Southern city of Japan

I whizz down the rail tracks and quickly I get to the southernmost major city of Japan. I get out of the station and it is still overcast but at least there is no rain. Fortunately there is none of the ash dropping down from the sky the city is so infamous for. Just across a bit of water you’ll find a volcano which regularly spews lots of ash in the air which drops down on Kagoshima.

I walk around the city slowly making my way down towards the harbor area. I go past the castle of the city and go in and have a peak at one of the temples of the city. There I meat an English tourist who is going around the city with a Japanese friend - and they ask me if I am visiting the city because of the solar eclipse - I am thinking erhm solar eclipse - when here? No I am not really here because of the eclipse but it sounds interesting. It turns out the eclipse is two days from now and not really in Kagoshima but on an island a bit south of the city. And that island is fully booked - actually it is not fully booked it is way overbooked - and the ferry is sold out long ago. But here in the city the eclipse will be more than ninety percent - which sounds kind of interesting.

I walk on and walk past a couple of places where important historic figures from the period of the Mejii-restoration had their home. At first sight they don’t seem quite as impressive as what I left behind in Kumamoto and I don’t really have the time to take a closer second look. Instead I head down to the water and have a look at the famous volcano across the water. There are a ferry every ten minutes or so. I had considered taking the ferry across to have a look at the volcano - but looking at it from across the water I give up on the idea. I can’t even see the top of the volcano because a huge cloud is hanging on the top of the volcano. Instead I start slowly to make my way back to the station.

I take the train back to Kumamoto - and I get back ready to find something to eat. I walk past a couple of restaurants in the station area - and this is when I crack. After eating fish, fish, fish and more fish for weeks I suddenly see some of the traditional plastics dishes on display in front of a restaurant - and right there are something really interesting. It looks a lot like a combo dish consisting of a steak and a hamburger steak. Even in plastic form it looks appealing. Hence I go in - and they even got an English menu. I manage to confirm the plastic thing in front really did try to look like a steak/hamburger steak combo. I go for it and honestly getting a non-fish meal full of meat is a nice change.