"Sakurajima."

Wednesday 10 October.Day 76. Fine, Hot, Humid but No Rain.

We both washed ourselves in the bathroom, rinsed, and had a quick soak in the tub: a wonderful idea for relaxation; Japanese baths are much deeper than ours.
Breakfast: Colin and Toshiharu ate a sort of Japanese breakfast: egg rolls, saveloys, ume boshi, rice with dried seaweed sprinkled on it. Shouko, Ritsuko, and I ate bread and croissants and drank tea. European style tea for me and green tea for them.
After breakfast, Toshiharu, Ritsuko, Colin, and I drove north (there is a map on the previous page) along the coast of Kagoshima Bay. We were going to see Sakurajima, Japan's most active volcano. On the way we passed the "Japanese National Institute Of Sport And Health". This is the National University for people who want to specialize in the study of sport and health. Students come from all over Japan.

As we drew closer to the volcano, which (seen here from the east) is enormous, as extensive as the Bellarine Peninsula I would think and much, much higher, we became more aware of the volcano's presence. We could see a plume of smoke constantly rising. There was black, salty-textured fine ash lying in hollows. Huge lumps of rock, both smooth and rough textured, that had been belched from the volcano were strewn about.

Well actually, a signboard had all the details.
Sakurajima is fifty two kilometres in circumference and occupies eighty square kilometres. It is a composite cone one thousand one hundred and seventeen metres high. Other active Japanese volcanoes are at Anhara, Asama, and Aso. Sakurajima has erupted in 1476, 1779, 1914, and 1946.
Before the eruption of 1914, Sakurajima was an island in Kagoshima Bay, but the 1914 eruption lasted for more than a month and produced three billion tonnes of lava. Eight villages were buried. The sea (up to then four hundred metres wide and seventy metres deep) between the east side of the island and the Osumi Peninsula was completely filled in so that the island has become a part of the peninsula.
We stopped in a carpark where the road skirts the base of the volcano. There was a little park with a viewing area, information boards, and concrete shelters to be used if Sakurajima started throwing more of the enormous boulders that lay in piles all around.
After walking a little and reading the boards, we returned to the car.
Toshiharu continued driving north so that we could see Sakurajima from the other side.
We stopped at Shiroyama Park in Kokobu City where there was an observation tower, so we could look in all directions. Happily there was also a kiosk serving the ubiquitous sofuto kuremu.

We retraced our steps (or rather the car wheels their rolls), and were back home at 4 pm. We had a late lunch of miso soup and lunch boxes. The latter, Ritsuko had bought in a convenience shop on the way back from Kokobu City. She also bought Colin some new nail scissors to replace the WMD confiscated at Heathrow Airport.

A little later Takao and Kayoko arrived. Two cars took everyone into Kanoya, to an Izakaya for dinner.
We sat on the floor around a low table in an upstairs private room and ate an enormous meal (with beer, of course).
At an Izakaya the waiters, shouting the customary salutations and obeisances, bring a succession of delicious dishes which are then passed around among the diners. There are of course, seafood dishes. Seafood worries me, I don't know why. And here I was in Japan where they are particularly inventive with seafood. For example, another night I found myself snacking on baby squid stuffed with boiled peanuts! Anyway, this night I actually ate several oysters, a food I find particularly horrifying. They were cooked in a crusty batter and really they were delicious.
Well into the meal, Colin announced that it was our wedding anniversary, thirty six years that day. We had not been going to mention this for fear of presents, but he thought it was too late for shopping, and no doubt he had worked out how to impart the information in Japanese, and just couldn't stop himself.
Alas!
We were hurried home in one car while Shouko and Kayako rushed around Kanoya in the other car to buy a cake and drinks. They had to go to several shops to find a suitable cake. We ate the cakes with gin and tonic before bedtime. Oh dear!

Rocket_Centre.