The southernmost big city on Japan's main islands, sunny Kagoshima (鹿児島) has a personality to match its climate and has been voted Japan's friendliest city nationwide. It's proud of its past as capital of the feudal Satsuma province, which holds an outsize place in Japanese history. Kagoshima's backdrop/deity is Sakurajima, a very active volcano just across the bay. Locals raise their umbrellas against the mountain's recurrent eruptions, when fine ash coats the landscape like snow and obscures the sun like fog – mystical and captivating.