Today we have 40 kms winds with 3 metre seas….. a little rocky by not bad!

Feb 18-the day started out in Kagoshima, breezy and quite cool but it has steadily improved….. yeah!  This is our last stop/tour in Japan. The excursion is called Volcanic Sakurajima. It is on the southern most tip of Japan on island of Kyushu. 

Our guide is Naomi …. name means honest and beautiful. I am not sure that I would call her beautiful but she certainly was the best…. the best English spoken guide we have had. When question about her great English she said she was an English “geek”. 

In 1914 there was a great eruption. Sakurajima means Cherry blossom island but it’s not island anymore. Most of the flat land here is reclaimed land….many mountains surrounding it….70%  of Japan is mountainous. There are over 100 active volcanos in the country. There are 47 prefectures in Japan . In this prefectures  there are 600 islands spreading over 600 kms. There are 1.5 million people in this Prefecture.. 

In the 16th century Portuguese and Spanish came to the area. In 19th century began the modernization of Japan, starting here. Population of this city is 600,000. 

Sakurajima Mountain is comprised of two peaks   One is 1117 metres high, the other 1040 metres. It has erupted already 50 times so far this year. There are 300 ash collecting stations on the mountain. One side has deeper gulleys because the two mountains are of a different age… the newer has the deeper gullies. 

We take a ferry ride over to where we are going. Where we embark on ferry, there is an aquarium that has a roof like Sydney opera house with over 7000 fish.  There are no high schools on Sakurajima so students must travel to Kagoshima. Tokyo Bay is only 18 metres deep. Here in Sakurajima Bay, it is as much as 200 metres deep. It is rich with fish …. Dolphins resides in the bay. Every year they hold a 4 kms swimming event for school kids from the city to the “island” with a separate one for adults. Most cars in Kagoshima are grey in colour, to camouflage the colour of the ash. 

After only a 15 minute ferry ride we arrive on west side, then travel along the south to the east side to the lava fields. During the eruption of 1914, the lava flow lasted over a month, discharging 3 billion tons of lava, burying 8 villages and made it part of Kagoshima. It was no longer an island.  The sea at this point used to be 400 m wide and 70 m deep. It has erupted majorly 17times.

Shrubs along the road, covering the fruit in bags, are loquats. 

There are many what look like dry river beds, that have been created for mud slides caused when ash gets wet… which is often. There are concrete shelters placed every km.  Kids wear helmets to school (adults too), in case of eruption. 

3300 people live on the island. Why…because of agriculture…… huge Japanese radish (daikon)… record 31 kgs and more than 1 metre in circumference, many fish farms (yellow tail) & tourism to see the volcano. Sakurajima is the most active in all Japan. There are 2 stations monitoring it at all times…. With the latest equipment. 

In December before the major eruption of 1914, there were signs before  it blew…well water was boiling, there were 200 tremors , snakes came out in middle winter & earthquakes.  There are 28 evacuation centres on the  island. 

Lots of rain in Japan and because of the heating going on underground, it makes for 300 hot springs in Japan. 4 tectonic plates merge around Japan 

The Lava field here at Sakurajima is 40 metres deep. The hike to the observation spot is 200 stairs up & down. Naomi thinks that there is plenty of magma built up in the last 100+ years so expects it will blow sometime soon. 

There are 80,000 shrines in Hapan but only 55,000 convenience stores…. Lol!

Pine needles can be eaten. They would eat them when they were under siege. That is why there are many pine trees planted in castle grounds. 

Volcanic soil covers 2/3 the land in this area.  Sweet potatoes are a huge crop. Pigs eat sweet potatoes…. makes them more tender. Kagoshima is a big producer of pork, beef and chicken., also “Shochu” alcohol made from sweet potatoes (& rice). 

Wagyu beef ….. won first place in competitions but Kobe is the place that is “world famous”. 

This has been the most difficult post to download. Sorry but it is like 4 days late thanks to the blocking of wifi signals and although I have an eSIM, one is not usable if not close to a cel tower (like when in the middle of the ocean.