Kagoshima, Japan Summary

With a population of nearly 500,000, KAGOSHIMA curls round the west shore of Kagoshima Bay, a mere 4km from one of the world’s most active volcanoes. Sakurajima’s smouldering cone constitutes the city’s most obvious and compelling attraction, but Kagoshima contains a few sights of its own which justify a day’s exploration. Foremost of these are its classical garden, Sengan-en, which uses Sakurajima in the ultimate example of borrowed scenery, and several excellent museums of local history and culture. The best are devoted to Kagoshima’s mid-nineteenth-century hey-day when Saigo Takamori, amongst other local heroes, played a major role in Japan’s modernization.