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Kagoshima, the prefecture that wraps across the southern finish of the Japanese island of Kyushu, is claimed by some to resemble the pinnacle of a dragon. On the mouth of this dragon stands Sakurajima, one of many nation’s most energetic volcanoes, whose plumes of smoke can usually be seen from the capital, Kagoshima Metropolis, only a quick ferry experience away.
The realm’s extraordinary pure options, which additionally embody a sprawling 1,500-year-old camphor tree, the most important in Japan, have famously impressed artwork of equal magnificence. The director Hayao Miyazaki visited Kagoshima’s densely forested Yakushima island to recreate the surroundings of its Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine for his 1997 animated movie, “Princess Mononoke.” However whereas Tokyo and Kyoto proceed to attract stampedes of Western vacationers, Kagoshima nonetheless appears to draw largely Japanese and different Asian guests, desirous to discover the prefecture’s peninsulas and islands and take buying journeys to the pottery village of Miyama within the metropolis of Hioki.
Historical past lovers know Kagoshima, which incorporates what was as soon as the feudal area of Satsuma, because the birthplace, in 1828, of Saigo Takamori, often called the final samurai, who led the motion to overthrow the navy shogunate in Edo (present-day Tokyo). The area was additionally the house of the Shimadzu clan, which, in the course of the Edo interval (1603-1868), whereas the remainder of Japan largely closed its borders to foreigners, maintained connections with different East Asian nations via its commerce with the Ryukyu Kingdom and later promoted technological alternate with England. The clan’s endeavors helped pave the best way for the nation’s industrial revolution within the latter half of the nineteenth century. Sengan-en, a 1658 Shimadzu villa in Kagoshima Metropolis, is open to the general public, showcasing lush gardens, a palace and a museum. Farther south are a collection of exceptionally picturesque islands, together with Tanegashima, website of the nation’s largest rocket-launch middle; the wooded Yakushima; and the Amami chain, with its teeming coral reefs.