For our two days in Kagoshima, we came up with a few ideas for what we could explore. Satsuma Kiriko was one of them that we knew we wanted to do, but the rest was open to checking out the Sengan-en garden, Sakurajima observation decks, an aerial tour, or checking out a random lighthouse. Despite all of these though, we decided to try out the famous Ibusuki sand baths, another stop that I learned about from Haruka Reset. Jim had found that there was a special train called the Ibusuki No Tamatebako that you could take down to Ibusuki that had a special seating layout with limited capacity that lets you look out the window, and goes through the scenic route down. We were pretty excited to try it out and picked a time to reach the station since only a few trains run each day.
Disaster Strikes
We woke up a bit later than the previous few days, but still followed what was becoming our morning routine of getting ready and getting breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants. When we stepped out we realized the shuttle service hadn’t started yet, so we resorted to calling a taxi. When we got to the station we still had some time before the train so we decided to check out the gift shop and see what was around. It’s really interesting looking at the various gifts because they’re always packaged so nicely, it makes gift giving much simpler. We went down to the platform and found the train and got on. A couple minutes after, a family came by and looked at our seats, then us, then around, confused. At that moment I realized that something was wrong so we apologized for the trouble and gave up our seat, then went to find an attendant.
Talking to the attendant in somewhat scuffed Japanese, I managed to figure out that we needed a reservation to get seats on the train, usually booked in advance because the train is very high demand. We tried to get tickets from the machine but couldn’t figure it out, and the train left without us. Not that it particularly mattered in this case, as all the trains that day were already booked. We were at a bit of a loss of what to do, but through a bit of last minute searching found a local train route that takes us down the same direction.
As we were sitting on the local train down, I was reflecting quietly on what just happened. It wasn’t the first time things had gone wrong, but this time I felt so much shame from not realizing it was reservations only that I felt like I had taken massive mental damage. I felt like if I understood Japanese better to really fully understand then it would have helped a lot in resolving the situation. On top of that, I had been feeling that it was especially hard for me to parse words in Kyushu which wasn’t helping either. I felt pretty bad for most of the 1.5 hour ride down, but as we neared Ibusuki I figuratively slapped my own face to break out of the funk and focused on the here and now.
Ibusuki
After getting off the train, we started walking through town to head over to the sand bath facility. As you might expect, it was on the waterside but not exactly a beach, so we walked along the edge of the water to get there. I expected from pictures and from Haruka Reset that it’d be open air with a nice view of the ocean, but at least for the day we were there it was open air, just covered on every side by bamboo panels. We entered the building and got tickets and picked up the yukata we would be wearing for the sand baths.
The Sand Baths
This was actually my first time getting naked with other people cause I’ve never been to an onsen before, so I was definitely a little hesitant. But after getting over the initial hump it wasn’t actually that bad being naked. We stored our clothes and belongings in a locker and put on the yukata, then walked outside where a path lead down to the sand baths themselves. We waited in a brief line before being directed over to one of the sand pits. It kind of reminded me of graves a little bit, with each pit having rows of open ditches where people would lay down in and get covered in sand by staff with shovels. Morbid for sure, but the vibe wasn’t like that at all. We lay down in our spots and then relaxed as they buried us in the hot sand, with everything but our heads covered. It was also really nice that they provided towels that were wrapping our heads to keep sand out of our hair. The sand itself was actually not too hot, it was a very comfortable warmth that envelops you. The weight of the sand also felt like being wrapped in a weighted blanket that clings tightly to your body, which I greatly enjoyed. They recommended not staying buried for more than 10 minutes for (I believe) safety, so I was trying to check on the clock occasionally as we were laying there. As I continued to lay there I realized I could feel my pulse in my feet, which for some reason was a wild experience as I was laying there. As I lay there trying to keep my mind clear, I focused on the slight breeze sneaking between the panels and the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. And so 10 minutes passed in a surprisingly quick period, and although it would’ve been nice to keep staying we decided to get up to make room for others and to not risk overheating.
After getting up and shaking the sand off, we returned to the main building where the next step was to throw the yukata into the laundry chute and take a quick shower in all our nude glory before getting into the baths. I accidentally got my head wet while showering, which resulted in me losing most of my sunscreen and hair product which was unfortunate. The water in the baths was hot but not overwhelmingly so, and it seemed to be salt water because I felt extra buoyant while sitting in it. Jim headed out first, so after I relaxed a bit longer and rinsed off I went back to the locker room to change and find where he went. I found him out in the lobby, where we got some drinks then decided it’d be a good time to get lunch.
We walked a short distance over to a nearby cafe for a light lunch since we had plans for a nice dinner. I saw a neapolitan on the menu, which I had to try since I feel like I see it all the time in manga and anime. It didn’t blow my mind but it was pretty nice for what it was. I also got a fairly sweet mango float along with it, and overall it was a pretty nice lunch.
