Saturday September 14. Beautiful weather. 32 C. [82 F]
Kagoshima is the port today, the most southerly of the main Japanese islands, 462 miles north of Okinawa.
There were only 25 on the tour we bought today, nice size. The town of Chiran was a 50 minute easy and pleasant drive through the countryside. It is a very, very pleasant neat little town, just the way I had thought Japan would be.
It started as a Samurai town 250 years ago, with the homes still occupied and lovingly cared for in the traditional way, all classified as Historical Buildings by the government. Several of the homes have their gardens open to public viewing.
It was a dream seeing how they lived here, 250 years ago. The gardens are very formal but natural, no irrigation is used, amazingly. There are 27 homes and gardens in the old village. We as a group stopped at around four and we could then visit half a dozen more on your own time.
A five minute ride away was the Chiran Peace Memorial, which is a museum and memorial area within an existing park that has its own natural beauty.
The Museum is dedicated to the 1036 Kamikaze Pilots who flew from here to their deaths in April/May 1945 during the battle for Okinawa. I thought that this would be an informative yet controversial tour rather than another city tour in the city of Kagoshima.
As I thought, there is two sides to the story of these pilots. They lost their lives in defense of their country just as millions of men and women have fought for their country since men have been going to war. I will not go into a physiological discussion on the matter at this time.
It was a wonderful day for us, the best tour since we sailed.
The main street has a stream, as part of the sidewalk and boulevard running through it, with Coy swimming safely in it!
Clean as a whistle.
This hedge is over 200 years old.
A street in the Old Village.
These gardens are very comforting and peaceful, yet simple, in a complicated way!
Once in a while there is a dot of colour, not often.
A few gardens have water features in then.
A monument to the 1036 pilots who died in the battle for Okinawa who flew from the airfield that was here during the war.
These lanterns are all inscribed with the name and particulars of a pilot, as we do with crosses in war cemeteries.
A photo of an actual plane that never got used as a Kamikaze.
A recovered Kamikaze after 70 years in the ocean,
Rice and green tea farms in the country.
Some little town that probably has been there in some form for centuries.
I noticed these interesting wind-turners hanging in the street. I found out that a local barber made them so I searched him out in his shop. I went in and asked him how much? He handed me two and said "Present, no money." How humbling is that? Now we have to pack the very fragile strips of flailed Green Tea tins!
