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Photo: STA3816, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Former residence of the powerful Shimazu clan. Features a Neko (cat) Shrine, industrial heritage buildings of the Meiji restoration and stately gardens. Known for prominently making use of Sakurajima Volcano as borrowed scenery.
Sengan-en (仙巌園) is a Japanese garden attached to a former Shimazu clan residence in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Designated a Place of Scenic Beauty, together with the adjacent Shōko Shūseikan it forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining. Sengan-en is managed by Shimadzu Ltd.
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Io World
1500¥ for adults (September 2025) 5 floors of exhibits. Of note, has 7 dolphins, 2 seals, and a whale shark. Closes 6pm.
黎明館,Reimeikan
Beautiful museum with nice expositions retracing the origin and evolution of the first habitants of the southern Kyushu area till the Meiji restoration. Generic information is available in English but for more details about the different pieces contained in the exposition, a Japanese reading friend should be brought to fully enjoy all the information available.
鶴丸城, Tsurumaru-jō
Once the castle of the Shimazu clan who governed the Satsuma domain till the Meiji Restoration, it was destroyed during the Satsuma Rebellion. The only parts remaining today are the wall and the moat. Reconstruction of the castle's gate was completed in April 2020. The Reimeikan is located inside the gate on the former castle grounds.
城山公園
Mountain park in Kagoshima. You can see the panoramic view of Kagoshima including Sakurajima from the observatory.