Yanagawa Canals

My plan was to leave Kagoshima at 8am. Take the train to Kumamoto and Yanagawa. To get to Yanagawa i took the train to Omuta station. From there you take the local line to Yanagawa. At the train station i left my luggage and bought the ticket from a super small ticket booth for the Yanagawa canal tour. Its a 90min or so trip up the river. Everyone was Japanese besides me. Really good weather and relaxing.






























Studio Ghibli made a movie about these canals :D


The Story of Yanagawa's Canals - Yanagawa Horiwari Monogatari
Series: Ghibli Gakujitsu Library
Publisher: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Feature Film: 15 August 1987 / 165 minutes

Walking in Kagoshima & Kagoshima Little Asia Guest House

Kagoshima a really cool and quiet city :)
I accidentally took the tram the wrong way and ended up in the middle of no where.  Haha some local district really far away.  I was going to walk around but i was really tired and just wanted to return to my hotel.
To the right is a kimono shop --->

I stayed in 'Kagoshima Little Asia Guest House' a 5 minute walk from JR Kagoshima station.  Really convenient. From the station you can take all buses and the tram and local train line ;)







It has a homey feeling, which I loved.  It was a bit old and run down. But for what I payed 1500Y was really cheap.  Had some really nice food there to. Home cooked food! Had my favorite meal there.  CURRY!  It was a real backpacker hostel.

Inside Kumamoto Castle

After the battle of Sekigahara, Kato Kiyomasa built this incredible fortress in Kumamoto. The castle expertly utilizes the geography to make one of the most impregnable castles ever built in Japan.






The Kato reign ended after only two generations when Kiyomasa's son was replaced by Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1632. The Hosokawa reigned for 240 years until the Meiji Period.






The main donjon and connected smaller donjon among other buildings were burned to ground during the Satsuma rebellion of 1877.
- information from http://www.jcastle.info/

The biggest tree ever!
Super old see the image above :)

Above is JR Kagoshima Station and to the left is my little orange friend Kagoshima.

Little info about my orange friend:

In 1820, a hyuganatsu orange tree was discovered as a chance seedling on the premise of Mr. Yasutaro Magata’s residence. After this it became widely cultivated. The hyuganatsu orange is considered to be a mutation of the yuzu orange and the taste is more acidic similar to a grapefruit or lemon. It is eaten with sugar or honey after removing its yellow peel and cutting into pieces. You can eat its white pithy flesh, no need to remove it. Today, Miyazaki is producing the most hyuganatsu oranges in Japan.

- from: http://www.welcomekyushu.com

Kumamoto Castle...MY FIRST CASTLE

On the way back from Kagoshima I planned to stop at Kumamoto.  From JR Kumamoto station you can get access to the tram line which takes you to many nice places.

But I wanted to see my first castle so I took it Kumamoto Castle.




The capital of Kumamoto Prefecture, Kumamoto is a major city on Kyushu's west coast with a population of 650,000. The city is most famous for its castle, which is one of Japan's largest.

- Some info from http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4500.html
- wow i just saw some of the photos of when it was spring and not winter. Really pretty ^_^

<---Inside the wooden castle.










Paintings inside the castle --->
Very big place to walk around and explore.






<--ME!

Would love to visit the mountains one day

Kagoshima Ramen Lunch :)

Ramen for lunch, yay! Well not really i got bored of my noodles and missed my rice.

After my trip to Sakurajima I went downtown to have alook at the shops.

I also went to a tea shop and taste tested some Matcha, Gyokuro and Sencha.

A cool roof in Tenmonkan I think the shopping district is called.

A vending machine used to purchase a food coupon you then pass onto the chef to get your food ;)

Milky style ramen...Really tasty but i couldn't finish it 

:(

Smashing it down! 

Volcano Action PII

Puff of smoke 2..YAY














More black this time :)
A stone shrine gate burried in lava! I forgot the name....

Scoot Hire

The shop that hired me my wonderful scooter for 2500 Yen for 2.5hours.











My boat biatches!

Scooter TIME!

2500Y and you get scooter for 2 hours...just enough to smash it around the 50km island...
NO INSURANCE
Dam cold...but worth it...highly recommend it...the tour buses is rare...taxi want 7000...rip off

Volcanic Ash!!! YAY I got to see PUFF

Walking down the hill after the look out, i found this Buddha garden thing












I got lucky and managed to see this smoke!
Maybe for local just normal. But for me i have never seen.
I didn't get volcanic ash shower the next day :(
If it is bigger one, need to use umbrella when walking

Kagoshima City Tour

When I arrived i quickly drop my bag to hostel...Then i walked around till I found a city tour bus.
Really quick way to scope out the city :)
I decided to hop off at Sakurajima lookout and then walk for an hour or so and then take the last bus back...
It was around 200Y





City view bus...easy way to get around
Climbing some mountain thing to get to Sakura lookout
Took my photo with the small man toy...He has travel alot. KL > Taiwan > Korea and Japan