Our New Chapter, Iwakuni to Okinawa

February 26, 2021 – Our ferry from Kagoshima was set to depart at 1800 on the 27th of February and we would land in Okinawa the following day. Unfortunately, we received a phone call from a travel agent that the ferry for that particular day had been cancelled due to bad weather at sea. Our only option was to go to the ferry terminal Sunday morning (February 28th) and see if there would be any availability. Originally, I was worried about not getting enough time to explore Kagoshima since we would only be there for an evening and a night, so I guess I was not to bummed about getting a full day to explore the city.

Kagoshima is the capital city of the Kagoshima Prefecture. Kagoshima is the southern most large city on the Kyushu island and is the ending point for the Shinkansen (bullet train). One of the more dominant features of this town is Sakurajima which is a large and very active volcano. I read online that the volcano erupts more then 800 times a year. Everywhere you walk, you can see the volcano and every time I’ve looked at it, it’s been spitting out ash clouds, pretty neat! 

February 27th, 2021 – This was our day to explore Kagoshima, we had all day to bum around and see the sites. The first thing we did was visit the aquarium. I was very much excited to see this aquarium because they have a whale shark! I’ve never seen an aquarium with a whale shark. I know the Atlanta aquarium has whale sharks and I’ve been wanting to visit that aquarium, I’ll get there eventually. For now, the Kagoshima had a whale shark and we arrived just in time for feeding time! For about 5 minutes, the staff would put small amounts of food in a basket and empty the contents in a circular pattern around the tank and we could watch the whale shark suck in a mouthful of water along with the food, like a vacuum it was fun! I noticed the whale shark was a bit smaller then what I would have expected. I read today that the whale sharks here get released back into the wild once they reach a mature age, so although I was happy to see the little guy, I am glad he gets to return to his natural habitat. Other then the whale shark, the aquarium had a lot of local fish from the Kagoshima area, seals, and the Arapaima or Pirarucu which are those giant fresh water fish from the Amazon, I always love seeing these guys. 

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After a nice visit to the local aquarium we took in some more sites around Kagoshima. We visited the Terukuni Shrine, Central Park, Kagoshima Castle and then hiked to the observatory deck. In route to the observatory deck, we made an amazing discovery! There were several areas along the route that had tiny staircases for frogs. Apparently these are for frogs that fall into the drainage system, it gives them a place to escape and hop back above ground, we loved seeing this!

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Once we got to the top of the observatory deck, we could get a great view of Sakurajima and the whole city of Kagoshima, much bigger then I originally expected! Afterwards we walked around the shopping arcade area until we got tired and went to bed! 

February 28, 2021 – Today is the big day! Today we board the ferry and head to Okinawa to start our new lives! Not so fast!!! We promptly arrived at the ferry terminal at 0830 to talk to someone at the ticket counter to see if ferries were active again. One person there spoke English and told us that once again due to weather the ferries were cancelled. Right away our hearts sank, what a crappy feeling. There are two ferry companies that go interchangeably, so we thought ok well if not today then how about tomorrow? He called the ferry line that was departing tomorrow which is March 1st, let out a big sigh and said the ferry was full! Well, Sh*t, turns out the next ferry that had an opening was not until Wednesday, meaning we won’t get to Okinawa until Thursday night. It was our only available option, so we had to reserve it. So originally I was afraid of not having enough time to explore Kagoshima, now we have a whole 5 days to explore the city! We were pretty bummed and shocked at first, but after a while we came to accept that it’s really out of our control so might as well enjoy our time here. 

We had to book another hotel today which turned out to be great because it’s a lot cheaper and more spacious. Today was kind of a repeat of yesterday. We walked around downtown Kagoshima and ate way to much, thankfully my step counter watch is showing 24969 steps so we are getting our exercise in. We used today to take it easy and plan trips for the next couple of days. Tomorrow (March 1st) we plan to take our bikes on a ferry to Sakurajima and bike 40km around the island. We’ll see how that goes! 

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March 1, 2021 – Today was a great day, it almost made me forget about the frustrations with the ferry. Weather wise, today was perfect, it was sunny for the most part and stayed relatively warm, perfect for a full day’s bike ride. We brought our bikes along and planned on riding around Sakurajima which is the active volcano that can be seen from Kagoshima. First things first, we had to wipe our bikes down because they had ash all over them. Our poor car was covered in a layer of ash. A ferry takes vehicles and passengers from Kagoshima port to Sakurajima about every fifteen minutes. The two of us plus bikes costed  660 Yen which is about $6 USD. Once we got to Sakurajima we took a left turn and followed the road that circles the island. In total we rode 37 Km (23 miles) and made many stops. At first the cloud coverage limited our visibility of the volcano but once we got about half way around the island the clouds cleared and we had great views of the volcano. 

Here is a screenshot of our route we did around Sakurajima, the second photo is the volcano from the backside.

A little about the volcano, it’s a composite volcano and is the most active volcano in Japan. The last major eruption was in 1914 and it lasted a whole month burying 8 different villages. Prior to the 1914 eruption Sakurajima was an island and due to the lava build up at sea it is no longer an island but a peninsula. One of the more fascinating attractions on the island was the buried Torii Gate. The Torii Gate stood 3 meters but during the 1914 eruption ash accumulated up to 2 meters in a single day to the point where only the top of the Torii Gate was shown and has been left this way since as a memory to the local residents. 

After the Torii Shrine, we rode around the island more, stopping at all observatory decks snapping photos of the very active volcano. We stumbled upon an abandoned resort that was pretty neat. It fascinates me that a resort like this is abandoned, knowing that at some point it was probably a very luxurious and popular resort only to be abandoned.

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After exploring the resort a little we headed back to the ferry port toward Kagoshima. At the end of the day, we are pretty beat, we’ll see what tomorrow has in store for us. 

Here are a few photos from today of the volcano.

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March 2, 2021 – After our adventurous bike ride yesterday, today was a pretty easygoing, nothing to exciting kind of day. We’ve seen what we wanted to see in and around Kagoshima, so today we walked over to the train station. In Japan, even the train stations are an attraction as they usually have these gigantic malls attached to them with high end shops, super markets, food courts, and other fun activities. The one in Kagoshima has a Ferris wheel built on top of the station. 

After a brief visit to the train station, we found a nice river walk area. I love the fact that in Kagoshima, no matter where you are Sakurajima is usually visible. If I lived here, I would love to get an apartment with a view of the volcano, since it’s so active and constantly changing it is like watching T.V., I would always be entertained!

Tomorrow should be our big day. I’ve said this before so we are crossing our fingers that the ferry is departing as scheduled. The ferry should leave port at 1800, since we have a car we need to be there around 1300. Our plan is to get up, enjoy one last breakfast in Kagoshima, load our poor car up again and then drive to the ferry port and set sail! I hope tomorrow will be as easy as described.