20-05-08

First a question to Setsuko-san & Toshiharu-san: how you are you doing; we heard about heavy floods in Tokyo-city??!!

Here down in Kagoshima, we have wonderful weather again, bright sunshine and I would say again at least 27 C.

We all participated today for an excursion to the peninsula Satsuma, just south of Kagoshima. We started with the Kamikaze Peace Museum at Chiran. Chiran was one of the major bases from which the hapless pilots made their suicidal and less than totally successful attacks on Allied ships. There's a distinctly weird feeling to this fawning collection of aircraft, mementoes and photos of young, fresh-faced men who were selected for the Special Attack Corps in WWII. There's a little English signage, apart from the dubious message that they did it for the dream of peace and prosperity. There's no mention that they had little choice, and were often sent out high on Hirophon - amphetamines. Far from achieving the aim of 'a battleship for every aircraft', only minor ships were sunk at the cost of over 1000 lives.

Chiran has also a fine collection of samurai houses and gardens, all dating from the mid-Edo period (1600-1868). Interesting is the use of 'borrowed scenery'. Water is usually symbolised by sand and gravel. What do you think of the description 'The garden carries you off into the realm of imagination and romantic aestheticism'; that is something you most probably only find in Japan and that is why I love this country!

Lunch in the Taki-An, a traditional house on the samurai street with a nice garden where we sat - I managed such even with my recently injured knees, so I think that actually they are OK again! Arjan had some more troubles ... - on tatami mats to eat a bowl of upmarket soba (buckwheat noodles) and sipped Chiran's famous green tea, from which the plantations were around us, even these are aesthetically maintained!

Then off for another kind of onsen-experience in the Tennen Sunamushi Kaikan Saraku sand baths: after having changed yourself in a yukata (light cotton summer kimono), you wander down to the beach where the burial ladies (and an incidental burial man) are waiting, shovel in hand, to cover you in red-hot black volcanic sand. The weight and heat feel very odd, and it takes iron-clad willpower to endure the full 15 minutes (we both did not manage) treatment, but as you rinse off the sand in the showers afterwards and enjoy the onsen, you feel unusually energised. One of the group members had been appointed as our photographer, so there are some proofs! Quite a nice experience.

Back to the hotel around 4.45 p.m., where we had to take some information for the night ferry we have to take tomorrow evening. We still do not know the details, so we will see.

With the youngest girls of the group (actually they are beyond 60-ies and one even beyond 70-ies.....), we took the giant rad placed on top of the JR railway station (another thing only possible in Japan: who can image to put this kind of machinery on top of a building ??!!) which allowed us to enjoy the view on the nearby vulcano Sakurajima, still hyperactive and which we want to explore tomorrow.

Then the 4 of us decided to take dinner in a nearby yakitori restaurant, where we enjoyed the local specialities like imo shochu (potato liquor) and sweet potatoes (I forgot the name of this speciality). We had quite some fun by trying to explain what we wanted to eat, how much, ordering the specialities, how to split the bill, etc., but as usual the Japanese staff is so patient, helpful and kind that with some patience, you find your way around.

Arjan finished his day with a nice cup of coffee in Starbucks and I had to do some work on the free internet hotel PC: updating this blog!