Steve and Cathy's Blog

The morning begins with a serene and beautiful sunrise, and it looks like the day will be clear.  At 6:00am, we are still many miles from Kagoshima, which is about as far southwest as you can be in Japan.  The weather certainly is warmer, and we pass the morning writing, reading and checking out the scenery as it appears from time to time.

For reasons that, at this point, escape me, we are told we will be about an hour late, due to arrive now around 2:30pm.  As we are also set to leave the place at 9:00pm, this puts a squeeze on our itinerary. Our excursion, Chiran Discovery, was due to start at 1:45 and last 4.5 hours. We shall see what adjustments have to be made.

As mentioned in previous posts, Japan is one of the most volcanically active areas on earth, and Kagoshima is right beneath Mt. Sakurajima, one of the country’s most active volcanoes.  Enroute to the port, we think we pass the other volcano in the neighborhood, and Steve rushes out to take a photo.  We learn later from our tour guide that it is Mount Kaimon, a 3,030-foot mountain that last erupted in the year 885.

Mt. Sakurajima is actually part of the city.  In 1914, it had a huge eruption that covered the city in ash, an eruption so large that the lava flow connected Sakura Island with the mainland.  This 3,665-foot mountain almost continuously spouts gas and ash, but at varying rates.  In 2015, there were 1,255 “significant” eruptions (how that is defined is unclear, but the locals are so blasé about their volcanic neighbor that they only keep statistics on certain kinds of activity).  In 2016, the number was only 150; in 2017 it was 400.

Our arrival is uneventful and efficiently handled per usual, and we are in our bus by around 2:45pm. Our guide is Komiko (“please call me Komi”) with the family name Endo.  Her picture is on the front of this post.  We are to visit two places in the town of Chiran located twenty-two miles south of the city: a neighborhood area where Samurai once lived in the 19^thcentury which is still occupied by descendants, and Tokko Heiwa Kaikan, or Peace Museum.  Our 4.5-hour tour has been necessarily compressed to four hours due to the late arrival, so we get a move on.  The area is quite hilly, and as we wind our way up into those hills, the scenery of the area becomes more and more forested and beautiful, with wonderful views of the bays.

Of course, our guide is providing us with much information on the Kagoshima area, Japan and Japanese culture – and she also is displaying a very good sense of humor.  Let’s go into Random Mode for our ride to Chiran:

• We are on the island of Kyushu, the southernmost of the main islands of Japan. The weather is pleasant year round, but the best months are April and May.
• The most popular wedding month used to be June, but now the autumn months are now more popular because of the cooler weather. Brides customarily wear kimonos as wedding dresses, and these are far more comfortable in fall.
• Komi sneezes and, after apologizing, must blow her nose, adding “When I blow my nose, I don’t make noise because I am Japanese. On the other hand, when we eat noodles, that is a different story.”
• There are 47 prefectures in Japan, seven of which are on Kyushu. They are similar to our states.
• On our way out of the city, we pass by a Pachinko casino. Our guide explains that normally the government frowns upon gambling, but they are beginning to allow these casinos so that tourists “can contribute to the Japanese economy.”  She adds: “By the way, you don’t have to gamble; you can shopto contribute to the economy as well!”
• She mentions the other volcano on the island of Kyushu, Mt. Kaimon and suggests that it looks like Mt. Fuji. It is then that Steve and Cathy discover that the random photo taken earlier was indeed Mt. Kaimon!
• Because we are on mountain roads, there are dozens of curves and hairpin turns.Normally the guides stand facing us on all of these tours (I don’t know how they do it.  It would make us nauseous).  Komi finally says: “May I sit down?”  She sits and adds: “Do you miss my face?”  She is a very fun and entertaining personality.
• Shintoism has evolved in Japan. At one time it consisted on 8 million gods as the belief system included animism, a belief that almost anything could possess a spirit.  During the Mejii period (1868 to 1912), the emperor was considered to be a “living god.”  After WWII, that belief about the emperor was abandoned.
• On our way to Chiran, we pass many fields where rice is cultivated. Green tea is also grown in this area, and is quite popular on Kyushu Island.
• There are some very famous hot springs in Ibusuki. She jokes that everyone must be nude, so the men and women are separate.

We arrive at our first stop: the well-preserved residences and gardens of the Samurai.  Most of the houses are around 250 years old, and harken us back to that period in Japanese history called the Edo Period.

Here is a brief description of that period from Wikipedia: “The Edo period or Tokugawa periodis the period between 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country’s 300 regional daimyōs. The period was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, a stable population, “no more wars”, and popular enjoyment of arts and culture. The shogunate was officially established in Edo on March 24, 1603, by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period came to an end with the Meiji Restoration on May 3, 1868, after the fall of Edo.”

This is actually still a neighborhood where descendants of the Samurai live, so only seven houses are available even to look at from the outside.  One of the neighbors does allow us to view this interestingly designed house and our guide explains the various architectural features, which includes a cement sword-washing bath.

Before we begin the tour, Komi asks: “Please be careful where you walk.  If you fall down, I will have to write a long report and I would like to go home early today.”  After we enter, she explains that we will have time to visit three houses and points them out on the map.  We are in a time crunch, so she keeps us moving right along, which is just as well.  We aren’t the only Oceania bus, and the place isn’t that big.

