Noon Report:

• Location: N 31° 32.06′, E 130° 33.20′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked
• Weather: Rain showers
• Temperature: 19º C; 66º F
• Wind: SSE 20 knots; 23 mph
• Sea: Calm

But check out the palm trees in that photo.

Our morning started in the usual way and since we had nothing on the calendar until afternoon we took advantage of the inclement weather to do a bit of catching up on Blogs and such.

EXCURSION: Kagoshima Scenic Ride
We donned rain gear and headed to the bus for our 1:30 ride thru town.

One other note about this ride. Grandson Asher has tasked me to keep track of sightings of McDonalds and Dominoes. It’s generally possible to spot at least one McDonalds in each town but it wasn’t until today that I actually saw a Dominoes. Even if it was a just Dominoes delivery bike I’m still counting it.

Museum
Our first stop was the Reimeikan – Kagoshima History Museum. An excellent museum with thoughtfully curated displays highlighting the history of the area. Sadly virtually all of the signs were only in Japanese. And sadly they don’t allow photographs. They do, however, have Wifi so I was able to use Google Translate. It works, but it really isn’t an efficient way to do a survey of the materials in the time we had. And while there were staff stationed around watching us (the museum was closed today but they opened it just for the several Viking excursions) they couldn’t be everywhere all the time. So…

Obviously it would be worth much more time to explore the museum. Next time.
Leaving the museum we noted a couple of sights along the way.

Floor Show
Our guide billed herself as “a comedy guide” and while her standup routine was brief, she displayed other talents (and faces):

And she did a couple of magic tricks and sang for us.
Certainly one of the high points of the day and our vote for ‘Best Guide’.

Tea
Returning to the ship we were in time for afternoon tea in the Wintergarden. We weren’t necessarily hungry (although I don’t know how you’d say no to their fresh baked scones) but the tea was nice and warm on a cool wet day.

Chef’s Table
We had scheduled dinner at the Chef’s Table (specialty restaurant with a themed 5 course tasting menu – the Peking Duck was fantastic) with Randy & Kelly and Steve & Karyn – from last year’s world cruise. Sadly Steve and Karyn couldn’t make it so we reset the reservation to Wednesday. But since we already had a table reserved for this evening…

Let me just add that the 5 course meal also included 5 wine pairings – which helped us ignore the lightning storm going on outside – however the rolling seas on top of a hangover made it a little hard to maneuver after dinner.

So that’s a day. Tomorrow we are in Beppu.
See you then, R

Cheryl’s Factoids:

• The view of the actively steaming Sakurajima volcano across the bay from Kagoshima, is often compared to the view of the steaming Mt. Vesuvius across the bay from Naples. The city’s bay is actually a sunken caldera formed 22,000 years ago after a massive eruption. The volcano used to be on its own island in the bay, but a 1914 lava flow connected it to the Kagoshima mainland. (Even though Mt. Fuji hasn’t been active since 1707, it is also considered to be an active volcano, not a dormant volcano, as it is located in a tectonically and seismically active region. Fuji means “deathless” and echoes the Taoist belief that the volcano harbors the secret of immortality).
• The Last Samurai: Saigo Takamori led the Satsuma Rebellion but had to retreat before the advancing imperial army, who whittled his army down relentlessly. Eventually Saigo and his final remaining samurai were encircled and annihilated at the Battle of Shiroyama. Since he was defeated, he wrote his death poem then committed ritual suicide – death before dishonor. This is the same samurai ethic that was behind the Kamikaze pilots of WWII. There was an airbase near Kagoshima which is now a museum with Kamikaze planes, pictures and letters from the pilots.
• Ibusuki (volcanic) sand bath – you put on a traditional robe then lay down on the sand. They shovel hot volcanic sand onto your body until they get up to your neck and head (which is nicely padded). The heat and weight of the sand are supposed to help with rheumatism and arthritis. There are also traditional onsen baths available – all tatoos need to be covered and no clothing is allowed (the men’s bath is separated from the women’s bath). In both these treatments, do not drink alcohol before you start as it raises your blood temperature too high. (Randy: I can’t see paying for a sand bath treatment. I’ve got grandchildren who would be very happy to give me one of those for free.)