Kagoshima is a lovely coastal city on the south tip of Japan with a warm climate overlooking the active Sakurajima volcano that rises out of the sea. It almost comes off as a bit cosmopolitan with wide streets lined with high end shops, flowers and street trams. There is a rich history of the Samurai in Kagoshima, and those who are fans of The Last Samurai will be able to see the birthplace of Saigo Takamori as well as the scene of the battle of Shiroyama. A ferry operates to Sakurajima and visitors can see the craters from a number of observation points, hike or relax in one of the onsen around the base of the island. Furosato is one of the onsen and is located by the water. As there is a shrine right by the onsen it is necessary to wear a white robe in the water, which is rare for onsen in Japan.
The next morning we got up early to get the hell out. We thought that surely the horrors of the night would now be over and we could continue on our merry holiday.
We returned our rental car and boarded the train in Aso headed to Kumamoto when it started to rain again. And it rained, and rained, and rained A LOT. So much so that suddenly the train was going backwards. Those kooky Japanese I thought – we must be doing one of those backtrack lines thing, all is well. All wasn’t well and the train stopped moving for 2 hours. Rain pelted down and we were told that tracks were flooded and the trains were all cancelled so a taxi bus came to ferry us across to Kumamoto Station. And when I say ferry, I didn’t choose that word just because I wanted to avoid saying ‘a bus came and bussed us’…. It literally FERRIED us because the roads were completely flooded.
Thinking that the hotel from hell was in fact cursed and was to blame for the horrible start to the day, we sighed in relief when we were far away from it and safely in front of Kumamoto station, ready to catch our train to Kagoshima. But oh no, the curse of Aso Hakuun wasn’t done with us yet – we walked into the train station and it was jam packed with people all standing around in groups, sitting on the ground, lined up in front of information desks – TV crews ran past us and people looked confused. The people looking confused were Japanese – imagine how confused we were! It seems that in an emergency situation in Japan all that lovely English information you get used to just disappears. The information screens were scrolling down in bright angry red Japanese characters, handwritten instructional signs were placed around in Japanese and the station staff were surrounded by hundreds of people. We walked around clueless for a little while when a group of men in hardhats and bright yellow suits ran past us and down the subway. We looked down and saw that you couldn’t actually SEE the subway – the entire platform was immersed in water and there were crews of men down there working on fixing the problem. After lining up at the info desk for ages we discovered that the local lines had all been cancelled due to the flooding, and a lot of the other lines were also cancelled or postphoned. After milling around for a bit eating lunch and browsing the food stalls in the station we eventually managed to get on a train to Kagoshima – our estimated 3 hour trip from Aso to Kagoshima had turned into a gruelling 8 hour trip.
Kagoshima Subway flooded
Flooded subway
People waiting in the station
We had planned on exploring a bit of Kagoshima that day – according to our itinerary we would have arrived in Kagoshima at about 12pm. I am quite a good planner; I include estimated times and back-ups but rarely include contingency plans for the wrath of god, the great flood or the newly discovered wrath of Aso Hakuun. That said by the time we arrived in Kagoshima it was too late to do anything at all. We were also super tired so we immediately headed to the hotel, checked in, ate dinner in one of their restaurants after searching for a good 30 minutes in the cavernous 80’s city inside an impossibly big building type hotel, and then went to sleep.
Kagoshima Castle Park Hotel
View from Castle Park Hotel - it sits on the top of a hill overlooking the city.
Poor Kagoshima, sorry we failed you but I still blame it all on Aso Hakuun (and not my skimpy planning..). Waking in the morning the sky was overcast and Sakurajima volcano was barely discernable so we abandoned all plans to take a ferry across to the volcano/island in the morning. Instead we booked our tickets at the Yakushima Jetfoil terminal, spent some time shopping and then headed off into the tropics *cue Jurassic park opening theme*
Our only glimpse of Sakurajima still quite overcast.
(for anyone planning to go to Kagoshima and actually see some sights I have included some information below. The city itself is actually quite attractive with a number of sights and a great shopping district so we were very disappointed to not have any time there)
Sakurajima
Sakurajima Ferry: Leaves 4 times per hour departing from Kagoshima Port. It takes 15 minutes and costs ¥150 each.
Sakurajima Onsen Bus: Leaves the Sakurajima ferry terminal every 30 minutes to Furosato Onsen between 8.45 - 5pm.
Furosato Onsen: Open 6am - 10pm, costs ¥1050
Accommodation
Hotel: Shiroyama Kanko Hotel (Castle Park Hotel)
Price: ¥23,100 for Double Room, Breakfast included for 2 people
Location: 41-1 Shinshoin-cho, Kagoshima-shi, Kagoshima
Additional: Including Breakfast
Web: http://www.shiroyama-g.co.jp/_99_en/
Booking: We booked through Japanican. Otherwise you can book directly with Shiroyama via phone: 099-224-2200 or email: yoyaku@shiroyama-g.co.jp
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