I arrived in Nagasaki on Sunday afternoon. When I was done with finding the Ryokan and checking in, it was too late to visit anything with regular opening hours. Instead, I decided to just take a stroll around the area. After a brief visit to the nearby shopping arcade, I ended up heading towards the seaside.
There, I found that the Nagasaki art museum has great opening hours - until 8pm - and that entry to about one third of the exhibition space is free. The exhibition in that part, titled "Under 40", covered the works of a couple of young Japanese artists. I found some of the artwork - and the techniques used - really fascinating.
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| This one, for example, used nylons to create the black effect on top of the painted image |
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| Streetcars are the main means of transportation in downtown Nagasaki |
Monday
In the morning, I visited the atomic bomb memorials. Just as I exited the peace park, it started to rain. It was still raining when I had finished lunch and checking my email at an Internet cafe. I almost gave up for the day, but then bought an umbrella and headed on to Oura catholic church, the eldest church in Japan. Right next to Oura church is Glover garden. This is a park containing several 19th century western houses. In the 19th century, the ports of Nagasaki were opened after centuries of being almost completely shut off from the rest of the world. I bet it's quite pretty if it's not pouring down.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I went to visit a number of temples in Nagasaki. Interestingly, many of the temples are lined up on the foot of a hill, and a HUGE Buddhist graveyard spans the entire area uphill behind the temples. Starting from the first temple, Sofuku-ji, I went up the stairs and wandered around the graveyard for a bit. When I started to look for a way back down, I promptly got lost in a couple of dead ends above one of the other temples. I ended up going down on exactly the same path as on my way up. I have no idea how I managed to find that path again :-)
Only two of the temples asked for an entry fee, and overall there were not many people around. In most of the temples, the atmosphere was therefore quite different compared with the crowded temples I visited in Kyoto - very tranquil and peaceful, much more like the atmosphere you would expect in a temple. Two of the temples had yet another atmosphere - they had a kindergarten in the temple grounds, and were therefore full of the lively sounds of children playing.
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| The main hall of Shofuku-ji temple |
Finally, I visited Dejima museum. Dejima was the name of the earliest Dutch settlement in Nagasaki. It was located on a fan-shaped artificial island, basically the Dutch ghetto in Nagasaki. Again - most of it is not very impressive if you are used to Western-style buildings and interiors. One aspect, however, was very interesting: the combination of Japanese-style rooms with tatami mats on the floor and Western furniture.
Wednesday
In the morning, I went to visit the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture. As the name indicates, they exhibit stuff concerning Nagasaki's history and culture (surprise, surprise). As a harbor town - and as Japan's only open port for many years - exhibits focus on trade and trade partners, mainly the Netherlands, Korea and China. They have free English audioguides, so I spent quite a long time in there listening to all the explanations.
After that, I headed to Mt. Inasa where a ropeway leads up to a lookout with a grand view over Nagasaki. Unfortunately, the observation platform was undergoing renovations, so the only lookout available was the staircase leading up to the platform. It was also pretty cold and, above all, windy, so I didn't stay up there for a long time - just enough to shoot a couple of quick pictures of the view.
