. Fiercely reactionary, the city of Kagoshima was bombarded by English warships in 1863 in retaliation for the murder of an English trader, an event still known among the Japanese as the Satsuma-England War (薩英戦争, Satsu-Ei sensō).

While initially supportive of the Meiji Restoration of 1868 and a key contributor to the military defeat of the Shogunate's forces, Satsuma soon balked at the new government's attempts to roll back the privileges of the samurai. By 1877, the province had done a U-turn and was now at the forefront of the Satsuma Rebellion (西南戦争 Seinan-sensō), somewhat reluctantly spearheaded by Saigō Takamori (西郷 隆盛), a near-mythical figure whose story was (very loosely) adapted for the Last Samurai movie. Outnumbered and outgunned, the rebels failed to take Kumamoto's castle and were soon hunted down, Saigō dying in the final Battle of Shiroyama in Kagoshima.

With the rebellion over, Satsuma's port was converted into an Imperial naval stronghold that gave birth to Japanese admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.

[edit] Climate

Sub-tropical Kagoshima is the rainiest part of Japan, experiencing not one but two rainy seasons that stretch nearly uninterrupted from May to July. Parts of Yakushima island get nearly 9000 mm — that's nine meters — of rain yearly, or about seven times more than Tokyo!

Hot on the heels of the rainy season come typhoons, peaking in August and September. The shoulder season that follows is one of the best times to visit, as is spring, with cherry blossoms flowering in late March. Winter can be surprisingly cold, with average temperatures on the coast around 7° and snow in the mountains.

[edit] Talk

The Kagoshiman dialect of Japanese, called Kagoshima-ben (鹿児島弁) or Satsuma-ben (薩摩弁), is famously incomprehensible to other Japanese. A local legend claims that this is intentional, so spies from elsewhere couldn't understand it, and this was even put to the test: while the American army employed Navajo codetalkers during World War II, the Japanese navy recruited fast-talking Kagoshima-ben speakers! These days, though, virtually all locals speak standard Japanese as well.

Kagoshima-ben stands out with unusual tonal accent and word stress, by distinguishing between ji じ、di ぢ、zu ず and du づ, and above all with an extensive array of local vocabulary. A few samples for flavor:

[edit] Get in

[edit] By plane

Kagoshima's airport, about two hours by air from Tokyo, is well-connected to the rest of Japan and has links to Seoul and Shanghai. There are also direct flights to Amami Oshima from Tokyo-Haneda and Osaka-Itami.

[edit] By train

Kagoshima is the southern terminus of the Kyushu Shinkansen line. As of 2009, there's still a gap in the network between Yatsushiro and Fukuoka, so a trip from Tokyo entails changes in Osaka, Fukuoka and Shin-Yatsushiro, taking over 8 hours and costing a cool ¥29,000. By 2011, the full length should be open, allowing direct trains from Osaka and shaving over an hour off the travel time.

Alternatively, the JR Nippō Main Line (日豊本線 Nippō-honsen) travels from Fukuoka to Kagoshima via Kyushu's eastern coast, passing through Oita and Miyazaki.

[edit] By ferry

Virtually all ferries heading south towards the Amami Islands or Okinawa call in at Kagoshima. The main operators are A-Line Ferry [1], aka Maru-A (マルエー) and Marix Line [2], both of which run between Kagoshima and Naha (Okinawa) on alternating days. The full trip all the way from Naha takes about 24 hours and costs ¥14,200 in 2nd class — not much of a savings over a plane ticket.

[edit] Get around

[edit] By plane

Most of the prefecture's larger islands are served by flights from Kagoshima, although schedules are sparse and costs high. For example, JAC's 25-min hop to Yakushima costs ¥12,750 one-way.

[edit] By ferry

Kagoshima's islands are connected by a web of ferries radiating out from Kagoshima, with some also calling in at Ibusuki.

[edit][add listing] See

[edit][add listing] Do

[edit][add listing] Eat

Kagoshima is an agricultural area, known for numerous products:

• Black pork (黒豚 kurobuta) is from a variant of Berkshire hogs, and is the most highly prized pork in Japan. It is named for the color of the hogs, not the meat.
• Potatoes (芋 imo), particularly sweet potatoes (サツマイモ satsumaimo), are used in a variety of dishes and snacks, as well as in making shochu. Purple sweet-potato ice cream is available in various shops.
• Black beef (黒牛 kuroushi) is the well marbled local beef.
• Tropical fruits, grown both on the main Kyushu island and neighboring smaller islands, are available inexpensively at fruit markets around town.
• Local fish and shellfish are also common.

Special dishes in Kagoshima cuisine include:

• Tonkotsu (豚骨). This is a pork stew where the meat is marinated in shochu and slow cooked; the bones turn into gelatin and are eaten as part of the dish. Not to be confused with tonkatsu, the fried pork cutlet!
• Satsuma-age (さつま揚げ). This is a kind of fried fish cake. Different shapes have different flavors, e.g. the large rectangular ones have carrot in the middle, the small round ones have sweet-potato flavor, and so on.
• Kibinago (きびなご). A kind of small fish, similar in size to a sardine. The fillets are served raw, with a white miso sauce for dipping.
• Chicken sashimi (鳥さし torisashi). Sliced raw chicken and chicken hearts are common.

[edit][add listing] Drink

Kagoshima's speciality is imojochū (芋焼酎), a strong liquor distilled from sweet potatoes (薩摩芋 satsuma-imo). Manufactured here for over 500 years, it's infamous for its peculiar smell (often likened to gasoline and other unpleasant things), but recent varieties have reduced it to bearable levels, revealing a complex, almondy taste and the humble workman's plonk has been transformed into a high-class tipple now enjoyed in Tokyo's fancy bars. The local custom is to drink shochu mixed with hot water, called oyuwari (お湯割り), but first-timers will probably want to start off drinking it cold with ice instead.

[edit] Stay safe

[edit] Get out