From Hanko to Tokyo Redux: Quiet day at the Nagasaki

Today was day I would be going to main target of the Nagasaki for me. Atomic bomb museum, peace garden and so on As a result this proved to be rather mournful day for me and had me seriously fight of tears at couple times. One of the saddest days for me in Japan only rivalled by Hiroshima(for the same reason).

Before heading to a-bomb site there was one Kofuku temple near my hotel which I figured I would go to see. Oldest temple in Nagasaki opened at 1620.

I wonder what tree that is?

Early in morning so place was quiet still.

Headed toward streetcar stop by slight detour and found this little statue.

And here apologies for yesterdays misinformation. THAT is spectacles bridge. And why it's important? First stone based arched bridge in Japan! Nagasaki also boasts first paved street that I saw yesterday.

For breakfast I had onigiri, melon bread, above rice covered in egg wrapping and some fruit drink. Odd looking with pink colour but good.

Ads for christmas cakes up already. Popular in Japan to eat cake on christmas. Just like we eat at birthdays :D Well each to his own! Japans have habit of taking what they like from other cultures and giving it their own spin. Habit that started way in history with elements of Chinese culture.

Park nearby the hotel.

I stopped at the Nagasaki tourist information and bought myself day ticket for streetcars. 500 yen, unlimited travels for that day. With one trip taking 120 yen 5 trips gives you savings.

Nearby was another famous spot so I headed there on foot next.

This was where in early 1600 century 26 christians, 6 foreigners and 20 japanese, were executed when Japan banned christianity. Likely got too offended by christian insistance of trying to stamp out original religions. Japanese might have been willing to adopt christianity if it wouldn't have meant having to get rid of original religions. Anyway christianity was driven into secrecy quite mercilessly and wasn't before Perry forced Japan to open up that christians came out into public again.

There was some restoration work going on so couldn't take photo of every statue.

One of more ruthless moments of Japan but before condemning one has to keep in mind that Catholic church is hardly innocent itself...Around same time it was mercilessly hunting down witches killing in the end by some estimation over million womens alone as heretics and witches...Bloody age to live regardless of where you look.

Rest in Piece.

After bomb had exploded thousands injured died begging for water. For their memory this peace fountain stands.

Yeah I wasn't feeling particularly happy. Extreme sadness instead. This city was place of one big horrible crime and when you consider how USELESS it was it makes your blood really boil.

This is the peace park,

This statue was called "Joy of Life". Checkoslavia(spelling error 100% sure!) contribution(lots of statues by different countries here) for the "World peace symbol zone".

This is the peace statue. Raised right hand symbolizes threat of the nuclear weapons. Left hand represents eternal piece and his eyes are closed in prayer for peace for victims of the tragedy.

That's a quite a big statue!

This one was called protection of our future. Nagasaki's sister city in Nederlands gave this one. Mother protecting her children reminding that not only we have to protect current generation but also the one coming after us.

Then I headed toward the hypocenter(ie where bomb went off(though couple hundred meters up).

Place was filled with schoolkids(add one more type of school uniforms! This time all green colours. Boys and girls had fairly similar except rather than short skirts boys had short trousers instead) so getting photos without n+1 school kids was bit of a trouble.

I'm not quite sure but I think this is the mark for hypocenter.

Over there is little bit of original ground level before the bomb maintained. After bomb ground was covered with ruins and pieces and what not.

That's the actual ground that was left after the blast. Mirror between makes it bit hard to photograph though.

50 year anniversary statue. Child represents Japan after the bomb while mother represents other countries that helped Japan rebuild itself to the peaceful nation it is now.

Sculpture representing horrors of the explosion.

After this I went to the museum which took a lot of time to go through(especially as I was taking photos like maniac!). This wasn't that close of the center and yet was twisted badly by the blast.

Thousand crane string. I read once sad story of a little girl who suffered from radiation sickness after surviving atomic explosion. In pains she gathered every little bit of paper she could find(expensive at that time so she had to do with quite bad ones as well) making one by one cranes to complete the 1000 cranes. This way she believed(according to Japanese folk lore) she would get one wish completed(likely her wish was cure from sickness). She did manage to complete though did die(it's just a folk lore after all). She became face of horrors of the bombs in America when her story became public.

Just seeing those cranes on wall brought the story to my mind and nearly made me burst in tears right there on the spot.

More horrors.

These were from Urakami cathedral(more about that later).

There was video(subtitles in english available in screens) how explosion happened with light effects showing extent of explosion.

11:02 was when bomb exploded.

One more victim.

And another.

One survivor. Still effect clearly seen.

Another survivor. AFTER some skin transplants...

Model of the bomb(though original was yellow+black).

That shadow on right is actually shadow of look out imprinted to the wall when bomb went off.

Girl on right lost her hair due to the bomb effects.

Mother and daughter holding rice balls waiting.

Father and son.

Poor little baby didn't have strength to suck anymore and died some days after this photo :(

Most of the casualties in the Nagasaki explosion were by the way women, children and elderly. Well over half were made up of above groups.

Christ looking these makes you angry at what humanity can do to itself.

