… in more ways than one.

Another earthquake! And this time in Kagoshima! Well, in Kagoshima Prefecture anyway – the prefecture actually includes several islands, extending for about 600 km to the south. So Tuesday’s earthquake, although only 60 km from Yoron island (in Kagoshima), was actually far closer to Okinawa than us here in Kagoshima City. We didn’t get to feel anything Is that a good thing?! Anyway the magnitude 6.0 event caused minimal damage and although it was a submarine earthquake, no tsunami was generated. I have no idea why not, but the local news seemed to pay more attention to the broken bottles of wine and shochu (the local tipple in these parts) in various shops on the islands – admittedly a far more important issue.

Furthermore, last Saturday saw a reawakening of Sakurajima. I though the recent activity of the last three months had died down, but no! Me an’ da boyz were relaxing beside the bay eating some ice cream after a spot of sailing, as you do, and boom there it went. There was no sound, except for my “bloody hell, look at that,” but we were able to catch the start of the ash column rising up through the white clouds – probably within the first 10 seconds of the explosion (maybe). JMA (日本語で) reported the height of the column as 1600 m. I keep meaning to write a “guide” to Sakurajima, but not yet I’m afraid… Oh the disappointment…

Sakurajima explosion, taken from Dolphin Port (Kagoshima City)

In terms of other action over the weekend (not including getting drunk on Saturday night with my Spanish-speaking buddies – gracias por tu invitacion Toto!), I also went climbing with some Japanese teenagers on the Sunday. After hiking through the dense forest looking for the cliff for 2 hours, I’ve decided I’m not going climbing with Japanese teenagers again. Despite this, there were some spectacular views of the whole of the Satsuma peninsula from Fukiage beach round to Kaimon-dake. Below is one such view, including with my climbing partner Kuro-san(?) who was a f**king idiot. He might be an able climber but I bet he’s never had sex. (Note: British humour – commonly mistaken as black humour. Sorry!)