TRAVEL

Japanese teen-ager Ryo Ishikawa's 13-year-old sister Yoko will make her Japan LPGA Tour debut at this week's T-Point Ladies golf tournament. Just a year out of elementary school, Ishikawa had accepted an invitation to play at the 70 million yen ($775,600) event in Kagoshima, southern Japan, organizers said Wednesday. Ishikawa quickly declared she wanted to follow in her multi-millionaire brother's footsteps and turn professional after some initial butterflies over entering the field. (Reuters)

Signs of the full-blown spring season were observed in Japan when cherry blossoms bloomed Wednesday in the western city of Kochi, coming out the earliest in any location other than Okinawa and nearby southern islands, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The "someiyoshino" cherry blossoms in Kochi came out six days earlier than the previous year and tied the record for the earliest blooming on Japan's main islands, which was registered three times in the past -- in Kagoshima Prefecture in 1955 and 1973 and in Wakayama Prefecture in 1959. (AP)

A teenager diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has been allowed to attend her school as a boy from April. The 13-year-old girl, who has felt uncomfortable with her gender since around 2 years old, will attend her public junior high school in Kagoshima as a boy from the new school year. The case comes on the heels of a recent recognition of an 8-year-old boy in Saitama Prefecture to attend the school as a girl after he was diagnosed with GID. (Mainichi)

A cold winter spell is still blanketing many countries in the northern hemisphere. In Japan, many are looking for unique ways to keep warm, while reaping health benefits. The warm sand by the sea in Kagoshima is among the hottest around the globe. The closer one gets to the shore, the hotter it gets. At some places, it is regarded to be around 85 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature most people can withstand is around 50 degrees Celsius. Although the mechanism is said to be unknown, it is said to be the only such place in the world. (Channel NewsAsia)

Influential musician and producer Tetsuya Komuro made a comeback Thursday when he gave a concert in western Japan, marking his first solo gig since being given a suspended jail term over a copyright fraud case. Komuro performed songs including his signature work "My Revolution." He plans to give similar concerts in Fukuoka on March 18 and Kagoshima the following day, according to the promoter. (AP)

The mercury rose Wednesday in western Japan with 18 observation points in eight prefectures marking record high temperatures for February, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. In Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture, the temperature reached as high as 26.1 C, a level usually seen around mid-June, while it hit 21.5 C in Uda, Nara Prefecture, 23.6 C in Motoyama, Kochi Prefecture and 23.0 C in Minamisatsuma, Kagoshima Prefecture, according to the agency. (AP)

One of the symbols of Kagoshima Prefecture is Sakurajima. The site of an active volcano, there were a record 548 known major eruptions, including those accompanied by earthquakes, last year. It has released volcanic smoke several times a day this year already. Sakurajima shows a different face depending on the season, time and place, earning it the nickname "Rainbow Island". The ferry to the island takes 15 minutes from Kagoshima Port. As we cross Kinko Bay -- where you can see dolphins when the water is calm enough and if you are lucky -- the island slips into view. (Mainichi)

The carcass of a Blainville's beaked whale, a rare sea mammal usually seen in deep waters near the equator, has been discovered on the shore of Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, local scientists said Wednesday. A man found the 4.4-meter-long dead whale bearing what appeared to be numerous shark bites on the Asani beach Saturday, according to a local children's nature center. (AP)

Bus tours around the sights of Tokyo are fairly common, but one recent excursion this month went slightly off the beaten track--to three primary and middle schools. But the passengers, about 100 university students from as far afield as Hokkaido and Kagoshima Prefecture, got exactly what they came for: a glimpse of life in the classroom. (Yomiuri)

Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu) put a restored steam locomotive, the Hitoyoshi-go, back on the tracks to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the JR Hisatsu Line. The line was opened on Nov. 21, 1909, to connect Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures in Japan's southern island of Kyushu. For security reasons, the Japanese government decided to build the railway in and around the mountains, rather than along the coastline, to avoid gunfire from foreign battleships. (Mainichi)

A new spy satellite designed to monitor North Korean military activities was successfully placed in orbit on Saturday. Approximately 20 minutes after the H-IIA launch vehicle F16 blasted off from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture at 10:21 a.m., the satellite separated from the rocket and entered its target orbit. It was the 10th consecutive successful H-IIA launch since flight F7 in 2005. (Mainichi)

