Kyushu Day 4 - Kirishima - Kagoshima

 Great scenery from our room early in the morning.

  

After several minutes, smoke starts to spew out from Sakurajima! 

Breakfast is buffet style, you can choose from a wide selection of Japanese or western.

 This is the best find from Kirishima. It's a kind of miso paste where you can eat directly, goes well with piping hot rice, meats or you can do a cucumber dip with it.

Official check out time is 10am. As there was still time before the bus departs, we went to the nearby market to have a look. 

There were some stalls selling steamed corn, sweet potatoes, even steamed eggs. 

The steam coming out from the basket is all natural steam from the onsen as Kirishima is an onsen resort. 

We were a tad too early in Kyushu before the Autumn leaves started turning red, and as Kirishima onsen resort is up on the mountains, this was the only place where we caught a glimpse of Autumn leaves. 

I just couldn't resist taking more photos of the autumn trees while waiting for the bus to come.

More beautiful scenery along the bus ride back to Kirishima Jingu station. Can you spot the smoke coming out from Sakurajima ? 

 

Catching the train back to Kagoshima. 

Wonderful scenery especially of Sakurajima during the train ride back.

We alighted at Kagoshima station this time round instead of Kagoshima chuo station as Sakurajima was closer to Kagoshima station. 

Right adjacent to Kagoshima station was the Kagoshima ekimae (鹿児島駅前) city tram terminus station and the starting point for both the tram routes. 

Love these trams.. they look so vintage. 

Nice weather, nice surroundings. 

On the way to the Sakurajima Ferry terminal, you could see fantastic views of Sakurajima. Sakurajima (桜島) is one of Japan's most active volcano, with eruptions of up to 6 times a day. You can take a ferry from Kagoshima ferry terminal to Sakurajima.

The ferry takes 15 mins and 150yen per way. 

We took a 15 minute walk from the ferry terminal to Yougan Nagisa Park (溶岩なぎさ公園) where there was a long foot bath available for visitors, as well as the Sakurajima visitor centre. 

Relaxing foot bath !

Great view of Sakurajima from Nagisa Park. 

100yen for a bag of mandarin oranges? self service.

Ferry schedule from Sakurajima to Kagoshima mainland. Ferry runs for 24 hours!

Dinner was at an Izakaya - Warawara (笑笑) near our hotel. Scrumptious dinner of sashimi salad, yakitori, beef steak and yaki udon. Comes with all you can drink (alcohol inclusive) at additional 1000yen per pax. cheap! 

Kyushu Day 2 - Fukuoka - Kagoshima

Morning breakfast at the hotel. The hotel provides complimentary breakfast for all guests. Simple Japanese / western breakfast buffet but fresh and good. You can also get free drinks from the vending machine!

Vending machine providing free drinks during breakfast from 7-830am on weekdays and 7-850am on sundays and public holidays.

Almost missed our Shinkansen! Managed to arrive at JR Hakata train station 2 minutes before the train departs. Japanese train schedules are right on the dot and the trains will depart promptly at the departure time stated. Time and tide waits for no man...

As the direct train from Fukuoka to Kagoshima was full, we took the Tsubame train to Kumamoto, and changed to the Mizuho train in Kumamoto to Kagoshima.  

Japanese trains are really clean and comfortable!  

Even the passageway to the toilet are speckless!

Reached Kumamoto station after 1 hr ride.

 

Weird vending machine which is below eye level...

  

Boarded the Mizuho train bound for Kagoshima... not as new as Tsubame

After another 45 minutes, we finally reached Kagoshima Chuo station! 

Train service staff in their uniform leaving the train. They do look flight attendants.. well Japanese take pride in their job, regardless if it is just a train service staff. 

Kagoshima is famous for their... Shochu! You can find posters, banners, even a display of the different types of shochu almost everywhere in the train station.

