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Everything is related
to Naples
first entry Mar 2008
moved here Mar 2009
Number 22 in a
series. Links to parts:
Kagoshima,
Japan—Brother
Volcano,
Sister
City
Mt. Sakurajima, seen
from
Kagoshima
 I don’t know
when cities started pairing up as "sisters." I do know that in Italy
it started in 1960 with the first such declaration of friendly kinship,
that
between Naples and the Japanese city of
Kagoshima.
I
know
that
in Naples there is a via
Kagoshima—a
short steep
street meant for mountain goats (with an extra low gear) connecting via
Aniello
Falcone to the Vomero section of Naples.
I also now know that there is, indeed, a Napoli Dori (Naples street)
in Kagoshima.
My
understanding
(as
yet, I have
no photos of the street) is that it is a wide and lovely tree-lined
boulevard near the Nishi-Kagoshima train
station.
I know that Kagoshima takes this “sister city” stuff so seriously that
each
year the city sends 10 of its citizens to Naples; to my knowledge,
Naples does
not reciprocate—or at least the mayor has not offered me any
free trips.
I know all this because I bothered to find out after a kind letter from
Hide
Okabe pointed out that I had consistently misspelled Kagoshima as "Kagushima" in other entries in
this encyclopedia (here and here.)
Kagoshima ,is a
city of some 600,000 at the southwestern tip of the Kyūshū island of Japan. Even
before
the
age
of Sister Cities,
Kagoshima had been known as the “Naples of the Orient,” due to climate
(warm),
location (a port city), temperament of the inhabitants (friendly—I
don’t know
if they park on the sidewalks; I suspect they do not!) and the nearby
presence
of one of the world's most famous active volcanoes, Mt. Sakurajima,
towering
majestically over the city across Kagoshima Bay. The volcano is
1,117 meters (3,665 ft), approximately like Vesuvius.
Sakurajima
erupts—or at least sputters—constantly and last erupted massively in
1914, an
explosion so powerful that the lava flow filled in the 500-meter
stretch of water (at an
average depth of about 60 meters) to the
south-east of the then island (!)-volcano
and
joined
Sakurajima
to the
mainland.
So, if you go,
say hello
to our brother volcano, and discourage childish little outbursts of
sibling rivalry.
Even
better,
take
me
with you, or at least send me a photo of “Napoli Street.”
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