We have entered the tropics! To celebrate, we worked up a sunburn and joined the spring break tourists city bus tour around Kagoshima, landing on the volcanic island of Sakurajima. The Minami-dake peak erupts about 800 times a year, and at least ten times while we counted. It is also home to a giant white radish and a wonderful reed for one of our future shoots.
At 4.45 am the morning after we set out to see the wonders of Ebino Kogen, part of Kirishima National Park and home to the highest crater lakes in Japan. We were excited until we reached the plateau and realised the volcanic eruptive no-go-zone included every single one of the locations we had set our eyes on. The Kirishima mountains consist of more than 20 volcanoes, with the latest full-scale eruption of Mount Shinmoe in 2011, leading to the closure of many trails and roads. After a very small personal melt down, we realised we were spoilt for choice exactly where we were.
