Kagoshima-ken

Kagoshima-ken (Kagoshima prefecture) is the southernmost prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. The prefecture also covers a large number of islands around the southern coast extending halfway to Okinawa. Kagoshima prefecture is located at the south end of Kyushu, which is the southernmost of the four main islands in Japan. Here you can find the majestic cedar forests of Yakushima Island, active volcanoes such as Sakurajima, abundant hot springs and rich nature.

Kagoshima is the southern terminus of the Kyushu Shinkansen line. As of 2009, there's still a gap in the network between Yatsushiro and Fukuoka, so a trip from Tokyo entails changes in Osaka, Fukuoka and Shin-Yatsushiro, taking over 8 hours and costing a cool ¥29,000. By 2011, the full length should be open, allowing direct trains from Osaka and shaving over an hour off the travel time. Alternatively, the JR Nippō Main Line (Nippō-honsen) travels from Fukuoka to Kagoshima via Kyushu's eastern coast, passing through Oita and Miyazaki.

Kagoshima's speciality is imojochū, a strong liquor distilled from sweet potatoes (satsuma-imo). Manufactured here for over 500 years, it's infamous for its peculiar smell (often likened to gasoline and other unpleasant things), but recent varieties have reduced it to bearable levels, revealing a complex, almondy taste and the humble workman's plonk has been transformed into a high-class tipple now enjoyed in Tokyo's fancy bars. The local custom is to drink shochu mixed with hot water, called oyuwari, but first-timers will probably want to start off drinking it cold with ice instead.