Nagasaki - Girls' Trip!

It’s been almost a year since I’ve arrived in Japan, and I can’t believe that it’s already time for a new group of JETs to start their careers here. It’s been such an exciting time getting things ready for the new ALTs, but it’s also been incredibly sad to say goodbye to some of the amazing friends that I’ve made.

Throughout the year, I’ve stayed close with Rebecca, Becky and Rachel. The friends I am so lucky to have made right at the beginning of my time here. It has been fantastic getting to know them, and I don’t even want to think about where I would be if I hadn’t met them. But sadly, only three of us will be staying in Japan for another year.

So, for that reason (and partially the fact that three of us have birthdays around the same time) we decided to take a final girls' trip to Nagasaki!

Getting There

When deciding what we wanted to do in Nagasaki, we came to the agreement that while we want to spend some time in Nagasaki City, we also wanted to explore other parts of the prefecture. Since this was only a weekend trip, there was only so much that we could fit into it, so we decided that it would be best to drive there instead of taking the train.

Once we had planned on a weekend, we all agreed to meet on the Friday night, then drive to Nagasaki City on Saturday morning. Since it’s about a three-hour drive from where we were, we decided to leave at eight. This gave us plenty of time to ready ourselves with little time wasted because most stores and tourist attractions don’t usually open before ten, or even ten-thirty sometimes.

We set off with a bag of snacks and got ready for three hours of conversation (and maybe a touch of gossip).

Chinatown and Meganebashi

Since we had a few hours until we were to check in our Airbnb, we parked the car and walked around a somewhat central part of the city.

Close by, there was a Chinatown. It was relatively small, only about one main street with a few side alleys, but it was such a nice start to the day. We walked down it, taking in all the little stores and food stands. It was about lunchtime now, so there were many lines forming outside the restaurants. I kind of wish that we had stayed for a meal since all the food smelled so delicious, but it was clear that we wouldn’t get anywhere without a reservation.

Instead, we continued to walk down the Nakashima River that flows through the city. The scenery was beautiful. Nagasaki City is kind of built in a valley with many mountains surrounding it, so the slopes of the city offer a gorgeous view…even if you’re walking under the blistering sun in 40-degree heat.

The main aim of walking down the river was to find the Meganebashi (Spectacles Bridge). This is one of the oldest stone arched bridges in Japan, having been built in 1634. The bridge became known as the Megane (glasses/spectacles) Bashi (bridge) because of how the arches reflect in the water below, giving the look of glasses.

Suwa Shrine

After the visit to Meganebashi, we made our way to Suwa Shrine. (Fair warning, my Religious Studies background is about to geek out a bit.)

With Nagasaki’s extremely hill-y landscape, there are a lot of up-and-down roads on our walk…but Suwa Shrine was just up. It’s built on top of a large hill, and we stared up at the 277 stairs, somewhat second-guessing our decision. It felt like I was about to approach some wise, ancient being, and I could definitely understand why the shrine was relocated higher up the mountain (not once, but twice) to impress the foreign traders with Japanese culture. Nevertheless, with the forty-degree sun on our back and a sixty-degree incline to our front, we staggered on up (often breaking in the shade).

To this day, Suwa Shrine is a symbol of Japanese community, belonging, and resilience. At the time of its construction in 1614, Nagasaki was the only open port city in Japan. This meant lots of foreign trade which led to an increase of Christian influence. It wasn’t long before Nagasaki had the largest Christian following in Japan. To combat the spread of a non-Japanese religion, Suwa Shrine was formed to provide a sense of support grounded in Shinto, a Japanese religion.

Through this, the shrine became a tool of civil religion. Residents were expected to register themselves there and attend all celebrations in an effort for authorities to distinguish Christians, who were not permitted to involve themselves in these acts through their faith. The shrine is a great symbol of the close ties between Japanese religion, culture and tradition, and it has held this connotation for centuries.

For example, an interesting display of the shrine as an important visual of how strong the pure Japanese ideal was, is the atomic bomb dropping in 1945. The bomb destroyed the famous Urakami Cathedral along with many Christian-dominated neighbourhoods around it. However, Suwa Shrine remained unharmed. To many people, this was a clear sign that Japanese gods and traditions held firm power while the ‘outside Christian god’ had none.

And with that, I’ll quiet the nerdy parts of myself!

The view from the shrine was breathtaking. It overlooked most of the city, and you could perfectly see the street we had just been walking through. All in all, it felt pretty incredible standing in a place of such immense history that paved the way for much of Japanese culture and ideologies that have lasted until the present day.

Peace Park and Lunch

We made our way towards Peace Park once we finished at the shrine. By now, it was the middle of the day, and the sun was blasting us. Although the park was beautiful, we – especially me – were all feeling the effects of the heat. We cut our park sightseeing short to find a place to have lunch and wait out the few hours of intense UV rays.

The café that we went to is called Takeraya. It’s a cute, small café basically right beside Peace Park. It specialized in tea, and although I can’t remember exactly how many options they had, the list of different teas filled up an entire page (front and back). We ordered off their lunch menu and the food was absolutely delicious. Although we didn’t get dessert, we saw multiple tables get massive, decorated plates of kakigori (shaved ice), cake, and sweets, and they also looked amazing.

At the end of our meal, the owner of the café came over to us. We had a little chat as he asked us about where we were from and what we were doing in Nagasaki. Then, he asked if we were interested in Japanese history and brought out two kaiken.

Kaiken are daggers that were carried by samurai men and women. Usually, the kaiken had a single-edged blade that was about eight to ten inches long. Kaiken were primarily used by women for self defense practices, and it was often tradition for the woman’s husband to gift her a kaiken once they got married. Men used the kaiken for self defense, too, but it was also more common for men to use the kaiken to commit suicide to restore their honour in the case that it had been tarnished.

