April 8th - Kagoshima highlights - Sengan-en and Sakurajima

I woke up very early in the morning and thought I give the Onsen (hot spring) a shot. My first time! The staff in the hotel were nice enough to give me permission in spite of my tattoos and in spite of their written regulations (I was not so lucky in my current hotel in Kanazawa).

If you happen to be in Japan just try it out. It's really relaxing and a good experience. Naturally no pics.

Refreshed I had my first Japanese style ryokan breakfast.

The closed bowls contain steamed Tofu and fried vegetables.

Not bad for a start.

In Kagoshima (and other cities) they have often special hop on/hop off deals for "view" buses for foreign and domestic tourists. In Kagoshima for example the loop bus is 500 Yen for a day. The next stop was very near to the hotel, so I went there and took some pics from the window while going to Sengan-en, which is about 7km outside of the city.

Part 1 - Sengan-en

The Sengan-en is one of the 3 most important gardens in Japan and a national treasure. It is on the old domain of the Shimazu family and contains the garden, their old villa and a museum for early industry (the Shimazu were the first to produce cast iron cannons). The domain belongs to the family until today and what they did with the garden and Villa is simply great.

The Sengan-en entrance area with the Shimazu crest.

A shrine on the premises. IIRC it was a shrine for the wind and water deities.

One of the oldest industrial furnaces in Japan was once at this location.

A grave for a princess.

Detail of the tombstone.

Colours! Awesome colours.

Often took a while to be able to make a pic just in the magic moment where there are no people.

Same here.

Up there is the villa. I like those quasi bonsai.

Of course also a stone garden.

Always nice to find a Sakura in a weird spot.

Colours and texture.

Mt. Sakurajima, The white stuff is actually volcanic and not a cloud.
The mountain is the most active volcano in Japan.

Funny story with this one.
The then head of the Shimazu clan employed 3900 workers to chisel and paint this 11m tall inscription into the mountainside in 1814.
Wanna know what it means?
.
.
.
"Really big rock."
I dig that humour.

Before everbody is bored senseless I stop with the garden pictures and conclude with some mobile pics. After finishing viewing the garden I had lunch in one of their restaurants. In contrast to tourist spots in Germany and other countries the prices and the quality are usually fair. The waitress (in Kimono!)  gave me a window seat and this is probably the best pic of Sakurajima I took that day.

This was my frugal lunch. Hotpot (shabu shabu) from the locally bred black pigs with assorted side dishes and vegetables for the broth. Which in itself was awesome. This whole meal was 1500 Yen, so around 13 €. For that money you get maybe a mediocre "curry sausage" with fries and industrial condiments in Germany in a comparable tourist spot. And you are expected to give tips though the service is usually lackluster. Compare that and weep german tourist industry!

Posh souvenirs in a posh souvenir shop with appropriate posh prices.

Part 2 - Sakurajima

Leaving out the boring part where I got off at the wrong stop (again) and had to walk unknown areas of Kagoshima, I arrived at the harbour. The ferries go around every 15 minutes and take 15 minutes to cross over to the former island.

Over there is also a loop bus which goes to roughly a third of the mountains height to a view spot and then back again. There is not much more to do on Sakurajima with a tight schedule, so I did that.

Approachig Sakurajima Pier

There is a shrine with a large Torii gate near the pier.

Why has marketing to be always this grand and at the same time devoid of any meaning?

Waiting for the bus. Admiring this little tree.

The following pictures are all taken from the highest vantage point the bus serves. It waits there for like 10 minutes before going back. The view was actually much better with the unarmed eye.

 With my well earned sunburn and pretty tired after this day I grabbed some grub in an Izakaya and then went to bed to be fresh for the next day adventure, the mountain railway tour!