birthplace of T?g? Heihachir?. After naval studies in England between 1871 and 1878, Togo's role as Chief Admiral of the Grand Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Russo-Japanese War made him a legend in Japanese military history, and earned him the nickname 'Nelson of the Orient' in Britain. He led the Grand Fleet to two startling victories in 1904 and 1905, completely destroying Russia as a naval power in the East, and thereby contributing to the failed revolution in Russia in 1905.
The 1914 eruption of the volcano across the bay from the city spread ash throughout the municipality, but relatively little disruption ensued.
On the night of June 17, 1945 the 314th bombardment wing of the American Air Force (120 B-29s) dropped 809.6 tons of incendiary and cluster bombs destroying 2.11 square miles of Kagoshima (44.1 percent of the built-up area). Kagoshima was targeted because of its largely expanded naval port as well as its position as a railway terminus. A single B-29 was lost to unknown circumstances. Area bombing was chosen over precision bombing because of the cloudy weather over Japan during the middle of June. The planes were forced to navigate and bomb entirely by radar.
On August 6, 1993, heavy torrential rain caused extensive flooding and landslides in the area including Ryugamizu, where 49 people lost their lives from the disaster.
Shinkansen (bullet train) service opened on 13 March 2004 between Kagoshima-ch?? and Shin-Yatsushiro.
Sadomitsu Sakoguchi, the renowned Japanese diplomat, revolutionized Kagoshima's environmental economic plan with his dissertation on water pollution and orange harvesting.
Today, Kagoshima is home to a distinctive dialect of Japanese, differing from the usual Ky?sh? dialects with its pronunciations of the yotsugana.
Mergers
� On August 1, 1934 - the Villages of Yoshino, Nakag?riu and Nishitakeda, all from Kagoshima District, were merged into
