Usually, my trips are not this busy.
I’m starting to feel tired – no, I am tired.
I barely slept last night, left for the airport at dawn, took an early morning flight, then a bus to Kirishima Jingu.
Now I just want to get to my hotel and rest.
Let’s hurry to Kagoshima!
From the bus stop at the Kirishima Jingu rotary,
I took the bus down to Kirishima Jingu Station.
Outside the window, it was pure countryside –
a narrow road through the woods, scattered houses, and almost no people in sight.
After about fifteen minutes, I arrived at the small station.
Although it’s the station closest to the famous Kirishima Jingu Shrine,
it’s deep in the mountains and surprisingly tiny.
The station sits on the JR Nippo Main Line,
and the Limited Express Kirishima also passes through here.
The ride to Kagoshima-Chuo Station takes about an hour by local train,
or forty-five minutes by the limited express.
Not a huge difference, right?
Either way, the train schedules are quite sparse –
locals know you just take whichever comes first.
Luckily, I arrived about thirty minutes before the express train.
That means I can reach Kagoshima a bit faster.
To board it, though, I need to buy a separate limited-express ticket.
When traveling by train in Japan,
you first buy a base-fare ticket for the distance you’ll travel.
That ticket lets you ride ordinary trains.
If you want to take a limited express or the Shinkansen,
you have to buy an additional ticket for that train type.
Generally, the speed ranking goes:
Local → Rapid → Limited Express → Shinkansen.
At staffed ticket counters, the clerk handles everything for you.
But this time I had to use the machine myself.
At first I bought only the base-fare ticket
and almost forgot the express one.
Then it hit me – oh right, I’m taking the Limited Express Kirishima!
So I went back and bought the extra ticket.
In short, when you’re not taking a local train,
you’ll usually have two tickets.
At the gate, just feed them into the slot together –
the machine handles the rest.
The afternoon sunlight slanted gently over the little mountain station.
Even though I was exhausted,
I couldn’t help enjoying the calm rural atmosphere.
As the train ran through the forest,
the soft golden sunlight filled the car.
With few passengers, the mood felt almost cinematic –
warm, quiet, and beautiful.
Leaving the woods behind,
the train began running along the edge of Kagoshima Bay.
By coincidence, my seat on the left side faced the sea.
When passing Sengan-en Garden,
I caught sight of familiar Iso Beach – and far beyond, Sakurajima.
I once thought about driving around Kagoshima Bay someday,
but riding the train along it like this turned out to be just as wonderful.
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