Whenever you talk about Kagoshima,you can’t avoid talking about shochu. And when you talk about shochu in Japan,you can’t avoid mentioning Kagoshima. That’s how deeply connected this city is with shochu —“Shochu means Kagoshima, and Kagoshima means shochu.” So for a Kagoshima trip, shochu is essential.It’s one of the biggest reasons why I travel to this city. Of course, Kagoshima is a city of shochu, so you can find it anywhere.Even ordinary restaurants often have ten, twenty, or more varieties.You don’t need to search hard to taste the famous ones. But! If you’re truly into shochu, you eventually end up…

I often travel to Japan,but strangely I don’t eat sushi much during trips.I’m not sure why — it just happens that way. Maybe because many good sushi restaurants require reservations,while I usually decide where to eat on a whim.So I end up in izakayas for dinner and drinks, rather than sushi counters. I also tend to prefer local specialties over sushi.In Kyoto, I’d want kaiseki,and in Kagoshima, I’d rather have Kurobuta shabu-shabu. This time, though, I felt differently. I wanted to taste Kagoshima’s seasonal ingredients at their best.Especially the fish, overshadowed by Kurobuta on my past trips. So before arriving,…

When people think of Kagoshima, the first thing that comes to mind is kuro-buta — black pork. I usually prefer to eat it as shabu-shabu, but there’s another famous Japanese dish made from pork: tonkatsu. If you search for restaurants while planning a trip to Kagoshima,you’ll soon notice that the most common type of restaurant there is the one that serves both “kuro-buta shabu-shabu and tonkatsu.” When I look for good places to eat in Japan,I don’t really trust Google Maps ratings. So where do I search instead? I usually use Tabelog.If I want to eat tonkatsu, I just look…

It had been a while since I travelled, and maybe because of that, on the first night of the trip I drank much later than intended. Thanks to that (or because of that?), the second day of the trip became a full rest day. I soaked in the hot spring, and lay on the bed.I skipped lunch, surviving on vitamin drinks and electrolyte drinks.My condition was really bad. Still, I thought I should eat dinner. So I went down to the lobby concierge and asked if I could go to a hotel restaurant right away. Shiroyama Hotel has many restaurants.Among…

One of the biggest reasons I travel to Japan is, honestly, for drinking. Whisky, wine, sake(nihonshu), shochu – almost every kind of alcohol except Korean traditional liquor is cheaper and more varied in Japan. And for someone like me who usually drinks alone, Japan is heaven.There are so many bars that serve wine or sake by the glass,so I can try different things without overdoing it. When I travel in Japan, I usually spend more nights drinking than sightseeing during the day. And at the end of every “drinking activity,” I always eat ramen.Since Japan doesn’t have a hangover culture…