Ash is not
a nuisance.

Just 4km from downtown Kagoshima City rises Sakurajima, one of the world's most active volcanoes, recording hundreds of explosive eruptions a year. Every morning residents check the wind direction before hanging laundry, and wipe volcanic ash off their windshields. Rather than treating that ash purely as a nuisance to be cleared away, this land has turned it to its advantage, growing produce that has set world records. Here's a look at how Kagoshima keeps its distance — or rather, doesn't — from an active volcano.

Minamidake and the Showa crater, still smoking today

Everyday life

"Ash-resistant houses" — an architecture found only here.

Homes in and around Kagoshima City often feature deep eaves, double mesh screens on windows to keep ash out, and outdoor taps on verandas for hosing ash away — these are not part of any national building code, but a local design tradition that Kagoshima Prefecture has spent decades refining and even subsidizing, built from generations of living with Sakurajima's ashfall. The city even has a dedicated "ash bag" system: residents bag up swept ash and leave it at designated collection points for the city to pick up.

Ashfall forecasts as routine weather: The Kagoshima Local Meteorological Office issues ashfall forecasts for Sakurajima, and local TV weather segments report the expected wind direction over the volcano and likely ashfall right alongside temperature and rain probability. Few places in the world treat volcanic ash as matter-of-factly as a typhoon update.

Guinness record no. 1

The world's heaviest radish: Sakurajima daikon.

Grown in Sakurajima's well-drained volcanic-ash soil, the Sakurajima daikon commonly reaches 40–50cm in diameter — more than ten times the weight of an ordinary daikon. In 1994, a specimen weighing 31.1kg grown for Kagoshima City's "World's Biggest Sakurajima Daikon Contest" was certified as a Guinness World Record. That contest still runs every year, with local farmers competing to grow ever more outsized roots.

Why does it grow so large? The well-drained volcanic ash soil unique to Sakurajima (known locally as "bora soil") lets roots grow straight and deep, which is credited as the key to this giant size. The bigger it grows, though, the more prone it is to internal pithiness, so balancing size against sweetness and texture is where a grower's skill shows.

Guinness record no. 2

And the world's smallest mandarin: Sakurajima komikan.

The same fields also grow the Sakurajima komikan, a tiny citrus only 3–4cm across — noticeably smaller than an ordinary satsuma mandarin. In 2012 it was certified by Guinness World Records as the "world's smallest mandarin orange." It's fairly unusual for a single island to hold both the "world's biggest vegetable" and "world's smallest fruit" Guinness titles. Despite its size, its thin skin and strong sweetness make it a beloved New Year's decoration locally.

Photos

Sakurajima: ash and abundance

Some things come through better in a photo than in words.

Sakurajima seen across Kinko Bay, a wisp of steam trailing from its summit — Sakurajima, Minamidakeseen across Kinko Bay

A Kagoshima house with deep eaves designed to be easily washed clear of ash — A house built for ashexample of "ash-resistant" design

A row of oversized Sakurajima daikon radishes — Sakurajima daikonGuinness-certified, world's heaviest radish

Tiny Sakurajima komikan mandarins growing on the tree — Sakurajima komikanGuinness-certified, world's smallest mandarin

Archival photo of a massive ash column rising over the city during the 1914 Taisho eruption — The Taisho eruption1914, the eruption that connected Sakurajima to the mainland

A stone torii gate buried up to its top crossbeam, standing beside a tree — The buried toriiKuroga district, buried in ash by the Taisho eruption

Next up

The 1914 eruption that turned an island into a peninsula.

Sakurajima was, true to its name ("cherry blossom island"), once an actual island. It became connected to the Osumi Peninsula by lava flows during the great Taisho eruption of 1914. That eruption buried an entire settlement in the Kuroga district — home to the "buried torii" gate you'll see mentioned later. Let's zoom out from Sakurajima's own eruptive history to a far larger geological scale.