Parcly Taxel: The normal Japanese pony who lives outside the city goes to work or explores places in the day, then watches television at night. The otaku (オタク; anime lovers) watch television in the day and go on the Internet or meet up with other otaku at night. The hikikomori (引きこもり; ponies who spend almost all the time holed up in their own houses) go on the Internet in the day and go on the Internet at night.

OK, enough stereotyping.

Spindle: When it comes to television in Japan, one particularly pressing issue is the NHK (日本放送協会) collector. They go around and ask for the television licence fee from households, but they have been using more and more intimidating methods in recent times. Some ponies and kirins think the situation is so bad, they have formed the Protect the Nation from NHK Party to protest against the collection practices.

Parcly: The first morning I spent in Makemoto’s house (her husband Okuri also lives there), I watched morning television to get me up to speed with the day’s events. Besides the usual weather forecasts presented in the top-left corner, one local addition is the wind direction near Sakurajima (桜島), a huge, constantly erupting volcano posing a threat to southern Kyushu. The wind blows the ash onto higher ground and may cause respiratory problems.

Spindle: We were treated to an in-house breakfast including fried fish sticks, rice wrapped in beancurd and bread. Then we set off for the sand baths at Ibusuki (指宿), a trip which took two hours and spanned 100 kilometres itself. Along the coastal road we travelled on we got a distant view of Sakurajima itself and an oil refinery.

Parcly: However, when we arrived at the beach a sign had been put up saying the sand baths were closed for the week; I also saw from a parapet above that the operators were dredging in new sand. So I switched tacks and went to another sand bath further inland.

Princess Cadance: These baths work quite similar to normal onsen. You get into a yukata (浴衣), mainly to prevent the slightly wet sand from sticking to your coat, you lie down on top of said sand and a worker shovels more sand on top of you up to your head, about one hoof’s width deep. The sand then hugs you snug and tight. ♡

Parcly: It brought back memories of the genie wishing parties I’ve had in Saddle Arabia, which only differ in using much drier sand – memories so vivid that halfway through I tethered myself to my genie bottle, which then improved heat transfer to my solid upper half by way of convection.

Cadance: For safety reasons, a pony should spend only 10 to 15 minutes under sand, then transfer to a normal bath to wash the sand off, and those with heart conditions should not use it (as is the case with normal onsen). Parcly followed all these steps as provided by the bath operators, located in a hotel.

Shining Armour: After taking three small sandwiches from a convenience store as lunch, Parcly rolled along. She visited Nishi-Ōyama (西大山駅), the southernmost JR station (there is a privately operated monorail in Okinawa), then at the end of a road Ryugu Shrine (龍宮神社) and a nearby lighthouse with views of both the southernmost point on the Japanese home islands (Cape Sata, 佐多岬) as well as Iwo Jima (硫黄島) and a number of other islands even farther south. Kaimondake (開聞岳), a dormant volcano, towered over these landmarks.

Spindle: There are some deep theories linking the Crystal Empire to windigos, but all of them are sketchy at best. What is true is that the Frozen North, the place most associated with my species, lies beside the Crystal Empire, and that the two communities grew into each other.

But I myself admire Cadance and Shining, who made long-distance travel in the Crystal Empire more convenient with the Crystal Express. It opened the eyes of ponies to new cultures and new places they would have cowered away from otherwise.

Parcly: We went back north into the city of Kagoshima (鹿児島市), first climbing a series of long and winding roads to the Sakurajima observatory at Shiroyama (城山). Then we went back down for a dinner of Kagoshima shabu-shabu at Ichi Nii San – the beef is more well-known but pork is also consumed in great quantities. It was a full meal with side dishes, dessert and the like.

Rarity: That amount of food needs a good deal of walking to digest, but the wintry night would make for too uncomfortable a backdrop. Instead Parcly and Spindle toured the Aeon Mall in Kagoshima, where the namesake department store takes up about a third of available floor space. Despite all the items on offer, the sole thing the alicorn bought from there was a bottle of peach juice…

Spindle: …which she took back to Makemoto’s house to sip on.