Kagoshima

We flew to Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday morning, and on the way
we passed Mt. Fugi, a volcanic mountain, which stands 12,388 feet high.  
Fuji-san is perhaps Japan's most revered symbol.

The climbing season begins July 1, with a Shinto ceremony.  The experience of goraiko, or watching the sunrise from the top at daybreak, is the climax of the climb.  Fugi-san is the subject of many Japanese artworks.

wood block print "Mt. Fuji off Kanagawa" by Hokusai

Japan is a mountainous country.  The islands are the projecting summits of a huge chain of undersea mountains.  Forty of the country's 188 volcanoes are active. 

Kagoshima Prefecture has seven active volcanoes. 

Four kilometers from Kagoshima City is Sakurashima, an active volcano which frequently spews out volcanic ash.  Some days people have to carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the ash, and many families have shelters in their homes.  Children wear hard hats when the volcano is very active.

Kagoshima (colored red) is located at the southwest
tip of Kyushu.  It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean 
and East China Sea and has about 1,636 miles of coastline.

We visited Kagoshima University, where President Hiromitsu Tanaka greeted us.  He asked us what we thought about The current Japanese practice of student teaching three to four weeks instead of one year.  We were served green tea and karu kan, a local rice pastry filled with manju, red bean paste.

Kagoshima University Library

  a beautiful scroll in the library

  discussions with university students

Concerns include:  bullying problems in elementary and junior high school, centralization prohibiting local schools from instituting their own programs; low salaries for teachers; inadequate teacher training and student teaching.

Kanoya City

We traveled to Kanoya City via bus and ferry.

Sightseeing along the way included viewing the volcano,
participating in a tea ceremony, and strolling through a rose garden.

The tea ceremony

The Japanese have elevated the mundane practice of drinking tea to a spiritual discipline.  Influenced by Zen Buddhism, Chanoyu, the tea ceremony, involves four precepts:  peace, respect, purity, and tranquility.

The Kirishimagaoka Park Rose Garden

The rose garden displays 1,300 varieties of roses in its 17,000 bushes.

Kanoya City

. . . is located in the center of the Osumi Peninsula at the southern tip of Kyushu.  It is the center for transport, industry, economy, and culture in the Osumi region.  The weather is warm, the vegetation tropical.

  Rice paddy

City Hall

Sakae Yamashita, mayor of Kanoya City, is encouraging the creation of "Health and Sports City - Kanoya" in cooperation with Japan's only four-year sports university, The National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya.

The meeting begins with formal greetings and an exchange of gifts.

  eating Japanese "pizza"

  a serious discussion over sushi

Sharing feelings, open discussion, and decision making often occurs over dinner in the evening after work.