Top Things to do

• Sengan-en

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Yoshinochou 9700-1

  "This residence and Sengan-en Garden of the Shimazu Clan was built in 1658, by Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the 19th head of the clan. It was well-loved by Shimazu Nariakira, the 28th head of the clan, and visitors to this beautiful garden where Atsu-hime and Saigo Takamori also visited can enjoy the same magnificent views of Kinko Bay and Mt. Sakurajima as they enjoyed. The garden is approximately five hectares in size, with different flowers blooming with the changing of the seasons and various festivities which take place conveying the traditions of the samurai to the present. There are also a wide range of restaurants and shops where visitors can enjoy Satsuma's local cuisine while sightseeing. The entire garden was registered as a World Cultural Heritage Site and named a ""Site of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution"" in 2015 and was also a filming location of the 2018 drama series, Segodon."

• Museum Shoko Shuseikan

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Yoshinochou 9698-1

  This is a museum adjacent to Sengan-en. The collection hall is a group of factories that the Satsuma lord Shimazu Nariakira built for industrial development at the end of the Tokugawa period. The museum building was originally completed in 1865 as a machine factory. Currently it is utilized as a place to communicate the history of industrialization of the Shimazu family and Satsuma clan. In addition to the buildings, some of the exhibits are nationally designated Important Cultural Properties.

• Kagoshima City Museum of Art

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Shiroyamachou 4-36

  This is a private art museum which is built on the ruins of Tsurumaru Castle Ninomaru which was once the castle of the Satsuma Lord Shimazu. The collection focuses on works by local writers and Western art since the 19th century. It also has oil paintings by Cezanne and a “Water Lily” painting by Monet. The collection of paintings depicting Sakurajima, the symbol of Kagoshima, is also spectacular. It is a 16-minute walk from Kagoshima Station.

• Io World Kagoshima City Aquarium

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Honkoushinmachi 3-1

  This is the municipal aquarium built on the coast, on Kagoshima Bay facing Sakurajima Island. In the Kuroshio Large Tank which contains as much as 1,500 tons of water, you can watch the tuna and bonito migrating on the Kuroshio Current. Among them, the impact of the whale shark “Yu Yu” is a highlight. The seal exhibitions and dolphin pool are also popular. It is a 15-minute walk from Kagoshima Station.

• Tenmonkan Mujaki (Main Store)

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Sennichichou 5-8

  This is the original shaved ice “white bear” shop in the Tenmonkan G3 arcade. The “white bear”, also known as a Kagoshima specialty, is made by pouring home-made milk on finely shaved ice and topping with colorful fruit. The size is quite large so for those who don’t think they could finish a serving we recommend the baby size. There are a variety of toppings such as chocolate and caramel pudding.

• Tontoro

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Yamanokuchichou 9-41

  A popular ramen restaurant that is also one of Kagoshima's best located in the Temmonkan-dori shopping arcade. As its name implies in Japanese, the restaurant's specialty Tontoro Ramen is topped with pork that practically melts in your mouth. The broth, made with pork bones, chicken bones, and seafood, is surprisingly light, making it popular with the shop's women customers as well. The rice with roasted pork is also popular and includes a heaping helping of chashu roast pork made with neck meat, a rare delicacy of which only a small amount can be obtained from one animal. A three-minute walk from Takamibaba Station on the municipal tram.

• Yunohira Observation Point

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Sakurajimakoikechou 1025

  A viewing site called the closest to the caldera located at the fourth station on Sakurajima 373 meters above sea level. Depending on the activity of the volcano, visitors can see smoke billowing out, as well as the Taisho Lava Field spreading out before their eyes. The observation point is the highest point on Sakurajima which general visitors may enter and can be traveled to by car. The viewing area is open any time and is a popular spot to visit at night when a great panorama of Kagoshima’s nightscape is visible. Approximately 15 minutes by car from Sakurajima Port.

• Kurokami Buried Torii

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Kurokamichou

  The 1914 eruption of Sakurajima resulted in great amounts of volcanic ash and pumice being erupted over eight thousand meters into the air, burying the entire Kurokami area. This torii gate belonging to Haragosha-jinja Shrine is said to have originally stood three meters high; today, only the top one meter remains unburied. The residents considered exhuming the torii, but the village mayor decided to leave them as is as a reminder of the eruption for future generations. The gate was designated a prefectural Cultural Property in 1958.

• Kumaso tei

  Kagoshima Pref. Kagoshimashi Higashisengokuchou 6-10

  A restaurant specializing in local Satsuma (Kagoshima) cuisine located on the north side of the Tenmonkan. Diners can enjoy a variety of colorful Kagoshima dishes, including pork bone and belly meat slow stewed for three hours until it can be cut with chopsticks, shabu-shabu with Roppaku Kurobuta pork from Kagoshima, sake-zushi fermented overnight with only local sake, fresh silver-striped round herring sashimi caught in Kagoshima Bay (Kinkou Bay) and served with a homemade mustard and vinegared miso sauce, and satsumaage deep-fried fish paste. Private rooms in a variety of sizes are also available, making this a perfect place to have a party or banquet.