PORT OF JAPAN
The Tenmonkan sprint, Kagoshima

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For a 4.5-hour call · Kagoshima

The Tenmonkan sprint

Short calls — shirokuma, arcades, and back on the shuttle. Timed from the gangway and back.

2 hr 30 min door to door6 stopsNeeds a 4.5-hour call
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Photo: John Seb Barber from Leeds, UK / CC BY 2.0
Door to door
2 hr 30 min
From the gangway and back
Best for
A 4.5-hour call or longer
Short calls — shirokuma, arcades, and back on the shuttle
Room to spare
None
Fits a 4.5-hour stop with nothing to add (off the ship 30 minutes after arrival, back at the gangway an hour before all-aboard). A longer call gives you the extra time; on this one, do not add a stop.
What it costs
~¥0–1,500 pp
(shuttle, or a shared taxi). No tour needed at any price.
Booking
Nothing
Every stop here takes walk-ups

Timed from the gangway with the port's official timetables · updated · Takumi Yamada

Numbers follow the route below. Pins are the places themselves; walking lines are not drawn because the best way between two stops can change with the tram, the tide or the weather.

The route

How the day runs

Times are from the moment you step off, not from the scheduled arrival. Everything shifts if your ship is late; the order does not.

  1. +0:00
    Shuttle from Marine Port to the Tenmonkan area

    ~30 min; photograph the return timetable first

    What you will see hereFull guide: Tenmonkan
  2. +0:30
    Tenmonkan arcades wander

    Satsuma-age fried fresh at Agetateya (opens 10:00) as you walk

    What you will see hereFull guide: Tenmonkan
    Tenmonkan arcades, Kagoshima
    Photo: Mike Knell from Vienna, Austria / CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. +0:55
    Shirokuma at Mujaki — the original since 1949

    Opens 11:00: if you step off before about 10:00 it will still be shut, so start the route later or skip it. One regular serves two people

    What you will see here
  4. +1:35
    Souvenirs: shochu miniatures + karukan at Akashiya

    Both within the arcades

    What you will see here
    Shochu & Satsuma kiriko glass, Kagoshima
    Photo: Dime Gontar from Kiev, Ukraine / CC BY 2.0
  5. +2:00
    Shuttle back to Marine Port

    Board one earlier than the last — they run only every 30–60 min

  6. +2:30
    Back at the gangway

    Margin intact

The margin is not optional. This route ends an hour before all-aboard on purpose. If you are running late, drop the last stop, not the hour.
What the day looks like

Kagoshima, along this route

Real photographs of the places above and the streets between them. Every one is credited.

The bronze statue of Saigo Takamori in Kagoshima
The bronze statue of Saigo Takamori in KagoshimaPhoto: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / CC BY 4.0
Sakurajima erupting with an ash plume above Kagoshima Bay
Sakurajima erupting with an ash plume above Kagoshima BayPhoto: Marek Piwnicki / Pexels
Shochu bottles from Satsuma Shuzo, a Kagoshima distiller, on display
Shochu bottles from Satsuma Shuzo, a Kagoshima distiller, on displayPhoto: Jun Seita / CC BY 2.0
Satsuma kiriko cut glass in red and indigo, Kagoshima
Satsuma kiriko cut glass in red and indigoPhoto: Wikimedia contributor / CC BY 2.0
A samurai residence garden in Chiran, Kagoshima
A samurai residence garden in ChiranPhoto: STA3816 / CC BY-SA 3.0
The Tenmonkan sprint, Kagoshima
Sengan-enPhoto: Hyppolyte de Saint-Rambert / CC BY 4.0
Different hours, different day

The other routes in Kagoshima

The rainy-day KagoshimaA wet day · ~4hWet or ashy weather — arcades and aquarium do the workThe volcano crossingNeeds a 7-hour call · ~5hThe thing only Kagoshima offers — an active volcano by city ferryLords & lavaNeeds a 9.5-hour call · ~7.5hFull-day calls — the garden, the crossing and the postcard hill
Pick your own stops instead →Back to the Kagoshima guide
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