Takashi Nagai, Another whose story I had read before. Specializing in radiation field in medicine he caught leukemia due to using lots of then bad tools in his quest for improving meditical science. His wife died on the blast but he kept helping injured until his own injuries made him collapse. He kept working as long as he could and even allowed his own body be used for experiments. Eventually he got forced to bed due to health that kept getting worse but wrote many books for medical science before finally dying(beating doctors 3 year life expectancy despite bomb in between!) leaving 2 children behind him.

Some sculptures representing horrors of Nagasaki.

That pretty much sums how USELESS the bombs were in the first place. Japan had already tried to start peace talks. Japan was defeated. USA wouldn't even have to invade Japan which would have to surrender anyway. But the bombs had been so expensive America wanted to use them anyway and also to score points against Soviet Union as they knew they would have problems vs them. You could even say Soviet Union was real target for the bomb with Japan acting as proxy(dropping them to Soviet Union wasn't obviously feasible since at least on the surface they were allies. And America wasn't likely sure they could even beat Soviet Union if it came to armed conflict with them right off the bat).

Obviously I can't say for sure since I wasn't doing decisions but I have suspicion real reason for using them was to show their power to soviet union to make them not attack America after sorting Germany.

Current situation of nucear weapons. Way too much red.

With this sad tour I next headed to Urakami cathedral. After Christianity was allowed to be public again Christians started to build this which became known as largest Roman style church in Asia. After bomb blew out original one it was rebuilt again.

Original bell tower from the blast.

Damaged from the blast.

I guess these are some sort of peace symbols as they were everywhere.

No photographing allowed inside as expected.

Continuing onward I went to Takashi Nagai memorial place.

Him in the end.

By now I was hungry again and feeling like I'll collapse soon if I don't get something food. Was considering going to chinatown but decided to go for one place in between and maybe find some food there as well.

Success! Not quite sure what they were but I ordered too much! Price was so little I thought each set would be smaller so ordered 4 sets. Urgh. That was lots of meat to eat. Was bursting leaving the restaurant :D

This was next target. One legged torii gate. Other half of it having been blown off by the bomb. Somehow one stood up. Obviously it's been supported to ensure it doesn't collapse now.

There. Next point of stop was either Suwa shrine or Sofukuji temple. Went to station and climbed to first streetcar. Didn't care which one as one takes to other, other takes to second and I can get from one to other by street car straight up so it really doesn't matter which I first pick. Seems out I ended to Sofukuji temple.

On my way to station however I got bit of lost and ended up walking around in circles. During this time I spotted "dvd&books" sign. Figured I'll drop by to see if there's anything interesting. Maybe I should have read bit more carefully of the shop signs as I had entered adult store ;D Exited the store faster than I had entered and with face likely red! Whoops!

Built in 1629.

Chinese elements here including first gate that came from China.

Those intervowen pieces of wood are chinese architechture and this temple is only place in Japan that has that.

Surprisingly didn't see any photographing prohibited signs in temple itself so enjoy the rare sight.

Timer trick. Didn't see anybody around that time.

I was about to leave when I spotted small stairs leading up. No "entrance prohibited" signs and going on principle "up are good views" I went there. Found graveyard but views were good.

On route to next place ran into yet ANOTHER shrine/temple. Not even found on this tourist map I have. Climbing! Lots of it!

Saw that on my way to next target.

Which was this. Hamanomachi. Lots of stores. You want to buy souvenirs at Nagasaki, this looks like good place. This time I even found normal bookstore!

So moving on. Final target before getting to hotel for rest. Suwa shrine. No special reason except close to hotel and wanted to use final daylight to use.

Route there had lots and lots of stairs!

Guy you can see is actually priest. Seems I actually blundered there midst of traditional wedding ceremony so kept my distance to not cause trouble for the happy couples special day. Was considering leaving but seeing other who didn't look like quests enter I figured it's okay especially as I avoided getting in way of photoshoots.

Speaking of photoshoots one they did was with this view of the city in background. I have suspicion that photo was particularly good one.

After this I headed to hotel for rest(and write this part). I would still have something to do as I wanted to trie chanpon(local speciality) and go see what was selected in 2012 as "one of the three best nightviews in the world" but that requires sun to properly set down.

So with clock ticking to 19.00 I headed back to the chinatown and to the same restaurant I had been last night. For one I knew location. For second I knew they had what I was looking forward as I had seen it yesterday. Actually had meant to order it but changed my mind. Then later I remembered that had been the one friend had recommended to try. Chanpon which is Nagasaki speciality. Mix of noodles, seafood(fish etc) and vegetables. Very good. Actually replace noodles with potato and would be pretty good spot on to fish soup eaten in Finland! Particularly the soup part reminded me of it.

After this it was time to go to see the famous night view of Nagasaki. Rated as one of the best 3 in the world in 2012(other 2 being Hong kong and Macao). Street car took near enough, then walk to cable car. I asked if walking route up is easy to follow or difficult. Was told difficult so not feeling like risking getting lost in darkness figured I'll just pay 600yen + spare for ticket(courtesy of the tourist discount coupon. Without it double the price) up and down. 5 minutes for 1100 meter long and 300 meter + change climb.

Unfortunately midroute camera ran out of battery(unbelieavably bad timing) so had to do some shooting with phone as well whose quality isn't that good. Not sure how good photos came anyway due to the darkness. Need better camera for night shots!

Not sure would I really rate this as 10 million dollar view as advertised but pretty view nevertheless. If you are in Nagasaki during night time and weather is good(perfect today) please do check this.