Sakurajima-Akobaru-cho

Oushu Elementary School is located near here. Next to it is the restaurant Chinman, and my recommended menu is the Chicken Nanban. There is one of the few staggered traffic lights on the island, and the road turning right from here leads to the Yunohira Observatory.

 

Beyond the intersection is Sakurajima Shipyard. It is still in service. It once built the Sakurajima Ferry ships. This shipyard built the Sakurajima Maru No. 3, which became the talk of the town with its sophisticated white hull in 1951, and the Sakurajima Maru No. 5, which ushered in a new era in transporting vehicles in 1953.

 

This area is flat with the sea nearby. Here is an alluvial fan area. The river that formed this alluvial fan is the Hasegawa River. It has recently undergone erosion control work for large check dams and a new bridge has been constructed.

 

Because the alluvial fan area here was formed by the volcanic ash of Sakurajima, it is rich in nutrients and has good drainage. In addition to that, here can get a lot of sun due to the sloping surface, so agriculture is flourishing. This is the land where the world's smallest mandarin orange, Sakurajima Komikan, and the world's largest radish, Sakurajima Daikon, have been grown. Recently, the area has also been cultivating the Shine Muscat grape. On the mountainside, residential areas extend surprisingly far, and the population is the largest on the island.