Kyushu: Nagasaki

Hello everyone! As you all know, my little brother River and I traveled down to the island of Kyushu for one week out of the two weeks he was here. We decided to go by shinkansen (bullet train) as River would be able to ride free with a JR rail pass. So, we bought the tickets and caught our 7:30 am train at Tokyo station.


A map of Japan. I currently live in Tokyo, and we traveled down to Kyushu.


River and the Shinkansen

We had to transfer trains in Osaka and Fukuoka, but arrived at Nagasaki about 5:00pm. The train ride was very pretty, and we were able to pass a variety of different places. River commented on how the houses along the Shinkansen rail never stopped...people are just everywhere in this country.

When we arrived in Nagasaki, we took the tram (only 100 yen) to the Youth Hostel, which turned out to be quite a nice place. It was run by a young Japanese couple who spoke pretty good english. We had a small room with a pair of bunkbeds, and had 2 roommates. One was a Indonesian girl named Milanti, who was traveling in the exact opposite direction as us-she began in Kagoshima, our last stop. She was very nice, but other than at the hostel, we did not see much of her. Our other roommate...forgot his name...got up late and went to bed late-so we did not see him much.

After we checked into the hostel, we decided to see the sites that were nearby the hostel. First was Meganebashi (spectacles bridge) named for the reflection it makes on the water (like glasses).


Spectacles Bridge. See the reflection?

It was getting dark, so our next stop was Mt. Inasa. We took the tram up this small mountain, which at the top claims to have one of the top 3 night views in all Japan. I think River really enjoyed this part although it was quite cold- the moon was full and the view was delightful.


Nagasaki at night. Taking pictures in the dark is hard!

After that, we had dinner (some ramen) and retired back the the youth hostel. The next day we got up early to go to or next conquest-Dejima island. We decided to walk there, and it turned out to be really close. Nagasaki as a whole is small enough to tour by foot-we barely even took the trams, although they were inexpensive. Now, Dejima is not really an island now if you can believe it- in the Edo period it was a man made island used to seclude all the Dutch traders during the period of Seclusion. For awhile, this was the only place in Japan Westerners were allowed. Now, the city as a whole has kind of engulfed it, but the recreated the small town with painstaking accuracy.


Recreated dutch meal


Me in a East-West style house. Paper doors AND wallpaper?! cool.


River in the large model of Dejima standing next to a smaller model.

Because we went so early in the morning it was not crowded at all, but as we were leaving the crowds started getting bigger. We ate a quick ramen lunch, and then headed to our next destination, Oura Catholic Church. Because of all the foreigners in Nagasaki, Christianity was kind of a big deal here. This church is the only western creation that is considered a national treasure of Japan. While no where near as grand as some of the churches we saw when we went to Italy, it was a very fun experience.


Me in front of the church.

Right behind the church was Glover Garden, an area where rich Dutch people lived in the early 20th century. They turned the area with all the mansions into a beautiful garden and viewing area. The weather was perfect, warm and clear, making it the perfect day to go.


River with some flowers at Glover Garden.


Me and a Masonic symbol I found!!! coooooool.

After wandering the Gardens for awhile, we headed toward the Confucian shrine, which brings me to another segment of old Nagasaki's population, the Chinese. Because of its convenience and proximity, China did a lot of trade with Nagasaki. This Shrine also falls under the Chinese consulate's jurisdiction, and is a prime example of Ming architecture (for those who care). River didn't really enjoy this part, but I did for obvious reasons. There were rows and rows of statues of Confucian scholars, but we didn't see any Confucius.


River and some Confucian statues.


What cha' lookin at?

The shrine also had a small museum, which was cute. They also had some terracotta warriors from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di, but it turned out they were replicas (I looked it up in my dictionary) which is good, because if they were real, they would have been displayed improperly.

After the shrine we went shopping around a bit in China town (not as big as the one in yokohama). We did find these giant fruit that were as big as our heads!!! We didn't buy one here (kinda expensive, 10 bucks!!!) but we bought it later. It turns out the peel is about an inch thick. It was very delicious, and tasted like a grapefruit-lemon-orange. YUM!


I have no idea what this fruit is called!

We also went to a so called "Dutch Slope" where less rich dutch people used to live. However, it was really just a slope.


Yep, that's just a slope.

By that time it was getting dark so we headed to Nagasaki station for dinner. We found this delicious Indian restaurant and River discovered his love of curry and nan. We loved this place so much, we went back the next day as well. :) After that, we returned to the hostel to rest up for our last day in Nagasaki.

Our last day was Easter...and we all know what that means...lent is over! I ate a Java Chip mocha and chocolate scone from starbucks....and I think I overloaded on the sugar a bit after not eating it for so long. yum.....

This day was a bit rainy, but we still had so much to see. Our first stop was the Kofukuji temple, which was quaint and pretty. Because of the rain, we had the whole place to ourselves.


Raining!

Our next stop, on this rainy depressing day was the even more depressing Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial museum. The place was really nicely laid out, and the exhibits were well done, with everything from recreations, film footage, and actual articles found after the explosion. While it was nice, it was not a happy place. Hand bones that they found melted into a rock, bloody clothes, horrifying pictures....very sad but very informative. Atomic Bombs are the WORST.


River at the museum with thousands of paper cranes in the background.

After the bomb museum we went to another little museum (folklore museum) which wasn't very interesting, but free. Our next stop was the epicenter of the bomb explosion, where they put a gigantic pillar. so sad!


Bomb epicenter.


The blue sign indicates the level of the ground before the bomb.

We then ventured further into the peace park where we met up with the Nagasaki peace statue, which was created for the 10 year anniversary of the bomb. The hand that points up indicates the threat of nuclear bombs and the downward hand calls for peace.


The peace statue and me.

At this point the rain let up a bit and we headed to another church, which had been blown up by the bomb and then rebuilt. It was not as interesting, as we really couldn't walk that far inside. What was really fun (and cheered us up a bit) we this cool playground where you could swing around on a rope really fast. Probably not allowed in the US for safety reasons, it was really fun. And, because of the rain, there were no kids to challenge.


River swinging around on the cool playground equipment.

Next, we headed to the site of some christian martyrs, killed by Hideyoshi for being christian. There really wasn't much to it, but from the hill it was on we saw this massive buddha statue. Not being on any of our guidebooks, we immediately went to investigate. It took us awhile to figure it out (even though it was huge), but it turned out to be this modern temple in the shape of Kannon standing on top of a turtle. Very cool, and a nice Canadian couple took a picture for us.


The Statue from the hill


At the temple thing. coooooll.

By then it was getting dark, so we decided to go see a movie at the station. We saw Vantage point, which we predictable but enjoyable. We at dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, and then returned to the hostel. The next day we checked out and headed to our next destination: Kumamoto. Stay tuned!!!