Flying into Kagoshima from Tokyo across the volcanic landscape of Kirishima and Ebino Kogen, I feel as if I'm arriving in another country. The air is moist and warm, the light sharper, the sky bluer and the foliage intensely green, sprawling exuberantly over the rugged hills.
Less than 150 years ago, this really was another country — Satsuma, the domain of some of the fiercest warriors in the land.
I'm here in search of the last Samurai, Saigo Takamori, whose statue, with swirling robe, sword and faithful little dog, stands at the entrance to Ueno Park in central Tokyo. Saigo famously died in 1877 in the Satsuma Rebellion. But I soon discover that he's still very much alive in Kagoshima.