My first stop on the trip was to get a close-up of the "Devil's Washboard" near Nichinan, an aptly-named, bizarre jagged rock formation that stretches along the coast.
The "Devil's Washboard" as seen from above.
A picture of a lantern at the beautiful Udo Shrine.
A woman taking aim at the shrine's "good-luck" target. Adding to the challenge, women are supposed to throw the pebbles with the right arm, and men are supposed to throw with the left arm.
The clay pebbles one throws at the target, on sale at 5 for 100 yen, are inscribed with the kanji for "luck." I'm proud to say that my very first shot landed with a "plop" smack dab in the middle of the pool of water. As did my second shot. My third shot missed the water but stayed within the rope circle, so that counts for something, too. My fourth shot made the water again. My fifth and final shot missed the water, but I'm pretty sure it stayed within the rope circle. (I couldn't quite keep track of it since a couple other pebbles landed about the same time.) I didn't wish for anything specific, but, yes, Harry, I do feel lucky!
The May 5 Golden Week holiday is called "kodomo no hi," or Children's Day. As early as April, people begin to fly carp-shaped kites in anticipation of the holiday. Sometimes, you see tens of kites strung together, whereas other times you see just three kites, symbolizing the father, the mother, and the children, top to bottom, flying together. (This is another example of how men and women are not considered equal in Japan.)
Nice vegetation.
Taking my first dip of the year in the ocean. The water was nice and refreshing!
One of the seven "samurai" gardens in Chiran, Kagoshima Prefecture. These small gardens are located on property where samurai used to live. Each of the gardens has several symbolic features, including a "waterless" waterfall. See it? What I want to know is, since there were exactly seven gardens, was each
one for one of the seven samurai in Kurosawa's movie?I finally got to see Mt. Fuji. Or so I thought. That's actually Kaimon-dake, a Fuji replica near the southernmost tip of Kagoshima Prefecture. As a joke, I said something like, "Wow, Fuji-san," while I was looking at the mountain. My whimsical observation led to a conversation with a gentleman and his family. I think he said he worked for the mayor of a local town. I thought he might invite me to join him for dinner or something, but after a few minutes we each went our own way. Meeting them took me back to some of the stories I read in Hitching Rides with Buddha. Had I not had a car, I certainly would have asked them for a ride.
Another view of the "other" Fuji, proving that it's not the real deal, since it's on the edge of the water.
More beautiful vegetation.
As one ferry pulls in to Kagoshima City, I head out on another ferry to Sakurajima, the "island" across the bay that is home to an active (and I mean active) volcano. The weather wasn't ideal for sightseeing, but I was running out of days, so off I went. Look carefully and you can see five carp kites flying from atop the ferry. The roughly 20-minute ride cost 1070 yen for my size, i.e., length car. Additional passengers, as well as "walkers," pay 150 yen each.
A hiking path takes you past countless volcanic rocks along the shore.
I saw lots of people climbing on the rocks near the water's edge. In order to find out what they were searching for, I struck up a conversation with some (retired?) ladies who were on their way down toward the water. They told me that they were collecting seaweed, and that others were gathering "hijiki," a sea vegetable that you may recall from this blog. As the ladies were cutting the seaweed off the rocks, they were telling me how delicious and healthy it was, when prepared properly, that is. They had come from Miyakonojo, about 65 kilometers away, to haul in their booty.
I passed on the seaweed but took home some souvenirs of my own in the form of "fresh" pumice. You can't really tell by looking at this picture, but a bunch of those smaller rocks are indeed pumice. So if you have rough skin, this is the place to come.
If you don't feel like searching for the pumice yourself, you can purchase bags of the rocks at the gift shop for cheap.
I suspect this is a "lava road," built to provide a clear path for the hot stuff to flow directly to the water, rather than destroying part of the island on its way.
You'll have to take my word for it: That's the cone of the volcano in the background, lost among the rainclouds. If I remember correctly, as of the day I visited Sakurajima, the volcano had already erupted 25 times or so in 2008, including about 17 eruptions in March alone. Seeing some pictures of a few of those eruptions made me wonder why the heck anyone would want to live so close to a real live ash-spewing volcano. As much as half of me would have loved to have witnessed the old lady blow her top, the other half of me was hoping that she would stay in bed. I'm glad she listened to my wiser half.
The Japanese Navy obviously doesn't have many enemies or you wouldn't be able to practically touch one of the fleet's ships as it prepares to set sail from the Kagoshima port.
The last place I went on the trip was Aya, back in Miyazaki Prefecture, home to one of the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridges, among other sights. It's 250 meters long and 142 meters high. Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.
After I crossed the bridge, I noticed a sign pointing the way uphill to a shrine. So I climbed up the path and found this little gem, essentially tucked away in the middle of the forest.
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