My Adventure Through Life: Place #2: Kagoshima ２カ所目：鹿児島

Day 3 of our trip, we left Yakushima. Our plan was to hike the Shirataniunsuikyo in the morning, another hiking trail that has scenes from Princess Mononoke, but we woke up to heavy rain. Since our bodies were aching from the day before as well, we decided to take it easy at the hostel until we had to take the ferry back.
We got into talking with the lady who takes care of the place, whom we called "obachan". She made us coffee and tea, and told us her story of why she lives in Yakushima over the summers. She was so friendly and kind throughout the 2 nights that we lived there and really made us feel at home.

旅３日目、屋久島を後にした。最初のプランは最終日の朝、白谷雲水峡を訪れることだったけど、目覚めたらすごい雨。前の日の疲れもあったし、フェリーの時間まで午前中はゆっくり民宿で過ごすことにした。
民宿の管理人をしているおばちゃんとゆっくり話した。おばちゃんは、コーヒーやお茶を淹れてくれて、なんで夏の季節に屋久島に住んでいるかを話してくれた。お世話になった２泊、私たちの面倒を本当によくみてくれて、色々助けてくれた。

After our raincoat disasters in the Jomon ceder hiking, we also bought ourselves a 300 yen plastic raincoats each- and used our old coats to cover our backpacks. Not so glamorous, but the main thing was to not get wet and to be able to move and walk comfortably. And I have to say that looking back, we traveled quite light considering the fact that we were out traveling for nearly 20 days.

縄文杉のハイクで使い物にならないと判明したレインコート。私たちは、スーパーで３００円のプラスチックレインコートを購入して、今まで使っていたやつは、リュックのカバーとして使い始めた。決して「おしゃれ」とは言えないけど、最優先は雨にぬれない事と歩きやすい事。旅のスタイルはこんな感じ↓。今振り返ってみると２０日近くの旅にしては、コンパクトだったとおもう。

Back in Kagoshima, we celebrated a lovely journey's start with drinks and yummy food- including the famous Kagoshima black pork... yummy!
We also found a public bath house to relax in before heading back to the hostel.

鹿児島に着くと、美味しいご飯とお酒で旅の素晴らしいスタートを乾杯！
鹿児島の黒豚も、しっかり食べて…うーん、美味しかった！
ホステルに帰る前には、銭湯も見つけてリラックス。

Next day, was out time to sightsee Kagoshima! We were able to see a few historical sights as well as beautiful viewpoints and a japanese garden.

次の日は、鹿児島観光の日！歴史的な場所や、きれいなビューポイントや、日本庭園をみた。

We saw the caves where Saigou Takamori, known as one of the last samurais, were hiding during Shiyorama battle, his last stand against the meiji government. He was even whom Katsumoto, the character in the movie the Last Samurai, was based on.

西郷隆盛が、城山決戦のときに隠れたという洞窟。彼は、「ラストサムライ」の登場人物のかつもとのモデルだったということも知る。

We also went to Sengan-en, a japanese style landscape garden. The small ponds, streams, shrines and the bamboo forests created beautiful views, wherever we walked inside the garden. The Sakurajima island also fit so perfectly into the view.

日本庭園の仙巌園へも足を伸ばした。小さな池や小川やお寺や竹林はいくつものきれいな景色を作る。遠く後ろに見える桜島も絶好のバックグラウンド。

We also tried another famous Kagoshima food- Shirokuma. A type of japanese dessert made from shaved ice, this particular one is flavoured with condensed milk, friends and sweet beans. We didn't know about this until we got to Kagoshima and many locals who recommended us to eat it.

Unfortunately, it was a taste that neither my sister nor I liked... but at least now we know what it is!

黒豚のほかにもうひとつ鹿児島フードを試した：しろくまだ。かき氷をコンデンスミルクとフルーツで味をつけたもの。鹿児島に着くまで存在を知らなかったけど、現地の人もおすすめしてくれた。残念ながら、私たちの口には合わなかったけど…それもまた経験。

We also visited Francisco Xavier Park, with the little time that we had before taking the bullet train to Kumamoto. The name ringed a special sound in our minds, because we went to an elementary named after this roman catholic missionary when we grew up in the Fukushima prefecture of Japan. Francisco Xavier reached japan in 1549 and entered Japan through landing on Kagoshima.

熊本への新幹線が出発するまでのわずかな時間、鹿児島の町の中にあるザビエル公園も訪れた。私たちにとってザビエルという名はとても親しみのある名前…福島に住んでいたとき通っていた小学校が、このキリスト教の布教者から名前をもらっていたから。

フランシスコ•ザビエルは、１５４９年に鹿児島に上陸した。