Road Trip! (Nagasaki Weekender)
On Friday, I finally got the adapter I needed to install my iPod. However, I only partially installed it and was not able to use it until I got home Sunday night. It was actually pretty funny because I began to install it while I was at work in the library and my office kept on sending spies to check on me. They kept on asking me if I was seeing a movie. Seriously, what kind of employee do they think I am? In any case, let me tell you about the events of this weekend’s road trip.
Both Kaz and I arrived at Cristina’s house at exactly 5:00 PM. I quickly packed and we were on our way to the airport where we would pick up Alex who was taking a bus there from the City so that neither he nor we would have to go out of the way. Our journey was slow at first because it was raining so hard. Alex ended up getting there maybe 10 minutes before us. Then, we accidentally went toward Kagoshima City (where Alex came from) – the opposite way we wanted to go. I don’t want to point any fingers, but it was Kaz’s fault. Finally at around 8:00 PM we were on our way fully stocked with junk food in Cristina’s borrowed car. I have not even mentioned the car that Cristina had borrowed for this road trip. She took her car for a check up, and her mechanic said that she should take his brand new huge peach car on the road trip (for absolutely no money) because it was safer and more comfortable. Cristina had a love affair with this car. Lord help you if you come between it and her.
We arrived to Nagasaki in good spirits a bit after midnight. We stayed in a ryokan, which is a Japanese inn where you get a Japanese tatami room with a couple of very comfortable futons and yakata (Japanese cotton robes). It was simple and nice. It had a public bath/onsen-type place too which was cool.
On Saturday, we woke up and had ourselves a long walk all the way up to the A-Bomb Peace Memorial. It was a very solemn building that really did make you feel at peace. People here (as with every other place) were extremely nice and actually guided us personally through the memorial. You would be amazed at how modern it is compared to the other stuff I have seen in Japan. It basically comprised of clean lines of concrete, wood, glass and black marble involving a artistic use of light and water. It is really difficult to put in words. At the end of the memorial, they have a couple of computer centers with archives of the survivors’ stories. It is very scary, touching and moving all at the same time. I really wish I could buy some kind of DVD or computer program that I could donate to some of my former schools because I think it is something that is very tastefully done and that every person should hear and see.
After the memorial, we went to the museum that was also very well done. I think that the museum really succeeded in informing the public about the effect of the Atomic bomb on Nagasaki and on the world. I could sit here and type everything I saw, and tell you how the city was destroyed within the first 3 seconds of impact killing over 70,000 people instantly and another 70,000 people as a result and still be leaving out what a truly horrible war crime it was.
Once we left the museum, we walked a bit and stumbled across the Peace Park that was opened 10 years after the A-Bomb was dropped. We were all not as impressed by the park as we thought we would be, but then again we figured that’s why they made the Memorial. The Peace Park’s main focus is a 10-meter tall green statue of an overly muscular man with one hand pointing to the sky in threat of nuclear warfare, and one hand extended toward the horizon representing the need for peace. The park also included a water fountain and statues donated from countries all over the world. Both memorials to the victims of this crime include water because after the bomb hit, it left Nagasaki at 3,000 degrees Celsius instantly vaporizing lots of the victims’ internal fluid and leaving all of the survivors’ in need of water.
After the Peace Park, we went to a temple shaped like a giant turtle with a woman standing on top of it. Didn’t quite get it, I hope you see why. However, I think I found it more interesting than the others. Primarily because of its randomness.
After the “Turtle Temple,” we went to a monument that was dedicated to 26 Catholic martyrs of Japan that were canonized saints by Pope Pius something. A nearby building that looked like a church is what drew our attention because its spires looked Gaudi-esque.
Evening came and we stumbled into China Town. This was the last weekend of Nagasaki’s famous Chinese Lantern festival where the streets of China Town are crowded with people and extremely beautiful lanterns. The ones hanging over the streets are usually the red oval ones we are all use to seeing in movies. Then, at certain centers there were these amazing and huge lanterns shaped like animals or gods. It was truly a sight to see. I am very glad we got to experience Nagasaki’s China Town during this time. Hopefully, you get a better idea of what I mean by the pictures I will post. There was also a temple filled with freshly severed pig heads with a bone (or something) sticking out of their foreheads.
