Local sobriquets are not hard to come by. A place that is home to a few dingy canals on which some dodgy craft manage to stay afloat gets tagged the "Venice of Somewhere." A town in Japan that manages to keep some old houses out of the predatory clutches of developers becomes the "Little Kyoto of Somewhere Else." So hearing that Kagoshima styles itself as the "Naples of the Orient" is not the kind of thing that tends to elicit immediate, straight-faced belief.

With Kagoshima, though, the Neapolitan connection is not quite as fanciful as it may at first seem. Like Naples, Kagoshima is a port situated on a bay, which it shares with a menacing volcano. Both are cities located in the south of their respective countries and have distinctive, strong local dialects. The two places, which have been sister cities since 1960, are known for their sultry climates, fine cuisines and the fiery southern temperaments of the inhabitants.

Best known by far among Kagoshima's temperamental locals is Saigo Takamori. Visitors to Tokyo's Ueno Park can find in one corner the statue of burly Saigo. He's dressed casually in sandals, an informal summer robe and is portrayed taking his dog out hunting. In Kagoshima, Saigo's statue depicts him in a rather more historically pertinent fashion. Clad in a military uniform, he looks as if he is about to take a platoon of soldiers out for a walk.