Today was a travel day, the final destination being the city of Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. All we had to actually accomplish today was get down to Kagoshima, which takes just over four hours altogether on the train… …and consequently would be my parents’ first experience of the absolutely marvelous Japanese rail transportation system.

The first leg of the trip took us up over the mountains of central Kyushu is a relatively slow, but exquisite train with large windows designed to take in the scenic natural panoramas. Ever wonder where I learned how to pose so sexily in all my pictures? Now you know!

After a beautiful two hour cruise up and over the mountains, during which my keen-sighted parents spotted a number of rare birds from the train, including the lovely Japanese Pheasant.

Truly they are birdwatchers of extraordinary skill.

The first train simply took us due East across Kyushu to the city of Kumamoto, and from there we got to board the first of many shinkansen during our travels.

Another two hours spent in blissful comfort and we were in the Kagoshima train station while I negotiated over lodging with a local inn.

Please take a close look at the baggage piled up in front of my mother in that picture. I reiterated several times that they needed to pack light, and to my amazement my parents arrived in Japan toting only two small wheeled suitcases. Only having these to worry about made traveling anywhere infinitely easier, I assure you.

We arrived just past noon, and had nothing official to do the rest of the day save check in to our hotel, which we would do at 3pm, so it was time to find lunch. I had never been to Kagoshima before, and obviously neither had my parents, so we broke out the guidebook and examined our options. Now one of my major goals for my parents’ trip was to expose them to as many different kinds of food as possible, so today we decided to try and find this obscure and tiny, but legendary ramen shop. Don’t laugh, ramen in the East bears no resemblence to that crap you can buy for 17 cents a pack at Walmart. Here ramen is a work of art, and in Japan every single prefecture, and usually each individual city boasts their own special type of ramen. Try to imagine every city in America having a different style of fried chicken and you’re getting close…

Anyhow, off we went in search of this secretive ramen shack. Kagoshima is perhaps twice the size of Oita in population, but the city seemed more dense, and we were able to cross it on foot without much trouble. The guidebook provided a map of sorts depicting the location of our restaurant, but the map ended up really sucking, so after reaching the correct general area I headed to the best place to get directions in ANY country – the neighborhood convenience store. By now it was about 1:30pm and the three of us were getting damn hungry, I feared a maternal mutiny was afoot and mom might lobby for “any old restaurant” if I didn’t do something quick, so along with securing directions to our ramen shop I also bought my parents a sweet potato pie. Imagine those gnarly applepies you can get at McDonald’s, but fill it with sweet potato and make it quite un-gnarly, and you’ll see my parents were quite delighted with the morsel I had gifted them.

Before long, well, before *too* long we had reached our destination and, at this hole in the wall joint that sat only 7 people, we reveled in the delicious fare.

Dad, never one to let good manners get in the way of consumption of mass quantities, thoroughly enjoyed himself.

My parents also got their first taste of what one might call the “Drew Effect” — no matter where I go in this country I make friends without even trying, and people are always delighted to talk to me for whatever reason.

I must confess, it’s quite nice! After our meal we thanked our hosts profusely and left with a small baggie of Kagoshima postcards and candy – told you they liked me! Mom and Dad, fascinated by the classic home-above-tiny-restaurant design of our lunch establishment, posed for a picture outside.

On the way back to the hotel we passed a used books store, and anyone who’s spent any time in Japan knows that “used books” really means “tons of videogames.” So I demanded we stop for a rest while I scoured the shelves for some bargains, some of which I was even kind enough to send home to my dear brother.

Back at the hotel, we checked into our one large room, a highly economical sleeping arrangement that we would use throughout the trip. Mom took a snooze, dad wandered around looking for more totally awesome vending machines, and I tuned up and lazily picked out a few folk songs. Sweet tan, Drew!

Like I said earlier, we hadn’t anything to do today, it was just a much needed day off after two very busy days in Beppu, so after showering and lazying about for a bit we headed out for dinner. Unfortunately, it was a Wednesday so many places were closing relatively early. On top of that, we weren’t planning on going anywhere nice since the big Kagoshima dinner was slated for the following evening. In the end we just took off walking in a direction that looked promising, and before long dad spotted a pizza parlor that was still open so in we went.

It turned out to be a pretty excellent choice – they had draft beer for dad and I, non-alcoholic beer for mom, and – to my father’s delight – Tabasco sauce in both red and green varieties.

Did you see the pizza in that picture? Would you like a closer look?

This thing was wild… the toppings list read as follows:

• potato
• mayonnaise
• mentaiko, aka spicy fish eggs
• chives
• and ham…

And did you see any tomato sauce? Neither did I… It was pretty tasty though, as pizzas without tomato sauce go, but the real highlight was dessert. Kagoshima is famous for something called the “ShiroKuma” — which you can translate more or less into “polar bear.” Satoshi, who’s been to Kagoshima a few times to visit relatives, made sure to reiterate before we left that we *had* to try one of these. When it arrived, we weren’t disappointed. It looks like a giant pile of shaved ice with some fruit stuck to the sides, not exactly the stuff legends are made of I’ll admit.

But your doubts are soon completely erased when you take the first bite – this thing is shaved ice yes, but it’s also got tons of sugary-laced cream through and through. It was better than any ice cream I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve had a few. Utterly delicious, and almost good enough to make me travel back to Kagoshima just to have another.

Fat and happy, we headed home. Passing an arcade along the way back proved too much temptation for my mother though. The Claw Machine holds something of a mythic status in our family, and she couldn’t resist a picture to taunt my brother and sister.

Back home you’re lucky if you find the lone claw machine in your local arcade or sports bar, but here in Japan the claw has been elevated to a fine art and entire arcades exist which *solely* house these marvelous beasts.