Day 3: Osaka to Kagoshiima

Day 3:  Oct 17, Osaka to Kagoshima (south on Kyushu)

Weather: Osaka and Kagoshima: warm though not as hot as advertised

Pictorial Pop Quiz #2:

 

What are these Satsuma ware pieces used for?

Pre-breakfast from the hotel pastry and cookie store. Very pre: we’re on a jet lag diet, er, schedule today. 

The path not chosen

The path chosen, too much dried fruit in the Bacchus for THB

Clever Tea Bags (yes, a little pyramid when you put it in the cup)

Eat a real breakfast downstairs at the hotel: a very pretty buffet. Skip the Japanese stuff (we’re gonna get a ton of that over the next two weeks) and focus on baguette (excellent!), almond croissant, an odd fruit, mixed berry juice, dim sum (steamed pork bun and haw gow), and decaf with hot milk. DB goes for an omelet and some of above. Included.

Take a walk 

and buy our limo bus tix to the Itami Airport (the old Osaka airport, $5 each). Leave our bag full of hiking gear at the R-C, catch the bus, and arrive at Itami to find that our bar-coded receipt doesn’t work at the check-in kiosk and thus end up in a line where every few minutes one of the clerks puts up a Closed sign. Mild nervousness, we still end up at the gate with 55 minutes to spare; security in Japan is not like US, it’s very smooth, no waiting, and no undressing.

Boarding is Japanese odd, and efficient. Unlike any US carrier, there is a ton of space in the overheads. That’s because the Japanese (who make up 95%+ of the passengers) either don’t bring a bag on board or use a half-size carry-on. We’re the only people with full size bags!

Small problem meeting up with Y&YT: they said baggage claim and are waiting just outside the doors and we think that meant next to the carousel. That’s cleared up, happiness abounds, and we hit Hertz; they’ve reserved a very nice sedan, and the Hertz person programs the GPS for all our stops.

What the volcano looks like some of the time:

First a visit to the volcano overview rest stop for sushi and octopi balls (octopi parts rolled in dough and cooked on a special grill, topped with a sort of bbq sauce).

 

YT and DB and Y get oriented (even this big a map is no match for THB's eyes)

Then much driving in Kagoshima to visit a Satsuma ware ceramics studio that has been in business since 1592 when a Japanese Lord brought back 80 Korean potters. Now the site of a National Treasure, Chin Jukan, with a large stepped-up kiln (used 5 times a year), ware for sale (not cheap, he's a National Treasure!) and a museum. In the store, we talk to what we all think is the National Treasure, who explains a bit about the kiln.

Pictorial Pop Quiz #2 Answer: Sake cups that you can't put down without spilling (just what a guy with essential tremors needs, a trick sake cup!!)

  

Loop back to the airport, drive another 10km or so, and we’re at Ishiharaso Ryokan, an onsen (hot springs) inn. Our room is fabulous: overlooks a river (no drought here, there’s plenty of water) a private deck with soaking tub, a great shower (complete with the little stool that THB has grown ever more fond of), a double beds in a handsome bedroom. All concrete and subtle colors with a few colorful wall pieces mixed in.

Dinner at 6 (thank goodness, cuz we’re at the table for over 2.5 hours).

THB is the only one that dresses formally for dinner (as usual!!!)

-        Apertif of sake (maybe a shot glass worth)

-        Mixed appetizer of two large pieces of mackerel, grilled eggplant with caviar, minced chicken wrapped in mushroom, grilled squid, Japanese chestnut, warm gingko nuts, boiled shrimp, toro and mustard lotus root

-        Sashimi

-        Seasonal steamed Mastsutake (mushroom) and pike eel in broth

-        Grilled barracuda with ginger and bulbil of yam

-        Sorbet

-        Boiled turnip with walnut miso (the only dish THB didn’t finish)

-        Fresh local crab from the river below the onsen

-        Nabe (hot pot) with Kagoshima pork (black pig sliced very thin) and mushrooms; THB finished his two portions, the rest failed to keep up)

-        Rice

-        Seasonal fruit and green tea ice cream sandwich

-        Sake and draft beer and many different teas

Shots from around the ryokan

One of the versions of Satsuma ware from Chin Jukan