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Kagoshima
18 places
Holidays in Japan? Plan them with us.Over 2,000 real places, a day-by-day itinerary.FreeOpen the map →- Amu Plaza Kagoshima — the Amuran Ferris wheel (アミュプラザ鹿児島 観覧車アミュラン) A 91-metre Ferris wheel on the roof: 14 and a half minutes to see the whole of Sakurajima.
- Chiran Peace Museum for Special Pilots (知覧特攻平和会館) From here 439 of the army's 1,036 kamikaze pilots took off, almost half of the total.
- Chiran Samurai Residence District (知覧武家屋敷庭園) A single 530-yen ticket covers seven samurai gardens from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Ibusuki sand bath — Sunamushi Kaikan Saraku (指宿砂むし会館 砂楽) An attendant buries your body up to the neck in sand heated by a spring at 84.7°C.
- Io World Kagoshima — city aquarium (いおワールドかごしま水族館) The whale sharks are called Yuyu: they go back to the sea at 5.5 metres with a transmitter.
- Ishin Furusato-kan (維新ふるさと館) In the basement, life-size robots act out the story of the Meiji Restoration.
- Kagoshima Castle and Goroumon (鹿児島城・御楼門) The gate rebuilt in 2020 weighs 320 tonnes: the largest of its kind in Japan.
- Kamafuta Shrine (釜蓋神社) You walk ten metres with a pot lid on your head: if it does not fall, it brings good luck.
- Kirishima Shrine (霧島神宮) The red lacquerwork of the 1715 buildings became a National Treasure in 2022.
- Sakurajima (桜島) Until 2025 its ferry was the only one in Japan running 24 hours a day.
- Sengan-en (仙巌園) The garden uses Sakurajima, across the bay, as borrowed scenery.
- Shiratani Unsuikyō (白谷雲水峡) The Yayoi-sugi cedar is 3,000 years old: it inspired the forests of ‘Princess Mononoke’.
- Shiroyama (城山展望台) Last battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, 1877: Saigō Takamori died here.
- Tenmonkan (天文館) The name comes from a 1779 observatory, built to work out a calendar that was Satsuma's alone.
- Tomori Kaigan (土盛海岸) The closest beach to Amami Airport: six minutes by car, white sand, coral.
- Yakushima (屋久島) The coastal weather station records 4,651.7 mm of rain a year, the national record.
- Yakusugi Land (ヤクスギランド) Five trails, 30–150 minutes, among thousand-year-old cedars: the Sennen-sugi, the Kuguri-sugi.
- Yamakataya Department Store (山形屋) Its 1916 lift, imported from America, was the first of its kind in the city.