After enjoying the exotic lights of the lantern festival, we headed back to the ryokan for an onsen (bath) to get ready for dinner. We were not able to find the restaurants we were looking for, but we stumbled across this small Indian restaurant with amazing curry and nan. I had the Chicken Bharta. After dinner, we headed back for the ryokan with a bottle of wine to sip before bed.
Sunday morning we got off to a later start. We started off by checking out of the hotel and heading over to a Starbucks. (Surely you didn’t think that we were going to leave Nagasaki without visiting one?) We had a pleasant breakfast and then went across the bay to a look out point on a mountain we had to take a cable car to reach. I figured if there was a time to be attacked by King Kong or Godzilla, now would be it. We reached the summit safely, and got a good eagle-eye view of this huge city.
After the lookout, we went to the oldest building in Nagasaki which happens to be this temple that was built in China, then disassembled and brought to Japan in the 1600s. It was of course very interesting and beautiful to see. It was also somewhat different from the Japanese temples I have visited before.
Then, instead of going to more temples (like we planned), we felt that it would be more fun to go to the city aquarium famous for its penguins. It was a really neat aquarium. They are not like the ones in the States with shows and stuff. They are just observation tanks. They had some great specimens though. We also got to touch some penguins. It was a really goofy time.
We then left Nagasaki via expressway again. We got near the airport where we went to this all-you-can-eat buffet place where you can grill your own vegetables and meat at your table. We also got to pour our own soft-serve ice cream, get cotton candy and popcorn and I can’t remember what else. Our trip ended at exactly midnight upon arriving back at Cristina’s house.
This was a great trip. I usually get tired of a certain type of sight when I go sightseeing, but I think that we got a healthy dose of various things that made this trip really fun. It was a very good balance. I really wish I could go into more detail about certain things, but chances are you are just going to skip through it anyway. If you have any questions about a particular aspect of the trip, let me know. Happy Monday!
Both Kaz and I arrived at Cristina’s house at exactly 5:00 PM. I quickly packed and we were on our way to the airport where we would pick up Alex who was taking a bus there from the City so that neither he nor we would have to go out of the way. Our journey was slow at first because it was raining so hard. Alex ended up getting there maybe 10 minutes before us. Then, we accidentally went toward Kagoshima City (where Alex came from) – the opposite way we wanted to go. I don’t want to point any fingers, but it was Kaz’s fault. Finally at around 8:00 PM we were on our way fully stocked with junk food in Cristina’s borrowed car. I have not even mentioned the car that Cristina had borrowed for this road trip. She took her car for a check up, and her mechanic said that she should take his brand new huge peach car on the road trip (for absolutely no money) because it was safer and more comfortable. Cristina had a love affair with this car. Lord help you if you come between it and her.
We arrived to Nagasaki in good spirits a bit after midnight. We stayed in a ryokan, which is a Japanese inn where you get a Japanese tatami room with a couple of very comfortable futons and yakata (Japanese cotton robes). It was simple and nice. It had a public bath/onsen-type place too which was cool.
On Saturday, we woke up and had ourselves a long walk all the way up to the A-Bomb Peace Memorial. It was a very solemn building that really did make you feel at peace. People here (as with every other place) were extremely nice and actually guided us personally through the memorial. You would be amazed at how modern it is compared to the other stuff I have seen in Japan. It basically comprised of clean lines of concrete, wood, glass and black marble involving a artistic use of light and water. It is really difficult to put in words. At the end of the memorial, they have a couple of computer centers with archives of the survivors’ stories. It is very scary, touching and moving all at the same time. I really wish I could buy some kind of DVD or computer program that I could donate to some of my former schools because I think it is something that is very tastefully done and that every person should hear and see.
