Kagoshima (Jap. 鹿児島市 Kagoshima-shi) is a city in Japan with the status of “central city”, the administrative center and the largest settlement of Kagoshima Prefecture. Due to its location on the shore of the bay at the foot of the Sakurajima stratovolcano, as well as the hot climate, the city is often called the “Naples of the East”.
The area of ​​the city is 547.07 km², the population is 606,523 people (August 1, 2014), the population density is 1108.68 people / km².
Kagoshima is a major transportation hub in southern Kyushu. Industrial enterprises of the textile (cotton, silk), chemical, food and flavor industries operate here. Mass production of porcelain products (Satsuma porcelain) has been established. Developed fishing industry. There is a university. There is an airport near the city. 50 kilometers to the southeast, on the Osumi Peninsula, is the Kagoshima Space Center, from where the first Japanese satellite, Osumi, was launched on February 11, 1970.
On November 1, 2004, five suburbs became part of the city, due to which the total area of ​​Kagoshima almost doubled. These were the settlements of Yoshida, Kiire, Koriyama, Matsumoto, Sakurajima.

History
For many centuries, Kagoshima served as the residence for the Shimazu samurai family. During the Edo period, the city was a major political center and commercial port. After the arrival of the Europeans, the activity of Christian missionaries greatly intensified here, until the authorities imposed a ban on foreign religion in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1863, the city came under artillery attack by the Royal Navy in response to the murder of the English merchant Charles Lennox Richardson.
Saigo Takamori, one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history, was born here. Kagoshima is also the birthplace of Heihachiro Togo, an admiral who commanded the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.
In 1914, the Sakurajima volcano erupted, which, however, did not lead to any serious destruction.

Geography
Kagoshima is located on the shores of the Kagoshima Bay of the East China Sea. The area of ​​the city is about 547.07 km². The terrain of Kagoshima, with the exception of the Sakurajima area, is hilly. Height of hills and hills ranges from 100 to 300 m above sea level. Rivers of medium and small size flow through the city, which flow into the Kagoshima Bay: Inari, Kotsuki, Kamino, Tagami, Wakita and Nagata. In the vicinity of these rivers there are small plains. In the central part of the coast there is an industrial zone with a city port. Opposite it is the active volcano Sakurajima with a height of 1117 m.

Security
The headquarters of the Japan Coast Guard is located in the city. It ensures the security of the borders and territorial waters of Japan in the south of the prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki and Kumamoto.