Kagoshima Airport — Kagoshima, Japan

KOJ lies well inland, north of Kagoshima city, giving the airport some distance from Sakurajima, one of the most consistently active volcanoes on Earth, whose frequent small eruptions dust the nearby city with ash closely enough that residents have grown accustomed to sweeping it from streets and rooftops. Kagoshima itself, sometimes likened to Naples for its bay-and-volcano scenery, played an outsized role in nineteenth-century Japanese history as the seat of the powerful Satsuma domain, whose reform-minded samurai helped drive the Meiji Restoration that modernized the country. The surrounding Kyushu countryside grows sweet potatoes that feed a substantial shochu distilling industry, a spirit closely associated with the region and widely consumed across Japan. Domestic flights connect KOJ to Tokyo, Osaka, and other cities, along with routes to nearby subtropical islands such as Yakushima and the Amami chain, expanding the airport's role as a gateway to Kagoshima Prefecture's scattered southern islands.