Japan Day 5 - I didn't think I'd be eating Kimchee ever again!

Although Alex had the day off, Chisato had to work and as I emerged bleary eyed from my bedroom I watched her put the finishing touched to her Bento before heading off to town. Daiki was as lively as ever and chomping on some rice whilst watching Battle Force (a Japanese Thunderbirds type kids program but with grown men in silly coloured suits instead of puppets). Alex had already confessed to not being a fan of the Japanese breakfast and so given Daiki's choice to not go to Hopia (a portmanteau of Hope and Utopia but basically a nursery) we thought we'd all go to the German bakery down the road and have a Danish and a can of coffee.

At the 11th hour, Daiki announced that he did want to go to Hopia after all and so we grabbed Oscar and the 4 of us headed off down the road. Hopia is much like any nursery I suppose apart from the Japanese girls with face masks on who lunge at the children upon arrival in order to stick a thermometer in their ear, presumably to avoid swine flu. Alex pointed out that it would be a good idea to leave quickly as Daiki has a 6th sense when one or more parents leave the scene but we knew that the floods of tears would be short lived and he'd settle down with his friends in the playground.

Once we'd taken Oscar back we jumped into Alex's car and set our sights on Pastry 'und' Kafee. As ever, upon entering the store, the girls behind the counter sang out in unison graciously welcoming us inside. It's worth mentioning that this happens EVERYWHERE and it still takes you by surprise each and every time you walk through the door. We had a selection of pastries but as we were eating in we opted for the free coffee from a machine rather than the canned refrigerated alternative.

Set up for the morning we drove down around the coast of the bay and I grumbled once again about Sakurajima's reluctance to perform on my behalf. After 10 minutes or so we arrived Sengan-en which is a collection of a number of historic sites, the detail of which I will omit from this journal but will be happy to discuss in more detail upon request.

One tall tale that I will repeat is that of the Bombardment of Kagoshima AKA, the Anglo-Satsuma War which was prompted by the Namamugi incident. There are many accounts of the event but in essence Britain wanted The Satsuma government to pay reparations for the death of one its countrymen, Charles Lennox Richardson. Richardson had recently ridden his horse too close to a procession whilst showing some of his friends around his latest homestead. His colonial insouciance caused the now deeply offended Satsumas little option but to slash him with their swords and ultimately kill him. Typically, the British sent an entire fleet into the bay with instructions to level the town unless the Satsumas cough up and shortly thereafter a fire fight took place in the bay. Hundreds of Japanese houses were destroyed by the British but, much to their surprise, a single Satsuman cannonball blasted the captain and commander of the British flagship HMS Euryalus into the next life forcing an immediate cessation of fighting. With this truce came the offer of industrialisation in the form of factories and the sale of munitions by none other than Sir William Armstrong.

Anyway, food is more important than history and so Alex then took me the Bradshaw family's favourite restaurant in Kagoshima. The food was beautifully presented as ever and was based around a large piece of Kagoshima's famous succulent black pork. The bar had several dozen bottles of Shochu lining its shelves but neither of us fancied drinking any more, particularly after Friday night's blowout.

After lunch we picked up Chisato from work and headed back to pick up Daiki from Hopia. On the way, it finally happened and much to my delight (although barely visible through the rain) Sakurajima finally acquiesced and pumped out a huge billowing cloud of dirty ash ridden smoke. It wasn't the face to face encounter that I had hoped for but nevertheless worth seeing.

A short trip to the supermarket later and Alex scurried off to his caligraphy class whilst Chisato and I relaxed in the house with an extremely well behaved Daiki and a rather grumpy Oscar.
As it was my last night, I was taken to a local Korean barbecue restaurant, where we feasted on Pork, Beef, Rice, Soup, Kimchee and Barbecued cabbage (try it!). It was a terrific end to a fantastic visit and I'm extremely grateful to the whole family for making me feel so welcome.

Later that night, Alex tried out some more calligraphy only to be somewhat outdone by Daiki's awesome script! Chisato and Daiki headed off to bed and I amused myself watching Alex put together a video outlining the history of Japan that was to be shown to some new students later that week. If the first 30 seconds are anything to go by, it should be good but I couldn't stay awake to see the results so it will have to wait until later.