April 8 - Kagoshima

This far south we’re not seeing many other tourists (read: white people) and we have become a novelty to some of the locals, especially with how tall I am: in Dazaifu a group of young men wanted to take a selfie with Victoria and me; in Kumamoto a local (English-speaking) set in for a long chat with me about where we were from and what we were doing there; when we got off the tram in Kagoshima a old man insisted on shaking my hand and seemed to want to settle in for a chat (though he made me nervous so we hurried on); and today a woman on the street seemed to want to practice her English with us (“Welcome! Sightseeing!”).

We headed an hour south to Ibusuki for the semi-famous, sand-bath on-sen where they bury you to your neck in volcanic sand, heated from below from the volcanic activity in the area.

The hot sand is meant to loosen your muscles and joints, and after a week of sharing undersized Japanese beds this treatment actually did a lot of good for our sore backs.

By the time we got back to Kagoshima it was getting a bit late in the day so we decided not to bother crossing the bay to visit the volcano. The weather was still grey and cloudy (obscuring the volcano) and apparently it’s tough to get around there without a car anyway. Instead we managed to find a whole neighborhood of good restaurants (unlike the night before) so we settled in for a tempura feast.

I made an offer to Victoria that I would buy her a brand new car on her sixteenth birthday if she would eat an entire unit of whatever was being brined in the bottom of this jar. She declined.

Afterwards it was still early so we decided to knock off an experience that we had planned to do when back in Tokyo: KARAOKE! In accordance with the International Tribunal on Karaoke for People Who Can’t Sing, there will be no videos or audio posted here, nor on Facebook, nor anywhere, ever.

(Except perhaps one day at Victoria’s wedding reception, unless I am sufficiently bribed…)