Sakurajima
It used to be an Island...
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Ibusuki
Sakurajima
is one of the most active
volcanoes in Japan with major eruptions in 1914 and 1947. It
still
spews ash and often has a steam cloud near the top. We thought it
would be a good place to visit. Sakurajima used to be an island
but lava flows the 1914 eruption plugged the channel with lava,
joining Sakurajima to the mainland of Kyushu. For us coming up
from Ibuski, we needed to take the ferry from Kagoshima. The
ferry line is one of the most efficient I have ever seen - the ferry
ride is only 14 minuets, but the restaurants on board can serve you a
bowl of udon and you can eat it in that time. You only pay on one
side (which confused us) to further increase the efficiency of labor.
Yunohira Observatory
My ideal observatory would be at the end of the road affording you a
lookout over the caldera. This is not that ideal
observatory. Wisely, the top 2/3rds of the island is off limits
to tourists to try and keep the body count down when this volcano
explodes again. From the Observatory, you can see what else was
done to keep the body count down - there is a massive scale engineering
project to direct future lava flows away from the center of civilization
and out into the ocean.
The volcano itself has three peaks - North, Middle and South and
wonderfully steep slopes - not a simple cone. They don't let you
get anywhere near the action, but it's neat to know how much excitement
has been caused by the big pile of warm rock.
The
Buried Torii
Sakurajima is pretty small so we decided to drive around the island to
get a sense of what is here. The city area has a large
fishing fleet and there are many small farms growing on anything that
is close to flat land, but otherwise this is pretty much like any bit
of rural Japan.
The guide book mentions it,
there are road signs everywhere mentioning it, and the first time we
drove right past it - the Buried Torii. Once we figured out where it
was we were quite disappointed. The Torii (gate) used to be about
3 meters tall but the 1914 eruption buried it and most of the
surrounding community in ash and pumice. The community left the
torii buried to remind the community of what they had come through.
The rest of the island (now peninsula) goes by quickly. The road
is narrow and twisty with few good places to pull off. It was
getting well past lunch time and we didn't see much that would fit our
vegetarian requirements without a lot of hand waving so we found a
grocery store in town and purchased premade lunch pieces from the deli
area. We went looking for a place to sit and enjoy lunch and
stumbled onto a "Dinosaur Park". We thought this would be some
cheesy attraction costing way to much, but it turned out to be
children's play park on top of a hill with views of the volcano and
cherry blossoms to sit under - instant hanami.
After lunch, we went out to play on the equipment (where
appropriate). From the number of cool things to play on or
around, it's obvious this place really love their children - the have
some of the coolest toys ever. The three story high slide was a
highlight, but the rope climbing mesh thing was a close second.
The dinosaur models (many of which you could go inside or climb on)
weren't particularly instructive, but were in good condition.
Furusato Onsen
We saved the real highlight of Sakurajima for the end. Furusato
Onsen is combination of shrine and ocean front Onsen. The hotel
provides heavy duty (but white!) Yukata and everyone is clothed while
bathing. We found that when it came to estimating the size of
foreigners, the hotel staff and Onsen staff seem to guess on the large
side - bathing in an over sized yukata can be a bit humorous.
The
onsen has several very cool features. The water is fresh (a real
onsen will usually have a tasting cup so you can drink the source
water) and a good temperature - the area under the tree seemed to be
the warmest. And a tree - a first for me. The large tree
holds massive (kill you if they fell out) rocks in it's roots and you
can bath completely underneath the tree. One of the best
experiences I've ever had in an Onsen.
Being robed, it's acceptable to mix genders in the pools. It was
great to be able to speak to Gabi while bathing. At first I was a
little worried about bringing out my camera (remember, those are white
Yukata's), but it seems that many of local tourists and no one seemed
to care when I brought mine out.
A unique feature to this bath was the "lie down" area. The pool
floor is very abrasive (I can only assume to help prevent people from
slipping), but it's only a foot or so down. There is a log to
rest your head against and you watch the clouds go by. The view
of your own feet is amazing.
The day was getting on and we intended to sleep over in Kumamoto so we
really did need to get moving on. It was sad to leave.
John Harvey Photo > Trips out of the Country > A Third Trip to Japan > Sakurajima
I am a native Texan, living in Yokohama, and we just came back from a weekend trip to Kagoshima area. Man I loved it sooo!!!
The things to do and the people were ooh sooo friendly!!! I just can't stop thinking how different they are to the Tokyoites etc. who aren't as friendly.
Cleo
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 05:51:14
I love the pictures of the volcano
Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 13:23:45
i doing a project on sakua jima beacuse it has my name ini t it help me know so much tank u!!!!!
sakura
Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 21:04:45
I grew up in Kagoshima, Japan. I consider this area to be my home. I had a feeling of familiarity (in japanese that would be natsukashi). There is nowhere on earth like Kagoshima!
Gail
Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 00:34:36
i am doing reaserch on this volcano i love this volcano cause its very intresting
styles ouellette
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 at 17:38:03
kewl website
really helped my presentation!!!!!!!! :)
shannon
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 11:54:07
this is interesting thx for sharing with me !:D
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 12:11:04
Last Modified Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 at 00:55:36 Edit
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