Japan - Day 6 🇯🇵

We used our Japan Rail Pass 🔗 to travel to Ibusuki. We boarded the 7:51 AM Nanohana Rapid Service at Kagoshima-Chūō Station and travelled on the Ibusuki Makurazaki Line along the eastern coast of Satsuma Peninsula till Ibusuki Station. It took us a little more than an hour to get there.

Ibusuki appeared to be a quite, laid back town. We walked through the peaceful local neighbourhoods which had very rustic feel and were very different that anything we had seen in Japan thus far. Saraku Sand Bath Hall was about a 20 minute away by foot away from Ibusuki Station.

Ibusuki’s claim to fame was sunamushi or sand bath. It is the only place, not just in Japan, but in the entire world where you can experience this. Saraku Sand Bath Hall was onsen that provided the sunamushi right by the water’s edge. The fee was ¥1080 per person. In addition to that we paid ¥120 for purchasing a hand towel for your face and head and ¥200 for renting a bath towel which was convenient so we didn’t have to carry it with us.

After buying the tickets and collecting the towels we each given a yukata (cotton kimono) and directed to the gender-segregated changing rooms. I had to strip down completely and wear only the yukata. From the dressing room I headed down to the sand bath area on the seashore. There were shallow pits already dug out and we were asked to lie down flat on our backs in them. The attendants then covered us with the hot sand till our necks. We had to wrap the hand towel around our head to stop sweat and sand from going into your eyes and mouth. The recommended time was about 10 to 15 minutes. I could feel the blood pulsing in my veins and I was sweating profusely (the back of my yukata was completely drenched when I finally got up). When we were done the attendants asked us to simply pull our hands out and move the sand from torso and sit up and then free our legs. Being covered in sand felt like there was a wall of bricks on the our body and that we would barely be able to move but it was ridiculously easy to free our hands and get up. Overall this was as very exhilarating experience.

After the sand bath we walked back to our respective changing rooms to experience the onsen. On re-entering, the first section was a large bathroom with a tank of water with pails. I had to remove the yukata, drop it off in bin and wash the sand off my body before proceeding further. The water was not heated but after being in the sand bath and sweating it out, it didn’t feel cold but was rather refreshing. Next was a the main room of the onsen with a large pool of water from geothermally heated natural springs and the communal bathing area. The bathing stations had stools, faucets, buckets and toiletries. It was a little awkward initially to be au naturel in a public setting but that was more about shedding my mental inhibitions than anything else. I had a quick rinse and got into the pool. There were only a couple of other guys around and they left after some time so I had the place all to myself. After the very hectic week of travel, it was wonderful to just soak it in and the onsen was an enjoyable experience.

We walked back to Ibusuki Station after that but there were no seat available on the immediate next train back and we couldn’t board this particular train without reservations. So waited for the next train and had some time to kill. The Ibusuki Ekimae Foot Bath was right next to the station. Of course, after the sunamushi and onsen experience, this wasn’t as enticing. But we spent some time there as we waited for our train back.

With our Japan Rail Pass 🔗, we boarded the 11:28 AM Nanohana Rapid Service to Kagoshima-Chūō Station. Like the journey here, we travelled parallel the eastern coast of Satsuma Peninsula and had great views of the sea, the other side of the bay and also Sakurajima. It took a little more than 1 hour to get back.

After reaching Kagoshima-Chūō, our plan was to visit to Sakurajima, an active volcano, in fact the most active one in Japan. We took the tram from Kagoshima-Chūō Eki Mae to Suizokukanguchi and then walked to the Sakurajima Ferry Kagoshima Port. The Sakurajima Ferry ride was about 15 minutes.

We decided to take the Sakurajima Island View Bus which would take us around the main spots in the west region of Sakurajima. We bought the tickets and boarded the bus at Sakurajima Ferry Terminal. Our first stop was the Karasujima Observatory. From here we could see panoramic views of the mountain with volcanic eruptions of steam and/or white ash clearly visible. A short ride later we stopped at the Akamizu Observatory Square with a scenic park and the ‘Portrait of Screaming’ monument.

After a while there, our bus climbed the mountain road and reached the Yunohira Observatory, the highest point on Sakurajima accessible to the public. This was as close to the volcano as we could get and it was nice to see the mountain up close. We stopped here for a good amount of time and we got to walk around and enjoy the vistas.

The bus then headed back down and we crossed the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal and got off the bus at Sakurajima Visitor Center. It had a small hall with information and a theater with a film on Sakurajima. We also saw a model of the large white radish that Sakurajima is famous for.

Sakurajima Lava Nagisa Park & Footbath was a short walk from the Sakurajima Visitor Center. This was Japan’s largest footbath at around 100 meters with nice views of the Kinko Bay and Sakurajima. We spent some time there soaking our feet in the hot spring water and then walked back to the Sakurajima Ferry Terminal for the ride back to Kagoshima.

The ferry ride back also gave us splendid views of Sakurajima in the evening lights. We spent most of the time on the upper deck and saw a pod of dolphins in Kinko Bay. As we approached Kagoshima, we could see the Amuran Ferris Wheel near the Kagoshima-Chūō Station in the distance.

We walked around the city and visited Daiso, which was the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store. They had a variety of items priced from ¥100 upwards. After spending some time there and shopping for trinkets and souvenirs we went to Sukiya Kagoshima Tenmonkan Restaurant for dinner.

We took the tram back from Izurodori to Kagoshima-Chūō Eki Mae and walked back to the Toyoko Inn. For the second night here we got an even bigger room with two beds. There was also a lounge area in the room and bathroom was more or less the same size as the previous one. We had breakfast only on the first day there and it was mostly Japanese fare.