There is a omiyage (souvenir) street just opposite of the Kagoshima Chuo station main exit. Most of the stalls sell Kagoshima famous products, such as Satsuma age (fried fishcake), biscuits carrying the buta (pig) shape (Kagoshima is famous for their kurobuta or black pig) and of course - Shochu!

Something I must do - take a photo of the train station I have visited.

Lunch was Tonkatsu at a restaurant the travel guide recommended: Kuro Katsu Tei. It is a 10 minute walk from Kagoshima chuo station.  

They serve lunch sets from 780yen onwards. We ordered a ももかつ定食 (Kurobuta pork thigh set - 980yen) and 黒かつ亭定食 (Kurobuta pork fillet and loin set - 1390yen). All sets come with rice, sliced cabbage and miso soup.

Kurobuta tonkatsu is indeed delicious! 

After lunch, we took the tram to our hotel. We also bought a day pass (600yen) which can give you unlimited rides on the tram and buses. Single ride costs 160yen.  

 This business hotel is slightly bigger compared to the first one in Fukuoka. And also the cheapest among all the hotel we stayed in our trip in Kyushu. Only 3900yen per room per night!

After a quick rest, we took the city view bus (included in the 1 day pass ticket) to go up to Shiroyama Observatory, a small hill in the centre of the city where you can have a paranomic view of Kagoshima city as well as Sakurajima. 

As the sky was overcast that day, and sun was also setting, we couldn't get a good view of Sakurajima. 


There was also a 5 star hotel (Kagoshima Castle Park hotel) located on top of Shiroyama hill. Due to it's good scenery (there are function rooms overlooking Sakurajima, and outdoors tents for private events), it is popular for wedding receptions. There was also one going on when we visited. 

There is also a Satsuma Kiriko (薩摩切子) gallery in the hotel which you can view or purchase this traditional glass handicraft, which is only made in Kagoshima. Satsuma Kiriko is expensive as you can see from the price tag (approx 60,000yen for a small glass) as the overlaying coloured glass makes it difficult to manipulate the grinder. 

Some scenery along the way on the bus ride back to Kagoshima city.

We alighted near the Kinko Bay area and walked towards Dolphin Port, a 2 storey mall consisting mainly of restaurants and some specialty shops.

Passed by a supermarket. The kurobuta pork shabu is on sale at 50% off. After discount is about 500yen per tray. CHEAP! how I wish I could buy for shabu shabu. 

tidbits on sale too.... Japanese tidbits are a must buy

Finally reached Tenmonkan (天文館), located at the central of Kagoshima city with shops lined along both sides of the arcade. However, shops usually close around 8pm and by 9pm, this place seems like a dead town... so much for the busiest shopping arcade in Kagoshima.

Dinner was ramen at one of the backstreets of Tenmonkan called 暖暮 (Danbou). According to the ramen books, it is one of the top five ranking ramen in the Kyushu Ramen ranking. 

 The usual practice to order a bowl of ramen in most ramen shops is to buy a ticket from the vending machine on your selection of ramen.

 

We ordered a ramen (600yen) and one with everything (800yen). Kyushu is famous for their tonkotsu (豚骨) or pork bone broth ramen. The soup is a milky creamy thick broth, and also my favourite variety of ramen. 

After dinner, we walked along the shopping arcade and passed by this popular shop called Mujyaki. There was a white bear mascot just outside their shop, as well as an enlarged sample of their most popular dessert, the shiro-kuma (白熊) which is like an ice-kachang topped with various fruits, milk and honey. 

As Tenmonkan was starting to look like a dead town with all the shops closing, we decided to make full use of our 1 day pass and took the tram back to Kagoshima Chuo station, where there was a departmental store, hoping to find some shops still open there. Tenmonkan was actually quite close to Kagoshima Chuo station, only about 6 tram stops away and a 15 minute tram ride.

There was a large purikura (short form for purinto kurabu or Print Club in English) at the arcade on the top floor of the departmental store. How sophisticated these machines have became since my secondary school years.