Ibusuki Downtown
After lunch we traced a route back towards the train station that included a detour through the main shopping street in downtown Ibusuki. Maybe it was the season but weirdly enough it felt like downtown was a ghost town. Especially for a Saturday, it was kind of creepy how empty the city felt outside of the sand baths area. We walked through the shopping area and almost all the shops seemed closed up, and basically didn’t run into anyone at all.
We first saw people again at the train station, a bunch of tourists crowded around a couple of sakura trees that were reaching full bloom. It was my first time seeing blooming sakura trees for real and they were beautiful, I could really see why they’re considered such a fleeting, ephemereal beauty.
We still had a lot of time so we decided to explore a bit more, where we went through a couple of parks and also walked past an abandoned building complex that was covered in ivy on one side. Part of me was really curious to explore it and see what it looked like but I didn’t want to get us in trouble so we just observed in passing. The vibe I got walking through the city was that it was a bit of a dying city that mostly existed as a tourist spot for people to visit the sand baths. It does seem to have a declining population but it seems like the city itself is still doing okay.
Sakurajima Viewpoint
We decided to go back to Kagoshima to check out Sakurajima. I stood for the full 1.2 hour ride back, mostly because I had a view through the front of the train so I got to observe what kind of view the train conductor gets to see, which was a really fascinating perspective. Once back in Kagoshima we got in a taxi and asked to go to the Shiroyama observation deck. I actually talked a bit with our taxi driver in Japanese successfully which was a pleasant surprise. I managed to understand that he thought the observation deck wasn’t really pretty, but we were already committed to seeing it.
At the deck itself, I thought the view itself was actually really pretty! It had a really nice framing of the volcano between the hillside and trees. While I was taking pictures, a younger lady asked me if I could take a picture for her. I helped her take some pics, and we struck up a short conversation. Her story was really interesting, she was half Japanese and had just arrived from Israel for a several month immersion program. She had decided to come down to Kagoshima first to visit, but was going up to Yokohama to stay with her grandparents for the program itself. After chatting and saying our goodbyes, I met back up with Jim and we started heading down the mountain.
There was an alternate path where you could take stairs straight down the mountain side, which was quite long. Once we reached the bottom, we were on effectively a 30 minute walk to the restaurant for dinner, but I was legitimately worried that I wasn’t going to make it. My feet were in a decent amount of pain and I could feel my legs literally shaking as we were walking. I had to stop a couple of times and shake them out to make sure they didn’t give out on me randomly. I supposed that was to be expected given how little I was used to walking and standing for hours.
Yakiniku Dinner
Thankfully we made it to dinner without me falling over though! Once we found the place upstairs above another restaurant that we had to walk through, we got sat down at the counter. We had someone who could speak English serving us, where they explained that the company was actually a Japanese meat company that sources high quality Wagyu from Kagoshima, however they operate their own restaurants where they serve fresh meat their own way.
We had a great time chatting and cooking the meat on the grill and eating! Everything was really good, with each dish being tender and flavorful. Weirdly enough one of the highlights for me was getting a drink that they called Nanafukujin (七福神) that was served in the style of a sour. I got both the peach and the pear one, and they were so so good. A lot of people in the restaurants were there in big parties, with staff bringing out sparklers on ice cream for celebrations. After dinner while checking out we I chatted with the server a bit. We told him we were visiting from the US, and I don’t remember the context but he asked if we had been to Europe before. He also complimented my nails, saying they were really cute, which I was really happy about.
Sitting down helped my feet a lot I think since I had basically been standing non stop for 8 hours (minus the taxi ride), so we made the 20 minute walk back to the hotel. We grabbed some food from the convenience store for the next morning, and planned our day for tomorrow before turning off the lights for the night.
Thoughts
For a day that was supposed to be super chill, Day 4 was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. After the lows early in the day, the sand bath was actually a really nice reset, which I imagine helped because then I had some really nice conversations with a bunch of different people. Overall because of the latter half of the day I feel like I would consider day 4 to be a succeess! We were also starting to see the start of the sakura trees truly blooming, because southern Japan typically blooms earlier than the northern side. At the time of writing this, Sakurajima recently erupted with a fairly large plume of smoke, and looking back I was a bit concerned at the time but we fortunately didn’t have any issues.
Day 4 Travel Numbers
2.7 hour and ¥2,260 yen
JR Pass Value after day 4
Cost saved: ¥37,180
Time Travelled: ~12.5 hr
Not covered by JR Pass
Cost: ¥280
Total Transportation Time
Time Travelled: ~13 hr
Some information may be outdated