The typhoon Hagibis is due to hit mainland Japan today. Fortunately we are in the furthest south island and about 1000 kms away in the Tokyo area. We are planning to head north to Kumamoto where Wales are due to play their final group match against Uruguay. If they win this game they will top the group with Australia second. That is tomorrow however, today we can explore Kagoshima then find a bar to watch Ireland play Samoa.
This is the object that rather dominates the city of Kagoshima. It is Sakurajima which is Japan's most active volcano. Until the 1914 eruption it was an island in the Kinko Bay but the consequent larva outpouring left the island permanently attached to mainland. It "burps " about 1000 times a year and you can see a burp is taking place at the moment. There are three summits only one of which is active and smokes all the time.
In Japan umbrellas have two uses, protection against the rain and the sun. In Kagoshima there is a third use against the volcanic ash which coats the landscape like snow and obscures the sun. It gets in the hair and even the teeth. There is a special weather forecast about the state of Sakurajima and its fallout. There are even snow globes with the mountain and black snow!
We took the ferry across the bay for a closer inspection.
Whenever you are next to a volcano a few of these come in handy.
In case of emergency as they say. After crossing back we then took the hop on, hop off bus service which is run by the city authority rather than the big red bus that you see all over the world. At lunchtime we got off at a local park where there appeared to be something afoot.
It turned out that we had stumbled across the annual Kagoshima curry festival. The first people we spoke to were Bangladeshi exiles running a Biryani stall. It was ever thus. We went for the less ubiquitous Japanese curry which was delicious.
We were also serenaded by a talented female musician who was performing on the yellow stage left.
On with the bus tour and we alighted at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. This was a bit like Glover and Nagasaki all over again. Another Japanese "Ironbridge" place. The local ruling family invested in British knowhow and ingenuity, building a reverberating furnace, to make cannons originally and a mechanized textile factory. They already earned plenty by exporting the local Satsuma ware pottery.
This is the entrance to their sprawling house. Note the family coat of arms with the cross shape and the beautiful garden they replied created. It was in this garden we enjoyed some locally made sweet potato flavoured ice cream.
We took the bus round to complete the circuit, running through the dock area. Here was a link not only to England but locally to Norfolk. By the end of the 19 century Japan was able to build steel warships it just needed the experience and strategy of an Admiral. They found one in Toto, born here, trained in Britain. He soundly defeated the Prussian Navy in 1904/5 and gained the soubriquet Nelson of the East. No picture of him, alas.
Instead here is a picture of a dragon fruit being held by a lady at a farmer's market which was taking place in the station square.
I told her that the dragon was the symbol of Wales and they were on their rugby shirts, like the one that I was wearing.
It was now late afternoon and time to find somewhere to watch the Ireland v Samoa match. I enquired at the tourist information office for help and they suggested we try a bar called Big Ben. Our bus tickets included the trams and so we rode and walked there only to find a subterranean restaurant with no tables available but frustratingly the televisions were showing the rugby. The owner was keen to help us and indicated that we should try across the lane and up the steps to another one roomed bar/restaurant. Against all expectations the owners and the one other customer, who could speak English, attempted to find the rugby on the telly but without success. We thought we might as well have a drink and clearly that would involved eating the food from the bar.
Well things began to develop especially between Helen and Hiroto who seemed to find lots of common ground except a common language. The friendly relationship grew as we enjoyed several of their excellent dishes including eel stew apparently an excellent aphrodisiac for men. By now it was half time in the rugby and magically they managed the get the rugby on the telly.
Hiroto's hobby was painting and all the pictures that you can see in the bar were by her competent hand. I was now enjoying the rugby and chatting with Massa, the original customer and Helen was ensconced with Hiroto and a couple of other regular customers. We eventually had an emotional farewell with Hiroto saying it was the best day of her life.
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