Nagasaki
I left Fukuoka and headed to Nagasaki, no shinkhansen on this route, just a normal train this time unfortunately. Nothing wrong with it, but just doesn’t go nearly as fast… Nagasaki was one of Japans original trading points with the West, mainly the Dutch apparently, so it’s an international city to today. You wouldn’t know that an atomic bomb was dropped here by looking around.
After spending a good 45 min walking in circles trying to find the hotel due to faulty directions in the guidebook (thanks a lot LP!), I resorted to asking a random person on the street. She confirmed that I was on the correct street, and then when I told her the name of the hotel, she looked unsure, stopped someone else walking down the street and asked him, then they both start looking up and down the street reading the signs until he spots it. Then, she proceeds to walk me to the door, not just point it out, and goes inside and gets the hotel keeper! All that just to be nice! I cannot get over the people here.
Once the hotel was sorted out, I headed off to where the bomb exploded and the museum/peace park in the area. You would really never have a clue by walking down the street that anything happened here, you walk into what just looks like a small park, there’s a black monolith in the middle of it with a plaque dedicated to the victims of the atomic attack here. The museum is partially about the bomb here, and what happens after an A-bomb goes off, and partially about the history of nuclear weapons etc. Not an exciting part of the trip but a necessary one just the same.
Then I wandered down to what used to be the main port used when the Dutch traded here, found a cafe that had guys with guitars out front. I ate there, while listening to this guy warming up on his acoustic guitar playing Jimi Hendrix, while the sun was setting in the background over the bay, very nice.
Tags: Japan, Travel
Adam
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