Another trip on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). This time to Kagoshima. These high speed trains are really luxurious. I had so much leg room I could fully stretch my legs out. And I wasn't even in first class!

Remember those supreme navigational skills I was telling you about? Well, I used those to good effect to find my hotel without a proper map. I took me a while but I found it.

After settling in I decided to go for a stroll to see what this place was all about. Then I remembered that I still didn't have a map. An explorer without a map is not an explorer at all but just a wonderer who gets lost. And without a map I would get lost in a heartbeat. It's hard enough with a map. The one place I'd be guaranteed to get a decent map in English is at the tourist information centre. I checked the time and learned it was due to close in 15 minutes. I predicted I was about 15 minutes away. It was now a race against time.

Much like James May, I refused to run. I just walked swiftly. Risky. Anyway, I made just in time (having ran up two flights of stairs, sorry James).

Later on that evening I was chatting to a local who used to live in Nagoya, as well as some other places, and he said he liked Kagoshima the most. Mainly due to the volcano. From the bay area Sakurajima volcano, which has risen up from the sea to form an island, can be seen. It's quite a sight. He said it erupts about 600 times a year. That explains a lot. What I thought was dust on the streets all over the city is in actual fact ash. And there's plenty of it!

I suppose I should explain the photo. This is one of the arcades I came across. I saw a lot of these in Tokyo and Kyoto but none quite like this one. It was deafening in there. The sound of the machines was so loud I couldn't handle it. I don't know how they could sit there. Haven't they heard of noise-induced hearing loss?!