JodockWorldTravel

Welcome to Kagoshima, Japan, the first city to introduce western civilization to the Japanese and gateway to trade between Japan and the rest of the world – and home to Sakurajima volcano, an active volcano that has been continually erupting since 1955.

We began our day at the base of the volcano and made a much more civilized climb to viewing points than when we visited the volcano in Nicaragua.  This climb included stairs, viewing platforms, and picnic-like shelters, and although we were blanketed in ash from time to time there was no pelting by lava rock or pebbles imbedded in our hair!  The views were stunning!  We even got to see the volcano erupting.  No[PJ1]  massive lava flows, but you can see the smoke coming out of the crater in a couple of the pictures.  The last time the volcano spewed was 1914.  Smoke clouds reportedly reached as high as 59,000 feet and ash landed as far away as Russia.  Scientist predict another massive explosion within the next thirty years, and i1t seems to be affecting the population.  Our guide lived here when she was a little girl and said the population then was around 8,000.  Today it’s 4,200 and shrinking.

The constant eruption of the volcano makes life interesting for the residents.  The ash is very heavy and wet, so it solidifies quickly and can be damaging to everything it comes in contact with.  Residents are constantly sweeping it up, and the city provides them with special bags to put the ash in for disposal.  The roofs of the houses are built without gutters or spouts because the weight of the ash would tear them from the roof; tombstones and crypts have roofs over them to keep the ash from destroying them, and the mandarin oranges the area is known for all have paper bags wrapped around them while they are hanging from the trees.  It’s an interesting site!  On the plus side the volcanic soil is nutrient-rich making it perfect for growing the mandarin oranges I mentioned earlier and giant radishes – and I mean GIANT.  The largest radish on record here is a whopping 68 lbs.!

We visited the Shoke Shuseikan museum, which tells the story of the Shimadzu family and how they forged international relationships over a period of 800 years that allowed them to gain access to information and inventions that informed and fueled Japan’s own industrial revolution.  Across from the museum is what was once the Shimadzu’s summer home, a sprawling Japanese garden created by the family in 1658.  The grounds include the family home, the original “tin roof” gate that only the lord and his eldest son could enter through (everyone else had to use a different entrance), Japan’s first gas lamp (it’s as big as a garden shed), a reverberatory furnace and a Satsuma Kiriko glassworks factory and store.

The reverberatory furnace was built by Samurai using pictures from a Dutch textbook and combining Japanese craftsmanship with western knowledge.  It’s a process furnace that isolates the material being processed from the fuel used to process it.  It was just beginning to be used in smelting operations in the late 17^th century and would have been cutting edge when it was built.

Satsuma Kiriko is a highly regarded form of cut crystal glass.  It is made by layering colored glass over clear glass and carefully cutting patterns into the outer layer to make the colored glass look like it is melting into the clear glass underneath.  It was created by one of the heads of the Shimadzu family, and for about 100 years after his death it was a lost art.  In 1985 the family resurrected it, and it has since been declared a Traditional Cultural Craft Product.  It ain’t cheap, though.  The little glasses you see in the pictures cost around $950, and the big bowl is more than $10,000.  Beautiful to look at, but our pockets aren’t that deep!

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