2 Best Sights in Kagoshima, Kyushu

This laid-back seaside resort is at the southern tip of the Satsuma Peninsula and may provide your one chance to try a therapeutic hot-sand bath. At the Sand Bath Hall "SARAKU", you buy your ticket and rent a yukata, or cotton robe—the small towel is yours to keep—on the second floor of the main hall. In the locker room you change into your robe before heading to the beach. Stand in line and wait for an assistant to call you over. You'll be buried in hot, mildly sulfur-smelling sand. Aside from providing a powerful dose of joint-penetrating heat, the stimulating, sweaty experience is guaranteed to cleanse your pores and soften your skin.

Sakurajima is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Visible from Kagoshima City, across Kinko Bay, it is spews thick plumes of ash and smoke almost daily. The last big eruption was in 1955, but the far side of the cone sometimes lets loose with explosive belching that lights the night sky red and covers the island of Sakurajima in a blanket of ash. There are scattered lodgings and hot springs at the base of the volcano, as well as winding paths up to old lava plateaus with great views over the crater or back toward town. There are usually four ferries per hour from Kagoshima City to the Sakurajima. The one-way adult fare for the 10- to 15-minute trip is ¥200.