Where to go in Kagoshima

Kagoshima lives in the shadow of Sakurajima, one of the world's most active volcanoes, which puffs and rumbles hundreds of times a year just four kilometres across the bay. The locals barely flinch – children wear helmets to school, yellow ash bags are distributed by the city, and the morning weather report includes an 'ashfall forecast' alongside daily temperatures. Take the 15-minute ferry (it runs 24 hours a day) and you'll find volcanic soil producing the world's largest radishes and sweetest mikan oranges. Back in the city, Sengan-en garden uses the smoking peak as 'borrowed scenery,' a 350-year-old design trick that never gets old. This is also Japan's shochu heartland, with over 100 distilleries and a drinking culture that pairs perfectly with kurobuta black pork, proven to be seven times sweeter than ordinary pork.