Kagoshima Nights

The scene? Kagoshima, Japan's most southerly city. A city of palm lined avenues and dark, seedy alleyways. A city of hot, steamy days and long, raucous nights. A city under constant threat of total volcanic annihilation.


-Sakurajima, as viewed from Kagoshima ferry port

This constant reminder of the frailty of human existence makes Kagoshima's citizens among Japan's most uninhibited; most eager to embrace life and all of its varied experiences.*

Armed with this knowledge, Matt and I ventured out in to the night, hoping to find an exciting night spot and capture a piece of that recklessness for ourselves.
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As usual, we failed completely at this, and so instead ended up at an arcade where we played Street Fighter IV for 2 hours.


-Matt, eager to embrace a Dragon Punch

This arcade in particular was medium-sized; two floors, with an interesting decor - blown up pictures of American newspaper sports articles and other weird stuff.



Normally when entering an arcade, in order to reach the floor with the cool, manly games like Street Fighter and Melty Blood, you need to pass thru dozens of "Crane Games" where the objective is to win a cute stuffed animal or something by manipulating a mechanical arm.


-Some of my crane game winnings. The key is actually to use the arm to knock the prizes in to the hole; the arm is usually far too weak to actually pick anything up

Anyway, as I was walking thru this particular set of crane games, something caught my eye:



A SLUM DANK uniform? Like a moth to a smoldering volcanic crater, the attraction was fatal. I HAD to have one.

In retrospect, what was it that made this so attractive? Was it a uniquely Japanese basketball-related souvenir? (Slam Dunk, the manga these jerseys were inspired by) Was it the the silly misspelling? In any case, while Matt was upstairs being pummeled by Japanese kids at SFIV,



...I was nudging my prize closer and closer to the hole, 100 yen at a time. Roughly 2400 yen later (and I'll let you convert that yourselves)....



...on a steamy night, with a volcano breathing down your neck, you throw caution to the wind and live life to its fullest.

*(I made this up)

Also: we're in Kochi on Shikoku. More later!