Samurai town of Chiran in Kagoshima

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Very sunny when the ship docked in Chiran and we drove to the Chiran Peace Museum. This is dedicated to the 1000s of young pilots who gave up their lives at the Battle of Okinawa. The planes were built here and the pilots flew off from here on their final sortie leaving letters to their Mums and family knowing they would not be coming back, very sad, such a waste. It is a peaceful park with a Lantern for each pilot who died and a museum containing personal exhibits as well as remains of the planes themselves which they dragged up from the sea. After this we went to the Samurai Houses in the Fumoto area of Chiran. There is a lovely lane with original Samurai houses on either side , a lot of which are still inhabited but 4 of which we could go in to see the garden. The gardens are the usual Japanese landscape with sand representing the sea, bushes- the islands and the rocks behind are the mountains. It is all very formal and meant to be viewed from the side of the house but very contemplative. I prefer my flowers to be honest. There is also an original farmer's house which was specially transported to this area. The town is very tidy with running water alongside the footpath containing Koi carp.

Back at the ship we sat on the pool deck before lunch as it was a lovely day and then had spaghetti vongole specially cooked for us by the chef at our request. Gained a few points in trivia but we are not starring as we should. Met some very nice Ozzies at dinner so missed the show again.

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