By BC Cook
For Variety
A VOLCANIC eruption is a big deal to most people. Life stops, everyone flees or takes shelter, suffers through it, and rebuilds their lives the best they can afterward. But, there is a place in the world where a mountain full of magma is a constant companion, where clouds of smoke and ash hang over the city every day, where a volcano is no big deal.
Kagoshima, Japan is such a place. The volcano across the bay in southern Kyushu never stops smoking. The residents of this city carry face masks the way Londoners carry umbrellas, in their purses, pockets, hanging around their necks. They change the air filters in their cars as often as they change the oil. Even though Kagoshima has a nice climate they rarely open the windows in their homes, or their furniture would quickly cover with ash.
Recently, after a particularly active spasm of the volcano, I called my friend Atsushi to ask if he was alright. “Of course!” was his reply. “Why wouldn’t I be fine? It was not a large eruption.” In my world, any volcanic eruption would automatically qualify as large.
One reason the people of Kagoshima are not very concerned about the volcano is because there is a body of water between the mountain and the city. So, any lava flow would spill into the bay and not run through the town. But this is a false sense of security. Red-hot, boiling lava flows are only one way that a volcano can kill you. A sulfur cloud is another way, so is an explosion that rains down house-sized boulders. And if there is an explosion near sea level they could get a tsunami.
In the end, the benefits of living here outweigh the risks of sharing space with an active volcano. The weather is beautiful and residents have direct access to the southern seas for fishing and commerce. The gorgeous Inland Sea is not too far away either. Kagoshima offers the best of Japanese life mixed with a flourishing international presence, what Nagasaki used to be.
There has not been a catastrophic eruption of Kagoshima volcano in a long time so the younger generation has no memory of it. To them the volcano makes smoke and rumbles threateningly from time to time but presents no immediate danger. Older residents know better, they know that when it is ready the mountain will assert itself again, reclaiming its supremacy over the area, reminding humans that, as much as they like to think they control nature, they survive by the goodwill of it.
Dr. BC Cook taught history for 30 years and is a director and Pacific historian at Sealark Exploration (sealarkexploration.org). He currently lives in Hawaii.
