A day off
Today was our first free day, and we decided to spend it in Kagoshima City. After breakfast we all hopped on a train going towards Kagoshima City, with a short stop to meet up with some students from Kagoshima Kosen, who would be joining us. We walked around for a bit, looking in shops and markets while we waited to finally be able to reconnect with Charlie, who was supposed to be allowed to leave his hotel today.
Good food and Bad news
After a bit of walking around, looking at the city, some of us started to get hungry, so we decided to start looking for a place to eat. One of our friends from Kagoshima Kosen recommended we eat tempura, a dish with deep fried seafood, meat, or vegetables. We found a place that looked promising, and the food there was delicious. However, while we were eating, we got the sad news that Charlie wouldn't be let out until tomorrow morning, and we'd have to spend the rest of the day without him.
My lunch. I ate a pork cutlet with soba
Karaoke and Sightseeing
After lunch, some of us wanted to go do karaoke, while others preferred looking around the city a bit more, so we decided to split up. Samuel and Robin went to the karaoke place, together with some of the Japanese students, while the rest of us took a look around the area. We decided not to stray too far, as to make it easy to join up with the others when they were done with the karaoke.
We were looking around in a shopping mall, when we ran into some more of the students from Kagoshima Kosen, who had come to join us. They brought us some custard-filled pastries, which tasted great. One of them left to be with the people doing karaoke, and the rest of us kept looking around the mall.
After a while, we noticed that the building had a 15th floor with a great view over the city.
The top floor of the mall had a great view of the volcano, Sakurajima, right outside of Kagoshima City
A great view of the city
There were several roofed-over pedestrian streets
When we got out of the tourist area, there were some cosy alleyways
Arcade
When we felt like we had somewhat explored the area, we went and waited for the guys at the karaoke place to finish, and afterwards we went to an arcade to play some games. We didn't stick around for too long, after playing a few rounds of Mario Kart, and some rhythm games, we felt like we were ready to move on.
Four of us playing Mario Kart
Aiming high
When we left the arcade, we weren't quite sure what to do next, so we decided to go back to the top floor of the mall so that the guys who weren't there the first time could get a chance to take in the view. Sadly, at this point the sky was a lot cloudier, and the sun was starting to set, so the view wasn't as great as before, but someone spotted a large hill a few blocks away, with stairs leading up to the top, and so our next goal was set.
The hill we decided to climb. You couldn't see the stairs from the tower, but someone looked it up, and found a way to get there by foot
Walking
There isn't a lot to say about the journey up the hill. On the way there we walked past a cool temple, and we got to see a bit of how the city looks outside of the tourist districts. Other than that, it was just a lot of walking, a lot of stairs, hundreds of steps. I enjoy a good hike, but at this point, after having been walking all day, I was beginning to feel it in my feet. I think the others were feeling it too.
After a tough walk up the hill, we were rewarded with an amazing view of the city at night.
More walkin'
At this point we were all tired and hungry, and ready to head back to the station. It was late, and we had walked a lot, so people were starting to get tired. Despite this, spirits were high, and we were talking and having fun all the way to the station where we ended the day with an amazing dinner. Then we took the train back home and said goodbye to our friends, and thanked them for joining us, and for all their help. Without them, we wouldn't have been able to experience half of the things we did today.