After the memorial, we went to the museum that was also very well done. I think that the museum really succeeded in informing the public about the effect of the Atomic bomb on Nagasaki and on the world. I could sit here and type everything I saw, and tell you how the city was destroyed within the first 3 seconds of impact killing over 70,000 people instantly and another 70,000 people as a result and still be leaving out what a truly horrible war crime it was.
Once we left the museum, we walked a bit and stumbled across the Peace Park that was opened 10 years after the A-Bomb was dropped. We were all not as impressed by the park as we thought we would be, but then again we figured that’s why they made the Memorial. The Peace Park’s main focus is a 10-meter tall green statue of an overly muscular man with one hand pointing to the sky in threat of nuclear warfare, and one hand extended toward the horizon representing the need for peace. The park also included a water fountain and statues donated from countries all over the world. Both memorials to the victims of this crime include water because after the bomb hit, it left Nagasaki at 3,000 degrees Celsius instantly vaporizing lots of the victims’ internal fluid and leaving all of the survivors’ in need of water.
After the Peace Park, we went to a temple shaped like a giant turtle with a woman standing on top of it. Didn’t quite get it, I hope you see why. However, I think I found it more interesting than the others. Primarily because of its randomness.
After the “Turtle Temple,” we went to a monument that was dedicated to 26 Catholic martyrs of Japan that were canonized saints by Pope Pius something. A nearby building that looked like a church is what drew our attention because its spires looked Gaudi-esque.
Evening came and we stumbled into China Town. This was the last weekend of Nagasaki’s famous Chinese Lantern festival where the streets of China Town are crowded with people and extremely beautiful lanterns. The ones hanging over the streets are usually the red oval ones we are all use to seeing in movies. Then, at certain centers there were these amazing and huge lanterns shaped like animals or gods. It was truly a sight to see. I am very glad we got to experience Nagasaki’s China Town during this time. Hopefully, you get a better idea of what I mean by the pictures I will post. There was also a temple filled with freshly severed pig heads with a bone (or something) sticking out of their foreheads.
After enjoying the exotic lights of the lantern festival, we headed back to the ryokan for an onsen (bath) to get ready for dinner. We were not able to find the restaurants we were looking for, but we stumbled across this small Indian restaurant with amazing curry and nan. I had the Chicken Bharta. After dinner, we headed back for the ryokan with a bottle of wine to sip before bed.
Sunday morning we got off to a later start. We started off by checking out of the hotel and heading over to a Starbucks. (Surely you didn’t think that we were going to leave Nagasaki without visiting one?) We had a pleasant breakfast and then went across the bay to a look out point on a mountain we had to take a cable car to reach. I figured if there was a time to be attacked by King Kong or Godzilla, now would be it. We reached the summit safely, and got a good eagle-eye view of this huge city.
After the lookout, we went to the oldest building in Nagasaki which happens to be this temple that was built in China, then disassembled and brought to Japan in the 1600s. It was of course very interesting and beautiful to see. It was also somewhat different from the Japanese temples I have visited before.
Then, instead of going to more temples (like we planned), we felt that it would be more fun to go to the city aquarium famous for its penguins. It was a really neat aquarium. They are not like the ones in the States with shows and stuff. They are just observation tanks. They had some great specimens though. We also got to touch some penguins. It was a really goofy time.
We then left Nagasaki via expressway again. We got near the airport where we went to this all-you-can-eat buffet place where you can grill your own vegetables and meat at your table. We also got to pour our own soft-serve ice cream, get cotton candy and popcorn and I can’t remember what else. Our trip ended at exactly midnight upon arriving back at Cristina’s house.
This was a great trip. I usually get tired of a certain type of sight when I go sightseeing, but I think that we got a healthy dose of various things that made this trip really fun. It was a very good balance. I really wish I could go into more detail about certain things, but chances are you are just going to skip through it anyway. If you have any questions about a particular aspect of the trip, let me know. Happy Monday!
posted by Jesse Montano at
10:29 AM
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