Except Okinawa, Kagoshima is the South edge of Japan.  The land of Meiji I-Shin(維新, Restoration) and Japanese heroes, who pushed for invasion of China and Korea.
 

A convenient way of touring Kagoshima city is take the City-View bus that visits all major attractions in Kagoshima. 600 yen for a day.  You can also ride the Tram(市電, pronounced Si-Den) and city operated buses for one day.

Here is the City-View ticket that can be purchased on the bus.  You scratch out the date and show it to the driver when you get off.  You also get discounts for entrance fee for many places.

Inside of the bus.  The bus comes every 30 minutes.

 

A hologram speaks at the congress.  Impressive.  But it looked like 2-Dimensional, so maybe it was cheaper technology. 

A robot Saigo (the hero of the I-Shin) performs at the Meiji I-Shin Restoration Memorial Hall.

St. Xavier was the first who brought Christianity to Japan.  But Christianity has been suppressed and only few Christians are active these days in Japan.
 

Imo(Sweet potatoes) are famous in Kagoshima and Syo-Shu(燒酒, Japanese distilled liquor) made from Imo.  They are selling Yaki(Grilled)- Imo.  

At the observatory on the mountain top of Siro-Yama (城山).  Behind is the still active volcano, Sakura-jima(櫻島), which is not only active but also emits  ashes and smokes.  Specially in summer, Kagoshima residents suffer from the ashes.

The hero, Mr. Saigo, ended his life himself.  The actual site is next to it. Once a traitor, now a hero.  I would rather live a not so dramatic life.  He will be forgotten in 1,000 years from now any way.
 

Only the local Lord of Kagoshima can use this gate.  I visited Sen-Gan-En, the garden of the local royal family.

A Big Gun symbolizes the power of the family.
 

A robot Samurai?

Beautiful gardens of Sen-Gan-En.

Another view of Sen-Gan-En.

A fall in Sen-Gan-En.

Does this works?

A beautiful spider, like the one in the Disney animation "Ants."

The first modern factory in Japan.

Dolphin show at the aquarium.

I love blue.

The big fish.  Yes, it is a shark not a whale.

Yellowish Jelly Fish.
 

The statue of O-Ku-Bo, another great hero of the Meiji I-Shin. He won the hegemony against Saigo.

A Kimchi Na-be.  Totally different taste from the original Kimchi Chige(Korean word for Nabe).

The registration desk for the conference at Kagoshima University.  
 

Kagoshima university is smoke-free, all campus.

 

I never saw this kind of propaganda in Tsukuba university.  I thought they extinct but obviously not in Kagoshima.  They are against the amendment of the constitution and Japan-America military Alliance.

They are also against North Korea's Nuke experiment and the reactions of Japanese government.

The famous Kagoshima Syo-Shu made from sweet potatoes.
 

A meet processing facility.  The first HACCP following facility, they claimed.

A lunch.  I ordered a steak and it was cold.

Outside of the restaurant where we had lunch, there was a blood-drive.  Interesting thing is they advertise the amount of blood they need for that day by blood type.  For example, it says they need 30 400ml packs of type A.

The green onion farm we visited received a total of 239 million yen (about $2.4 million) for one farm in the last 10 years or so.  Yes, just one farm. No wonder Japanese farms are surviving.

At the front gate of a tea production/processing factory and competitor's vending machine.

They don't use pesticide and use this spray machine to wash off harmful insects.  Hmmm... I doubt it.

A foot spa at Kagoshima Airport.

Kagoshima Airport.  Will I ever come back here?