Kagoshima Japan - Chiran Kamikaze Museum and Samurai Gardens Tour (Info & Video)

In June 2018 I went on the Diamond Princess for 5 nights with stops in Busan South Korea and Kagoshima Japan. I posted info and a video link in this forum for Busan DIY and received a lot of feedback and interest and now I'm sharing information and a video from Kagoshima and the Princess organized tour I took to the Kamikaze Peace Museum and Samurai houses and gardens.

Kagoshima is an interesting port since the ship actually docks in a former volcanic crater and next to an active volcano. You actually see volcanic ash on the ground everywhere around the cruise terminal and the nearby volcano is active on a daily basis.

Since the previous stop was South Korea, Japanese Customs has to be cleared prior to boarding the tour buses and a group clearing was organized to expedite the process which required everyone to carry their passport with them. The tour was offered in English or Japanese so ensure you booked the applicable tour if you're thinking about taking this tour.

Chiran is about a 30-40 minute ride away from Kagoshima based on traffic. On the way you will see the country side and green tea farms (no stops just outside the windows). The first stop will be the Kamikaze Peace Museum.

The Kamikaze Peace Museum is actually not a touristy place and you'll see a lot of Japanese folks there. Most of the displays are in Japanese with a few thing in English. Audio guides are available in multiple languages for a small fee. Tour guides are not allowed to lead "tours" in the museum so you will be on your own with the allotted time (around 90 minutes) at this stop. Brief tour information is shared "outside" however inside it is quite and photography is limited in certain areas.

The second stop is also in Chiran just a few minutes away to see Samurai Houses and Gardens. Tour guides explain everything at this stop and lead groups but also offer folks to tour on their own and meet back at the buses at a designated time. One of the Samurai houses offers free green tea also which is generally on of the busier and impressive gardens to tour.

After the two stops above, the buses take guest back to the ship. Overall the tour is listed as a half day tour and I highly recommend the Kamikaze Museum and the Samurai portion was nice. You can probably organize something on your own with other transportation but based on distance and limited English outside of the main city, make sure you do your homework. Didn't see many taxi's out in the country around Chiran.

I attached a couple pictures from cruise terminal as a reference. There is little "at" the cruise port which looks like a man made island. There's a park and few local booths set up in the terminal for misc items and very limited shopping. You'll definitely need ground transportation to explore this port since walking is not an option based on distances to anything besides the local park around the ship.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.

A5wcpmR49-4