The Sakurajima volcano in southwestern Japan has had 400 explosive eruptions so far this year, the most in 24 years, a local observatory said Friday, alerting people to a further pickup in the activity of the mountain. The Kagoshima Observatory said the number of minor explosive eruptions reached the threshold Thursday night and an expert says the recent Sakurajima activity is similar to that observed just ahead of a major eruption that occurred in 1946. (AP)

Pop idol-turned-actress Noriko Sakai pleaded guilty Monday to possessing and taking illegal drugs on the first day of her trial at the Tokyo District Court. Sakai, 38, is charged with smoking a stimulant drug around July 30 at a hotel on Amamioshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, where she visited with her family to see a solar eclipse, and possessing 0.008 gram of it on Aug. 3 at her home in Tokyo's Minamiaoyama district. (AP)

Back in 1986, a cute, saucy, 21-year-old university co-ed from Kagoshima named Kaoru Kuroki began appearing in AV productions to make some money for a trip to Italy. Kuroki starred in a movie titled "SM'ppoi no Suki," (loosely translated as "Some like it SM style") and created an immediate stir not only for her personality and acting skills, but for the abundant black bush that blossomed beneath her upper limbs, which she eagerly exposed at every opportunity. (Tokyo Reporter)

Since Yaku Island was placed on the World Heritage list 16 years ago, tourism has been booming. Some 390,000 tourists flocked to the 500-sq.-km island south of Kagoshima Prefecture in fiscal 2008, up from an estimated 210,000 back in 1993. What attracts people to the island are the Japanese Jomon cedar trees that are presumed to be 2,000 years old. (Japan Times)

Actress Noriko Sakai, who is facing a criminal charge of possessing an illegal stimulant, told police she got high on July 30 during a visit to Amami-Oshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture, sources said. Sakai, 38, went to the island with her husband Yuichi Takaso, 41, and her 10-year-old son to watch the total solar eclipse, the sources said. (Asahi)

A female cancer patient in her 60s in Kagoshima Prefecture and a 38- year-old woman in Hyogo Prefecture with no apparent underlying illness died early Saturday, becoming the sixth and seventh deaths in Japan linked to the new H1N1 strain of influenza A. (AP)

Typhoon Morakot brought heavy rain to Miyako and other remote islands of Okinawa Prefecture on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Some 220 flights, mainly departing from and landing at Naha and other airports on islands in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures, were canceled Thursday, affecting about 40,000 passengers. (AP)

In the heart of Kagoshima, "operation green" has been adding a splash of color to the city's streetcar tracks. But the lush carpet of green shoots is extending its roots down into a somewhat unusual base--shirasu, a type of volcanic ash and pumice peculiar to southern Kyushu. The municipal government has been planting grass between and alongside the city's streetcar tracks since fiscal 2006. About 3.8 kilometers of the 8.9-kilometer tramway have gone green, and the government plans to do the same to the remainder. (Yomiuri)

People on islands in Kagoshima Prefecture and further south found themselves thrown into complete darkness due to the total solar eclipse Wednesday morning. Not seen in Japan for 46 years, the total solar eclipse was expected to be observable from the Tokara Islands chain. However, due to the overcast conditions, the "black sun" could not be seen from the ground. (Yomiuri)

A venomous snake measuring 2.26 meters long has been found on Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, outstripping the previous record for the longest snake to be captured on the island. The snake, a habu weighing 3.15 kilograms, was captured in the mountains of Amami on the evening of July 16, and taken to Amami Kanko Habu Center, center officials said. (Mainichi)

Cherry blossoms may not bloom in extensive areas of Japan a century from now if global warming proceeds at its current pace, the Tokyo-based weather forecast firm Weathernews Inc. said. According to the company's worst-case scenario, the popular someiyoshino variety of cherry blossom will no longer bloom in Kagoshima in Kyushu by 2074 and in Tokyo in eastern Japan by 2109. (AP)

The longest total solar eclipse of this century will occur on July 22. Although it will be visible only from a limited number of places in Japan, including Yakushima and Amami-Oshima islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, a partial eclipse will be visible around the country. (Yomiuri)

The names of Japanese celebrities, such as pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki, have been registered as trademarks in China by businesspeople trying to take advantage of their fame to boost business. In the past, there was a similar controversy over unsuccessful attempts to register the names of noted locations in Japan, such as Aomori and Kagoshima, and specialties in the country as Chinese trademarks. (AP)

The rainy season is believed to have begun in Okinawa Prefecture and on Amami Island in Kagoshima Prefecture on Monday, the first areas of Japan to experience it this year, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. (AP)