The Great Japan Pilgrimage 2 - Part V: Chiran and Sakurajima

Along the main street of Chiran

It was nice to have someone else to do the driving. After trundling south from Kagoshima for an hour we arrived in Chiran, renowned for its well preserved Samurai district and gardens. A stark contrast to the snowy landscape of Akita that I had recently departed, the Samurai homes had their sliding doors flung open, letting the warm winter sun (see THAT wouldn’t be a thing in Akita) flow beautifully into the tatami matted interiors.

We found a tiny local okonomiyaki restaurant (お好みカフェ 翔 Okonomi Cafe Ryu) where we over indulged in both okonomiyaki, takoyaki and then coffee (nearly a week here and Henry was still excited about the food).

Chiran Samurai Residence Gardens

Back in Kagoshima city we found ourselves at a lavishly decorated bar (B.B13 Bar), which after discovering the ￥1000 seating charge, we decided to dedicate ourselves to for at least a couple of drinks. To their credit, the snacks provided as part of the seating charge were delicious and the staff were wonderful. As we were leaving one of the bowtie-clad barmen came to the table to see us off and wish us well in Japanese, asking that we visited Kagoshima again. He then asked me how to say this in English so he could repeat it to Henry himself, which just warmed my heart.

Samurai Residence, Chiran

On our last morning on Kyushu we caught our next ferry of the trip across the strait to Sakurajima. Our week of travels starting to catch up with us (or rather me) we opted for a leisurely stroll along the Nagisa lava trail followed by resting our well worn feet in the foot onsen with a view of the volcano in the background.

Carting our suitcases across the city on the trams we found the bus that would take us to the airport, ending our time in Kyushu and seeing the start of our holiday in Okinawa.

Sakurajima

After reading Number9dream I was under the impression that Kagoshima was a smaller, harbour city. Wrong. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it is right down the southern tip of Kyushu that lead both Henry and I to believe it would be that small. We were surprised to find that it was actually the largest city that we had visited in Kyushu and fell into the ‘small enough to have character but big enough to have shit to do’ category that I lovingly bundled Sapporo and Kanazawa into.

After a whirlwind of beaches, shrines, mountain roads and izakayas, our time in Kyushu had come to a close.