April 23 2nd day in Kagoshima



I usually enjoy the excursions and today's was quite good. We took a bus to a ferry,
to cross the bay to the slopes of the volcano Sakurajima. Jima is Japanese for Mount. En route the guide was a constant flow of info. Telling us how KFC is the go to place, at xmas. When westerners first traveled here, they were looking for turkey dinners at xmas, but turkey is not an item here. So became a tradition, to go to KFC at xmas.
It's possible to drive to the volcano, but much faster 15 minute crossing by ferry. Originally, volcano was on an island, but after  a major eruption in 1914, no longer an island. But the volcano still has minor eruptions, averaging 72 times a year, and the residents are regularly bagging the ash .
Japan is a country roughly the size of California but has over roughly 100 active volcanoes. In Canada, we only have dormant volcanoes. And the U.S. has 2 or 3 active ones.
Approx 4000 residents on the"island"  and the children take the ferry every day to the mainland to go to school. And they all wear helmets for the daily trip in case of eruption.
There are concrete shelters everywhere in case of an event.
For obvious reasons, it very much resembled Iceland, but at the same time, it still had its own distinct look.
(find Waldo)
Because of the volcanic ash, they are limited as to what they can grow.
Famous for world's largest daikon radish and world's smallest orange.
Correction, re yesterday's pic .. think it was a yuzu (look it up) tree and not an orange.
Next stop, was a crystal factory/ shop..A little too pricey for us.
We finished at a Garden
where there were also historic steel and concrete factories.
And then back to the ship.
The population is not replacing themselves.....as everyone knows, the birth rate is very low. However, the dog population is ft. Apparently, people keep closets of clothes for their pets.
We left the island at 2:45, with a sake send off, and the volcano no longer sending steam out the top and then I was off to another lecture with Col Klinck.
(morning, then afternoon view)
Col Klinck spoke briefly about Taiwan/mainland China issues. One of the things I learned today, is that there are many small islands that belong to Taiwan.
In the above pic, is depicted one of the Taiwanese islands . The highrises in the background, are on mainland China.

We missed an event this afternoon where repeat cruisers, are invited to an event where the top cruisers are acknowledged by the captain. It's always fun to go and see people who are on their umpteenth cruise. But I forgot about it because was tied up with the concierge who is trying to help me with my visas for the next cruise. He is attempting to help me but mainly doing it on orders of the customer relations manager, otherwise, in positive he should have brushed me off, because not his job. And for the balance of this cruise, (not the next cruise from Singapore), they've given me unlimited internet while on the ship.
BTW, I really want to hear from people, but please do NOT text me, because it'll cost me a stupid amt of money to respond. Please use email or WhatsApp. 

Apparently the captain performed at the soiree that I missed. But I caught him practicing in the cabaret earlier in the afternoon.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gFS6t8zwKXkdkiQ5A

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