Local Kagoshima products include oshima tsumugi, beautiful silk made into such items as clothing, handbags, and wallets; shochu, an alcoholic drink made from such ingredients as sweet potatoes and drunk either on the rocks or mixed with boiling water; furniture, statues, and chests made from yaku cedar; and Satsuma pottery -- probably Kagoshima's most famous product. It has been produced in the Kagoshima area for more than 380 years. Satsuma pottery comes in two styles: black and white. White Satsuma pottery is more elegant, thus it was used by former lords; the black pottery was used by the townspeople in everyday life.
A good place to shop for local items is the Kagoshima Brands Shop, downtown in the Sangyo Kaikan Building (the same building housing the Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau) at 9-1 Meizan-cho (tel. 099/225-6120; daily 9am-6pm, closed the first and third Sun of the month). This one-room shop offers tinware, handmade knives, Satsuma pottery, glassware, oshima tsumugi, yaku cedar, shochu, and other locally made items. To reach it, take the streetcar to the Asahi-Dori stop, from which the shop is a 1-minute walk away toward the bay.
The most famous cake of Kagoshima (the one all Japanese tourists must buy before returning home) is karukan, a delicious spongy white cake made from rice, with Chinese and Korean origins. The most famous maker of karukan today is [o211] Akashiya, 4-16 Kinseicho (tel. 099/226-0431; daily 9am-7:30pm), which began selling the cakes 150 years ago. It has the solemnity of a first-rate jewelry store and is just as refined. It's located on the side street to the right of Yamakataya department store, a 1-minute walk from the Asahi-Dori streetcar stop. Although cakes are now available made from beans and other ingredients, old-timers insist that only the plain white ones are the real thing. A small round one, good for a snack, costs ¥147 ($1.20/60p).
