Food Kagoshima Prefecture has a distinct and rich food culture. The warm weather and diverse environments allow for the agriculture and aquaculture of Kagoshima to thrive. Numerous restaurants around Kagoshima feature
Satsuma Province local cuisine. Popular cuisine incorporating local agriculture include
sweet potato,
kibinago sashimi (silver-striped herring),
buri amberjack,
kampachi yellowtail, "Black Label Products" such as
kuro-ushi Wagyu beef,
kuro-buta Berkshire pork dishes, and
kuro-Satsuma jidori chicken (sometimes served as raw, chicken
sashimi); smoked eel, keihan, and
miki (fermented rice milk consumed among residents of the
Amami Islands).
Satsuma-age Satsuma-age, or deep-fried fish cake, comes in great variety in Kagoshima. Though the deep-fried fishcake can be found throughout the country, the Satsuma Domain (modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture) is commonly believed to be the birthplace of the snack. It is said, though, the concept was introduced from the Ryūkyū Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa Prefecture) by Satsuma Lord, Nariakira Shimazu.
Sweets There are many types of sweets produced in Kagoshima Prefecture. has produced some of Japan's most popular and timeless sweets such as , , and green tea-flavored Hyōroku mochi, Minami "
shirokuma" shaved ice desserts, etc. Traditional treats outside of Seika Food Co., Ltd. products include
karukan (sweet cakes made from steamed yams and rice flour),
jambo-mochi,
kokutō brown sugar from the Amami Islands,
getanha brown sugar cake, etc.
Beverages In 1559, at in a carpenter wrote atop a wooden board "the Shintō Priest of this shrine is too stingy to offer me showing an early love for the spirits. Kagoshima Prefecture is officially recognized (by the World Trade Organization) as the home to one of the most traditional beverages of Japan,
shōchū. In Kagoshima there are 113+ distilleries, producing about 1,500 highly acclaimed brands, placing Kagoshima in the top for production quantity and shipment. While visiting Kagoshima, one may notice labels reading .
Honkaku-shōchū is a distilled beverage produced with traditional skills using ingredients such as natural spring water, sweet potatoes, locally grown sugar cane, and grains. Varieties of
honkaku-shōchū include ,
shōchū distilled from sweet potatoes, , distilled from barley, and distilled from rice. Another type of
shōchū is ,
shōchū distilled with brown sugar).
Shōchū has long gained international favor and has come to be comparable to Bordeaux for wine, Scotch for whiskey, and Cognac for brandy. Also, the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture are the only areas sanctioned to bear the label of
kokutō-shōchū. or black vinegar is another item of the "Black Label Products" of Kagoshima, the other of which is
Kokutō-shōchū. There are a number of
kurozu farms around Kagoshima, most of which are located around the
Kirishima area. Most
kurozu farms produce
kurozu bottled vinegar (fermented for a single year, 2+ years) along with other items such as salad dressing, powders, capsules, spices, candy, etc.
Kurozu also comes in different flavors such as grape, orange,
ume plum, etc. though the most popular flavor by far is apple. The farms are open to visitations and often offer tours.
Dialect Today, Kagoshima is home to a distinctive dialect of Japanese known as or , differing from the usual
Kyushu dialects with its pronunciations of the
yotsugana. For the most part, Satsugū dialect is mutually unintelligible with
Standard Japanese, though most Satsugū speakers know both as a result of language standardization in Japan. ==Sport and recreation==