First we visit a typical house that is opened (literally, the sides are open) for us to view, and various elements are explained (including the sword bathtub). As seems to be typical, the grounds are immaculate, the plantings exquisitely pruned (especially the trees), and very peaceful despite the presence of dozens of us tourists.  We are too early to see the azaleas in bloom, but a couple of large photographs are provided so we can see how gorgeous that would be to see.

We move down the pathway to a second house, and then to a third.  Komi tries to shepherd us all along due to the time element.  We finally end up at a house with a beautiful garden that serves as an example of what many of the walled yards look like.

In total, we stroll around the neighborhood for about an hour, just enough time to get a sense of what it would have been like back in the 1700s. It is wonderful to know that it has been so perfectly preserved, and it is generous of the owners to allow hoards of visitors to descend upon them on a daily basis.  The town itself is in a similar immaculate, neat state.  [It was great! Gorgeous weather, beautiful gardens, very peaceful.]

We are now off to our next stop: Tokko Heiwa Kaikan, aka The Chiran Peace Museum. Chiran was the site of the base where kamikaze pilots were trained and from where they took off to attack Allied ships during the last months of WWII.

We arrive right around 4:30pm.  Komi had hoped that they would understand our plight and leave the place open until 5:30 instead of closing at the normal 5:00pm.  No go.  The museum is only one building in a complex of several, and there are gardens and statuary to be viewed.  We have to wait a few minutes while people shop (go figure?) and then we are able to spend about twenty minutes in the museum building.

If you wish to know more, here is the Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiran_Peace_Museum_for_Kamikaze_Pilots

As for Cathy and Steve – and others we talked with afterwards – we are very much at odds with what we see and what is displayed.  The museum points out that 1,036 pilots died, and that many, many of them were barely out of their teens.  They are considered heroes who died for their country.  What we cannot reconcile was that, in the course of committing suicide for their country, they killed thousands of Allied soldiers, especially in the battle for Okinawa.

In just a few minutes, Cathy has seen enough. [There were pictures of the pilots (so young! just kids!) copies of their last letters to their mothers, photos of training sessions, examples of their uniforms, stuff like that. All I could think about was the young members of the RAF who flew over the English Channel during the Battle of Britain trying to shoot down Luftwaffe planes that were bombing London. It freaked me out. I couldn’t stay. But the garden was nice.] In a few minutes more, so has Steve.  We meet outside in the beautiful gardens where we observe the stone lanterns erected as a monument to each of the pilots.  There are also planes and even a huge statue with a plane dedicated to these men.

We get out of there around 5:30-5:45pm.  We guess we are glad to have seen this, but it is quite unsettling. The people of Chiran may call this a Peace Museum, but to an American, Brit, Aussie or anyone whose countrymen lost their lives in the senseless slaughter of the waning days of WWII, it is a War Museum.  Enough said.

The ride back to the ship takes about an hour, primarily because we have hit rush hour.  Kagoshima is quite industrialized, and we have to wander through many “industrial estates” to make our way to the ship.  Komi continues to entertain us with a very cute game that speaks to an element of Japanese culture we will appreciate.

English is almost the second language of Japan.  It is taught in school, and most people know a mixture of words and phrases from their school days.  But after a few years of non-usage, the pronunciation of these words and phrases are sort of reshaped and sound like half-Japanese/half English.  Essentially, it’s a form of pidgin English.

So Komi gives us the Japanese version of a given word or phrase – plus perhaps a clue or two – and asks us what the English equivalent might be.  It is very entertaining and enlightening.  I am ashamed that I did not write down some, but the game lightened the trip (especially after our last stop, we needed the distraction) considerably.

As we arrive in the city, Komi points out that Mt. Sakurajima has decided to put on a show for us.  The mountain is almost entirely obscured in clouds of ash.  Our guide quickly assures us that there is nothing to be concerned about, especially because the prevailing winds at this time of year will keep the ash from reaching the city center.  But she does say: “ The volcano is erupting. Please be sure to exit the bus quickly and get back on your ship!”  She is really saying” “This is normal.  Don’t worry.”  She is a lot of fun to the very end.

We do indeed board the ship quickly, mainly because Steve wants the opportunity to take a few photos of the mountain from up on Deck 10.  Below are a couple of them, as well as one photo from the Internet for comparison.

Our visit to Japan is complete, and we will be sailing at 9:00pm.  We eat a nice dinner in the Grand Dining Room and retire. The ship sails as scheduled.  We have 1,294 miles to cover to Manila, Philippines.  We leave with very many good impressions of this close ally to the United States. And we also leave with a much greater understanding of 1) the totality of the war in the Pacific and 2) the wisdom of the occupation of Japan and the American help to rebuild the country in its aftermath.

This is a great country of fine, intelligent people.  It is hard to understand how they went so wrong eighty years ago, and they were exceptionally fortunate that they lost this war to the United States of America.  They rebuilt their country to be one of the largest, most advanced economies of the world under our guidance and protection.  They are our close friends, and we experienced that connection every minute we were there.