Kagoshima City 鹿児島市

Kyûshû

The city of Kagoshima, with 1/2 million inhabitants, is located in the south of the island of Kyûshû in front of the volcanic island of Sakurajima (with the still active 1,040 m high Minami-dake). In 1549, the Spanish Jesuit missionary Francisco de Xavier arrives in Kagoshima. At the beginning and in the course of the Meiji period (1868-1912), the port city is the birthplace of some influential politicians such as SAIGÔ Takamori and ÔKUBO Toshimichi as well as a total of three Japanese prime ministers and Admiral TÔGÔ Heihachirô. Sengan-en garden attached to a former Shimazu clan residence forms part of the “UNESCO World Heritage Site” (sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution).