Sakurajima Travel Guide

Looming tall from across Kagoshima Bay, Sakurajima is the icon of Kagoshima, and one of Japan’s most active volcanoes. With many small eruptions occurring daily, Sakurajima has a unique natural landscape. At 1117 meters tall and 50 kilometers in diameter, it is a major attraction in Kagoshima, only 4 kilometers off the shore of the city. Formerly a free-standing island, since the major eruption of 1914, Sakurajima has become attached to Osumi Peninsula. Those unalarmed by its 3 ominous peaks constantly puffing with smoke can access the volcano via ferry, wander along the Nagisa Lava Trail, and then relax their feet in the natural volcanic hot springs of the outdoor Nagisa Park Foot Bath. Sakurajima has a number of viewpoints (accessed by loop bus or rental car), while panoramas of the volcano can be enjoyed from afar at one of the many observation points around Kagoshima. Cultivated from the fertile soils of rich volcanic ash, Sakurajima also famously grows the world’s biggest radishes. These enormous, locally-grown Sakurajima daikon radishes average at 6 kilograms or more, making for deliciously over-sized daikon pickle slices as a souvenir!