TL;DR – I spent a day in Kagoshima, the last city on my Japan trip.

Disclosure – I paid for my flights, accommodation, entry, and everything you see purchased in this article.

Exploring Japan –

I had always planned to go back to Japan one day, and had started making plans to go back in 2020. Then, well, 2020 happened. But late last year, I finally had the chance to put those plans back in motion as I flew out of Melbourne for Osaka, and thus my time in Japan began.

A new day, and conversely the last Shinkansen that I would be taking on my trip as I made my way down to the southernmost city on the main Japanese islands, Kagoshima, which is on the very edge of the stunning Kagoshima Bay in Kyushu.

It was an absolutely stunning day as I made the trip south, watching all the villages and farms along the route from my window.

As there was a while before I could check in to my hotel, I took the time to explore the city and to do some reconnaissance for one of the planned activities for the next day. This was a good idea, because I discovered that the Kagoshima trams were the only ones on my trip not to accept the tap-on card I bought in Osaka when I arrived. I also pinged some of the restaurants I would be frequenting on my trip.

The main aim was to get down to the port to see where I would take the ferry from the next day to visit Sakurajima and see the volcano up close. However, there was a second reason, and that was because the Kagoshima City Aquarium was right by the docks, so it was a dual-purpose trip.

If there is one word I would use to describe the aquarium, it would be blue; your life gets enveloped in it during your time there. It sort of seeps into you after a while.

One of the things that I liked the most about the aquarium was how it showed the different ecosystems that represented parts of Kagoshima Bay. You even got to learn about how the currents flow in a bay dominated by a volcano that decided to build its own land bridge one day.

While it was a smaller aquarium, I did still make a couple of new friends.

And of course, you can’t say no to that view.

As I was leaving, there was a reminder that the dolphin show was a bout to start, and you better believe that me and everyone else in that aquarium immediately went out to the bay behind the centre and watched a wonderful display of the graceful creatures diving both through the water and air.

It was then time to come back to the hotel, which may have been the only thing I splurged on during my trip, because I absolutely paid the premium to make sure I had a view of Sakurajima. It was worth every Dollar/Yen I spent on it.

It had been a long day, but there was time to go out and have a filling Gyudon dinner, while also making a sneaky pit stop at the convenience store for some desserts on the way home.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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