Kagoshima (鹿児島市, Kagoshima-shi) - The
capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwestern tip
of the Kyūshū island of Japan, and the largest city in the
prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the 'Naples
of the Eastern world' for its bay location (Aira Caldera),
hot climate and impressive stratovolcano, Sakurajima.
As of 1 January 2005, the city had an estimated population
of 605,650 and a density of 1,107.81 persons per km². The
total area is 546.71 km².
In 2003, the city had an estimated population of only
554,136 and density of 1,911.41 persons per km². The total
area was 289.91 km². The reason the city's total area was
nearly doubled between 2003 and 2005 is that five towns ---
Kooriyama, Matsumoto, Kiire, Sakurajima, and Yoshida ---
were merged into Kagoshima City on 1 November 2004.
Kagoshima is approximately 40 minutes from Kagoshima
Airport, and the city features large shopping districts and
malls, is served by trams, and has many restaurants
featuring Satsuma Province regional cuisine: kibi (a kind of
tiny fish), tonkatsu (caramelised pork, as opposed to the
breaded version encountered elsewhere in Japan), smoked eel,
and karukan (sweet cakes made from steamed sweet potatoes
and rice flour). A large, modern aquarium has been installed
on the old docks overlooking the volcano. The Senganen (Isoteien)
Japanese garden is just outside the city.
The St. Xavier church is a reminder of the first Christians
who came to Japan.
One of the best places to see the city (and the active
volcano across the bay) is from the ferris wheel on top of
'Amu Plaza', the new shopping centre attached to Kagoshima
Central Train Station. The wheel has two completely
transparent gondola which give a 360-degree view from 91m
above the ground.
History
Kagoshima was the center of the territory of the Shimazu
clan of samurai for many centuries. It was a busy political
and commercial port city throughout the medieval period and
into the Edo period (1603-1867) when it formally became the
capital of the Shimazu's fief, the Satsuma Domain. Satsuma
remained one of the most powerful and wealthiest domains in
the country throughout the period, and though international
trade was banned for much of this period, the city remained
quite active and prosperous. It served not only as the
political center for Satsuma, but also for the
semi-independent vassal kingdom of Ryūkyū; Ryukyuan traders
and emissaries frequented the city, and a special Ryukyuan
embassy building was established to help administer
relations between the two polities and to house visitors and
emissaries. Kagoshima was also a significant center of
Christian activity in Japan prior to the imposition of bans
against that religion in the late 16th and early 17th
centuries.
Kagoshima was bombarded by the British Royal Navy in 1863 to
punish the daimyō of Satsuma for the murder of Charles
Richardson on the Tōkaidō highway the previous year and its
refusal to pay an indemnity in compensation. (See
'Bombardment of Kagoshima').
Kagoshima was the birthplace and scene of the last stand of
Saigō Takamori, a legendary figure in Meiji Japan in 1877 at
the end of the Satsuma Rebellion (Seinan Sensō in Japanese).
Japan's industrial revolution may be said to have started
here, stimulated by the young students' train station.
Seventeen young men of Satsuma broke the Tokugawa ban on
foreign travel to travel and return to share the benefits of
the best of Western science and technology.
The city was officially founded on April 1, 1889.
Kagoshima was also the birthplace of Tōgō Heihachirō. After
naval studies in England between 1871 and 1878, Togo's role
as Chief Admiral of the Grand Fleet of the Imperial Japanese
Navy in the Russo-Japanese War made him a legend in Japanese
military history, and earned him the nickname 'Nelson of the
Orient' in Britain. He led the Grand Fleet to two startling
victories in 1904 and 1905, completely destroying Russia as
a naval power in the East, and thereby contributing to the
failed revolution in Russia in 1905.
Shinkansen (bullet train) service opened on March 13, 2004
between Kagoshima-chūō and Shin-Yatsushiro.
Sadomitsu Sakoguchi, the renowned Japanese diplomat,
revolutionized Kagoshima's environmental economic plan with
his dissertation on water pollution and orange harvesting.
Information source: “Kagoshima, Kagoshima.” wikipedia.org. Article
date: 26 Feb. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 4 Mar. 2008 <Kagoshima, Kagoshima>. |
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