Monday & Tuesday January 27 & 28, 2003 ....
My contact Myumi (Rosemary) in Kagoshima made reservations for me at a western style hotel
with a traditional Japanese room interior . I arrived and a cute( aren’t they all ) tall 25 ish
female front desk attendant who spoke pretty good English met me outside with an
umbrella as it was drizzling. I checked in and prepaid for 2 nights $ 138.65 This
included a charge for a decent breakfast at their restaurant both days. This was the most
expensive hotel I stayed at on my trip, but it was an interesting experience. Kagoshima is
a sort of distant remote city of maybe 700,000 people on the island of Kyushu. They have
an active volcano across a harbor from the city maybe a 10 minute ferry ride away.
My room had a western style prefabricated Bathroom module. Like I found in all of my
hotel rooms in Japan except the Four Seasons. small but workable I suppose. It also had 2
chairs slightly shorter than normal size located by the window. Otherwise the room was in
the Japanese Inn style. you were expected to take your shoes off upon entering the foyer
and then you would step up and enter into a room with a tightly thatched floor mat covering
almost all of the floor. The room was maybe 15 foot wide by 20 foot deep. Sort of
spacious compared to many of the other hotels I stayed at. On the floor was a futon
mattress and a blanket covered with a sheet that wrapped around the blanket only
exposing an oval of the blanket design on the top. It is kind of like the bed spread that
fits around your mattress. but only inverted to fit around the blanket. and is the style in
Japanese hotels I found. They only give you 1 flimsy thin pillow, There was also a chair
without legs with a cushion attached to it that went underneath a coffee table in the room
in front of the TV which was on a shelf table connected to the wall.
There were 2 closets inside of the room 1 which was for your clothes, and Contained the
Yakata -- housecoat / robe. which almost all hotels in Japan provide for you to wear. I
tried mine on and took a picture in a mirror but it was too small for me. the other
Closet is meant for storage of the futon during the day and it contains additional blankets
I believe. the room had sliding paper doors so you could shut out the world if you
wanted. It kind of provided a neat atmosphere to the room. Between the sliding paper
wall and the window was a 4 foot carpeted area with the 2 normal chairs and a table
next to the window. Since the hotel was located close to the harbor I had a nice view of a
major street running parallel to the harbor and an nice big neon Coca cola sign. across
from me and the park below. however Being the Grande Gringo and not flexible I found it
uncomfortable sleeping on the 3 inch thick futon and even thinking of sitting in the
chair with no legs to watch TV scared me. But I get the feeling that living close to the
floor seems to be a traditional part of Japanese life.
The Breakfast buffet was pretty good for the additional Charge I guess but it certainly was
not normal western fare they offered rice and Salad and uncooked raw eggs. they did
offer a sort of beef stew which I ate over the rice. and bread slices which are 1 inch
thick with jam, They also had OJ and milk. It was not a bad breakfast it was just
different. the restaurant area had a nice view of the Street below and the Harbor area
across the street. On the second day I could even see most of the Volcano across the
harbor. I went on top if ht e building and took some pictures but the top of the Volcano
never did clear up so I guess it was emitting steam
Rosemary (37) and her sister in law (Azume ?) ( 30) met me at the hotel at noon.
Rosemary (calls herself after the herb) is married and has 2 children. She participates from
a distance with the English club in Osaka that I correct their essays for. her sister in law
is a single engineer and she returned rather recently from spending a year in Canada.
Her English was quite well and rosemary did a fine Job speaking also. Since it was still
a drizzly overcast day and it was pointless to see the Volcano. We decided to Just
explore the downtown shopping district -- Streets that were covered with a full overhanging
roof. we investigated the local department stores with their pastries and sampled a few of
the Japanese Style sweets also. I also had some cocha ( green tea) that defiantly tasted
better than the stuff drained through gym socks that they served on the Northwest
airplane. but I generally do not care for coffee or tea. After walking and talking we
decided to go for lunch and we had Ton Katsu -- Breaded Pork Cutlet. It was a lot better
than the version I had in Santa Barbara a couple of weeks earlier.
We took our time and we talked about male / female relations, The wild hairdo prime
minister, traveling abroad and many other daily topics. we walked around some more and
they had to go to prepare dinner for her family. They dropped me off at he hotel and I
rested about an hour and then I went on a walk about downtown. I received many stares in
Kagoshima more than any other city. Since it is off the beaten travel path I don’t think
they see many westerners. I think I only saw maybe 5 while I was there. I kicked back
that evening and I went to one of the many vending machines all over Japan this one
being in the hotel and I bought a can of beer for like $1.80
The next morning I had breakfast again and I had a nice view from the restaurant. I took
my pictures as It cleared up. I tried to pass out my business card to the Cute tall girl
and then I took a taxi to the JR station. I went to the nearby post office to mail a card
to my mother and I noticed that Miami is Kagoshima’s sister city. I don’t know If I
would want to live there, but I think Kagoshima is interesting enough that I would like to
visit again.
I boarded the TSUBAME train again and I enjoyed the 4 hour ride along the Kyushu coast
back to Fukuoka. Though it was colder than California, maybe low 40’s. It is warm enough
that they grow Oranges here. I thought it was interesting how they have mastered terrace
farming, and that they have orchards extending up the sides of the hills, maybe up to 30 feet
off the valley floor. I also saw many groves of Bamboo forests and I thought of
Humabdos and how I should take a picture but I didn’t. I have a post card with the
bamboo trees though. the train paralleled the Yatsuhiro bay for a long time which was
picturesque. I would say that it is almost as long as San Francisco bay from San Jose to
San Francisco 40 miles long by maybe 10 -15 miles wide. I liked Kyushu especially this
Train stretch. It gives you the impression of Japan at a slower pace and still a little bit
untouched.
