Adventures in Asia: Nagasaki, Japan

We woke up today alongside in cloudy Nagasaki, Japan.

The Nagasaki cruise terminal is in town, and within walking distance of attractions and public transit.

It is the first time on this trip that the ship has been able to dock in the actual city we were visiting instead of a port elsewhere.  So, we were able to tour on our own again as we had done in Taipei.  

We disembarked and there was a slight drizzle, but it stopped raining quickly and just stayed grey for the rest of the morning.  The Japanese immigration people were super efficient and we literally did not have to wait at all.  We needed cash first thing, and that proved harder than we thought it would be.  The cruise terminal has only one ATM, so of course there was a big queue for that.  I knew there was a bank by the street car stop that was a little walk away, so I told Andrea I thought we should just walk there and get cash at the ATM at the bank.   

Unfortunately, that ATM--and then all the others we found--only accepted Japanese cards, so we went walking for awhile.

Despite the unexpected challenge, we enjoyed our walk through the largely deserted streets.

Eventually we found a department store that had several ATMs, one of which accepted my MasterCard and issued us yen.

Now we were able to catch a street car.

We took it north to the spot where the atomic bomb was dropped during World War II.   The grey and wet morning sort of fit the sombre mood of the place.

We first visited the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, an underground space dedicated to the victims of the atomic bombing.  The hall itself is below a beautiful water feature, and no pictures were allowed inside.  It is a large space, mostly empty, with tall walls and a high ceiling, and pillars going right outside and into the water feature.  The only other significant item in the hall is a case in which books are held which have the names of all those who died (~140,000) as a result of the bombing.  The hall surprised me with its austerity and sombreness.  I would describe it as almost brutalist architecture rather than, say, serene or beautiful.  It was, nonetheless, for me an emotional space, particularly when I was alone in it.

From there we walked over to the Atomic Bomb Museum, which exhibits artifacts from the aftermath of the bombing, provides some of the history of the atomic bomb and the bombing of Nagasaki in particular, and contains a gallery about the history of nuclear weaponry since Nagasaki.  It was very interesting, and also powerful in its own way.  

This is a remnant of the Urakami Cathedral, a Catholic church that was destroyed by the bomb.

From the museum we walked out into a light drizzle and descended into the Peace Memorial Park.  The Peace Memorial Park's tone was much more in line with my expectations.  It was serene, and peaceful, although there were tourists all over.  

This is the exact spot the bomb fell ("hypocentre"):

This is another remnant of the Urakami Cathedral:

The newly built Urakami Cathedral, much smaller than the original, can be seen through the trees from the Peace Park.

The major monument in the park is a large blue statue known as the Peace Statue.

In some ways none of these atomic bomb-related sites were especially memorable individually, but collectively they were quite profound.

Prior to arriving in Nagasaki I had noticed that the baseball stadium was nearby the park, so from the park we walked across the street car tracks and to the stadium.

We got really lucky, because not only did we get to see the baseball stadium from the outside, but there was an open gate into the stadium.  

We walked in and were able to watch a team's fielding practice.  I was pretty tickled with this.

It was now after 12:00, so we caught the street car again outside the stadium back towards the harbour.  Although Nagasaki was the least-English speaking place we have visited all trip so far, I was really impressed with how friendly people were, especially on the street car.  At one point Andrea and I stood up for some older ladies, and they were very happy and said all sorts of things in Japanese and smiled and smiled and then finally one lady said "thank you," looking very proud of herself.  I gave her a big smile.  

Back closer to the harbour we found a restaurant serving soba noodles and tempura and ate lunch there.  

It was a great experience and very tasty, but I left with one regret: we did not try the sake! 

Our tempura lunch inspired me to do some research, and I learned that tempura was actually introduced to Japan by the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit Nagasaki.  This led to more interesting facts: Nagasaki has a unique history of relationship with Europeans, because most of Japan was closed to outsiders for two centuries, and Nagasaki was the one place open to trade, although only the Dutch (for some reason) were allowed in (and the Chinese, but of course they aren't European).  Despite the long and relatively close association with the Dutch, Nagasaki is also unique in that it has historically had a large Catholic population (which is one of the reasons the Japanese expected it to be relatively safe from American bombing during World War II), and as my pictures above showed, one of the most important buildings destroyed by the atomic bomb was the Urakami Cathedral, which had only been completed twenty years prior.  While the Urakami Cathedral was rebuilt, it is nowhere near as impressive as it was originally, and today the largest church in Nagasaki is Oura Catholic Church, built by the French in the 1860s after Nagasaki was opened up to Europeans other than the Dutch, although this church was built to cater to westerners, not locals.  The Oura Catholic Church was just visible from the cruise ship as we sailed away.

In any case, I digress.  After lunch we strolled along a little creek called the Edomachi Dori, which has little old stone bridges nearly every block.  The most famous bridge is the Megane, or "Spectacles," Bridge.  The "spectacles" name comes from the fact that the two arches along with their reflections in the water look like spectacles. 

We enjoyed walking along the creek and watching the koi and turtles in the water.  There are stepping stones in places, allowing you to hop across the creek, and it actually is a neat little part of Nagasaki. 

From the creek we walked into Nagasaki's most famous shopping district, which includes a covered shopping street called Hamano-machi, which has shop after shop selling almost literally everything you can imagine.

We stopped to have coffee and donuts at a place here called "Mister Donut." 

From the donut shop we caught a street car back to the cruise terminal.  

As we sailed away, a junior high school band sent us off, which was a really fun experience.  Their parents stood above them on the roof/lawn on top of the terminal while the kids played down below.  It must have been pretty neat for them to hear the passengers out on deck applauding them as we sailed away.

It took about an hour to get out of the harbour and into the sea, and we passed some interesting spots.

Once out of the harbour we sailed under the Megami Bridge, Nagasaki's largest bridge; there were a handful of serious-looking photographers set up on the bridge, taking our picture as we sailed under.

Then there was the Mitsubishi shipyards, including the yard where Sapphire Princess was built.  There's another cruise ship being built there now (but too far away to get a picture with my phone).

Finally there was a little village that was dominated by a white church, with a statue of Mary out on the rocks.

Once past that we quickly left Japan behind.  We were off towards South Korea.