11 April 2025
I thought this was a small town?
Tenmonkan Shotengai area
There seems to be a lot more retail in Kagoshima than I was expecting. I would say it falls somewhere ahead of Kanazawa and just behind Hiroshima. I will now check populations....
Kanazawa 466k
Kagoshima 584k
Hiroshima 1.2 million
So I was on the money, but I do think it seems closer to Hiroshima as far as the centre of town number of shops goes than those numbers would suggest.
There are a very large number of covered shopping streets, a network of them. This was unexpected. And importantly, this is not just at the station area, the station area also seems to have a large number of shops (and a ferris wheel on top) but I have not looked there yet.
Also it is not the area close to the water with a view of the volcano, I kind of suspect they do not build much of value along the waterfront in front of the volcano for some reason...
Unfortunately the weather seems a bit tricky for the next few days here, even though there was not a cloud in the sky when I got here, so tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be hiking days with Sunday for doing things in Kagoshima day, but only time will tell if that comes off as planned.
There is a tram network in Kagoshima. This is one of the main road junctions where the trams go in 3 directions. Older tram on the left, newer on the right. I hope to ride on a tram before I leave.
There is a donki, and a Daiwa Roynet hotel, an enormous one. I was going to stay in that hotel but changed my mind because I wanted one closer to the train station as one of my hikes has a very very early start otherwise it is impossible to get there before noon.
Here is the start of the Tenmonkan shopping area, all though this is more of a bar area, most places were only just opening when I walked back through here a couple of hours after this photo was taken.
The Shotengai are long, wide and relatively new. You can see it continuing on the other side of the road.
Nice sunset.
In addition to the covered shopping streets... the streets that are not covered have the footpath covered, and covers for where you cross the street. Yeah, I know what I said.
One of the lesser Shotengai, ending at a department store.
This is a different main road, also with a tram line, also with grass on the tram line.
Grand looking department stores on both sides of the road.
Art installation? All hail the cube.
Seiko medical beauty clinic, not just watches anymore.
Ramen again. No egg but a lot of pork, chilli and garlic. It was great.
Nice wide streets here. Also, I was out after dark.
And as I mentioned above, what passes as a red light district was only just starting to open for business at 8pm, with boys in cheap suits putting the inflatable light up signs in the street as I walked back to my hotel.
Will it be raining when I wake up? Forecast says 40% likely.