We all stared at the daggers that sat on the table. The owner explained to us what they were used for, which size was typically carried by men or women, how old they were, and how much money the knives were worth…it was a lot. He let us hold them by the handle, making sure that we understood just how sharp the blades were and how much damage they could do with a very little cut (I’m sure that he also just didn’t want our blood staining anything around us, which I respect). Another factor could have also been that it costs more that ¥100, 000 (around CAD1000) to sharpen the blades…but I’m gonna stick to him being worried about us.

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

Once everyone had regained a bit of energy and had cooled off after lunch, we went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.

On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki City, only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. Initially, the target of the second atomic bomb was the city, Kokura, which is now the central part of Kitakyushu city. Kokura at the time had a large weapons manufacturing site which, through its destruction, would have massively benefitted the Allies. However, on that day, it was cloudy over Kokura. This influenced the United States to deploy the bomb over Nagasaki City instead, destroying one of Japan’s biggest open ports.

The atomic bomb wiped out most of the city at 11:02AM. Over 70, 000 people were killed either instantly or later succumbing to their injuries. It was a devastating time that has left a lasting global impact.

Nagasaki’s Atomic Bomb Museum gives an authentic look into both the prelude and aftermath of the bomb. It was created in 1996, located in the heart of Nagasaki City, right by Peace Park and only a few minutes’ walk from the atomic bomb hypocenter. They offer resources in both Japanese and English, and much of the items’ descriptions are also translated to English.

The museum recounts the event by sharing and analyzing the acts that occurred before and after the bomb dropped to give the full story of how this even came to be. Although the exhibits pull information from other points of World War II, the main emphasis is on the bomb attack. It doesn’t stretch much further beyond that topic. In saying so, I think it’s important to understand the museum’s purpose: to spread the message of what happened with the atomic bomb. Already beginning with the name of the museum, it is not there to provide an exceptionally detailed account of the entirety of the war.

The entire experience was quiet and haunting. I’m not exactly a history buff, so much of my knowledge comes from what I’ve studied throughout my education and pieces of information that I’ve picked up by interacting in Japan-related events. It was interesting to see the perspective of the museum, mainly the emphasis on twentieth century physicists who spoke against the attacks, and now the firm stance on creating global peace.

Personally, the part of the museum that stood out most to me, was the last few feet before the end. Here were testimonies of people who had survived the bomb. There were heart wrenching photos, poems and statements full of grief, confusion and mourning. Within these testimonies, there was an excerpt of a poem which discusses a man’s losses due to the bomb, and the final lines read:

“Arousing myself from the summer grass

I stoke the fire

cremating my wife.

The words of surrender

mingle with the flames

of my wife’s funeral pyre.”

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the exact details of the poem, and I believe that it has only been published in a collection of testimonies collected from victims. The rest of the poem discusses how the man returned home after the atomic bombing to find all three of this children had died and his wife was injured. It shares how he cremated his children, and finally it explains the death of his wife.

These last lines embody the feeling of having no absolute control over your life, and I immediately felt the anger and loss laced in the words. I have always been someone who easily empathizes with these types of writings, and though I may not have left the museum in tears, it was a weight on my chest.

Inasayama Ropeway

Saturday evening, around sunset, we went to the Inasayama Ropeway, which is a gondola that travels up a mountain overlooking Nagasaki City.

Although you can drive all the way up to the sightseeing deck, we opted to take the gondola for about ¥1,250. The cable car had full windows where you could see entirely around you. To get to the top of the mountain, it’s only about a five-minute ride, but I definitely think it’s worth the experience. You get a really nice view of the city, as well as the small neighbourhood creeping up the mountain side.

At the peak, you’re escorted off the gondola and towards a path that leads you to the look-out deck. You could overlook the city, the ocean, and all the islands that stretch along Nagasaki’s coast. All in all, we spent about an hour up there enjoying the atmosphere. Sunset is a really beautiful time to go, but I would like to see if there’s much of a night view if you were to go after sunset.

By the end of our time at the top of the mountain, we were all tired, hot, and just really wanting to shower. So we returned to our Airbnb to clean ourselves up before an izakaya dinner.

Sunday

While Saturday was packed with sightseeing and exploring, Sunday was a much less busy and emotionally heavy day. We took our time packing up our things and set off to visit a good ol’ friend – Kasey!

We met with Kasey and Matt (the same people I toured Kyoto with) at the beach in their town. The beach was absolutely beautiful! It was kind of tucked into a long cove where the water was crystal clear. Luckily, Kasey had prepared more than we had, brining a little canopy along with snacks and drinks. I honestly don’t think that we would have stayed at the beach for so long if she hadn’t saved us from the scorching sun.

After about two hours at the beach, we packed up our things, quickly showered and cleaned up, and then headed for an early dinner together. By five o’clock, we started the three-hour drive back to Oita.

I got home incredibly later, finished up some chores, and immediately got into my bed. I was utterly exhausted, but the weekend had really been amazing.

Overview

The trip was probably one of my favourite adventures in Japan to this date. I absolutely fell in love with Nagasaki. Just the way that the city feels had me yearning to go there again. I would immediately recommend it to anyone interested in Japanese and world history. It’s a wonderful place to learn and see sights that you’ve only really seen through history books.

Even in our short stay, we were able to reach many destinations, and we were able to get a bit farther out of Nagasaki City by visiting Kasey and Matt. The only things I would really change is the timing of our trip; first, to spend more time in Nagasaki rather than just 2 days, and since we went in the middle of summer so we were constantly hot and sweaty.

Other than that, like I said, I loved Nagasaki and I would absolutely go again!