2 weeks in Kyushu with the Japan rail pass. Part 4 of 6: Day 9 – 10 Kagoshima and Sakurajima

Day 9: visit to Sakurajima – volcanic foot bath – food stall village in Kagoshima

Sakurajima is an active volcano and the symbol of Kagoshima. Easily accessible from Kagoshima city centre by a ferry which runs every 15 minutes during peak time.

We bought 2 days ‘CUTE’ pass which is good for city tram, some of the city buses, Sakurajima ferry and ‘Island view’ bus in Sakurajima, ¥1800 (¥1200 1 day).

Sakurajima ferry runs frequently and the journey only takes 15minutes. We took a special ferry called ‘Yorimichi Cruise’ that runs only once a day. This journey takes 50minutes so the passengers can take the time and enjoy the view of Sakurajima and Kinko bay. A regular ferry is ¥160 (single) and Yorimichi Cruise is ¥500, but it’s included in CUTE pass.

Once in Sakurajima, we used the Island View bus for sightseeing. It loops around only the area near the ferry port, but stops at many sites of interest and ideal for a day visit.

We all were in awe of Sakurajima’s stunning and dynamic natural scenery and had a wonderful day. Tired, but content after having such a memorable day, we got on an early evening ferry to return to Kagoshima city. But there was no time to rest as there was a very special activity waiting for us – the ferry udon!

There is a soba/udon stand in a Sakurajima ferry and it’s kind of an only-on-Sakurajima-ferry experience. I find it funny, interesting and so unique that there is a noodle stand in a 15 minutes ferry journey! As soon as we stepped onto the ferry we went straight to Yabukin noodle stand and ordered a bowl of soba noodles and udon noodles (¥450 each). It will not win any gourmet awards anytime soon, but it was comforting, it made sense and it was so much fun! We emptied our bowls as we approached Kagoshima ferry port.

We took a bus to Kagoshima chuo station. It was Saturday and we could have taken Kagoshima city view’s Saturday-only night view bus, but we must have been completely dazed by the beauty of Sakurajima, forgot about it!

Instead, we were in a yatai (food stall) village near Kagoshima chuo station. We went to a place called Kaburituki where C ticked off 2 items from his to-eat list.

The yatai village was really busy, lively and lots of fun!

 

Day 10: Kagoshima city sightseeing and Kagoshima food tasting

As already said, you can use the Kagoshima City View bus with the CUTE ticket. City View loops around and stops at the main sightseeing spot in Kagoshima city and is perfect for tourists. Just be careful not to get confused with other buses such as ‘Machi-meguri bus’ that covers similar route but is not included in CUTE.

Our first stop was Shiroyama observatory.

We hopped back on the city view bus and went to Sengan-en. We weren’t planning to go into the Sengan-en garden, but going to get off at this stop and have a look around. However, the driver announced a possible disruption and heavy traffic in later busses, so we decided to stay on the bus going back towards the city centre.

We got off the bus at Tenmonkan area and went to Yamakataya, an old fashioned department store established in 1751. They have a restaurant on the 7^th floor and I heard that their katayakisoba (crunchy noodles with thick sauce with lots of vegetables) was a local favourite and wanted to try it out. Yamakataya Shokudo is a family restaurant like Denny’s, so what they do is a every-day comfort food at very reasonable price. And that’s exactly what the katayakisoba noodle was to me – homely, comfortable and only ¥700!

Yamakataya has a food hall on the ground floor. It may also be fun to try out different snacks and local food there too.

Another Kagoshima must-eat I was hearing about was shirokuma (polar bear), a shaved ice topped with condensed milk and fruits. You can find shirokuma in other restaurants and cafes in Kagoshima, but we went to its birth place, a cafe/restaurant called Mujaki in Tenmonkan area.

There was a long queue when we got there, so we went for the takeaway option. A full sized shirokuma is ¥740, the take away one is smaller and ¥450. Everyone was eating takeaway shirokuma outside Mujaki and it was like a street party! Cold, milky, fruity shaved ice was a perfect thing to eat on a hot summer afternoon and we enjoyed the busy and lively atmosphere.

Kagoshima is a major producer of Shochu liquor in Japan and we were hoping to find a nice shochu bar whilst in Kagoshima. Conveniently, we found one just opposite Mujaki.

Kiritsu is a standing only bar, but they also have foldable stools if you want to sit down. They have over 80 different kind of shochu most of which are ¥250 per glass. You need to buy a ticket first from a machine.

Take your ticket to the counter and tell them which shochu you’d like. They keep bottles around the bar counter so you can just point.

You can have shochu with or without water. We had ours on the rocks with a glass of water on the side. Each shochu we tried had it’s own distinct character, aroma and flavour. People were super friendly there and it was such a tasty and exciting experience.

We walked around Tenmonkan area a little bit more, had a short night tour on trams then headed back to our airbnb.