Nagasaki Is Also For Lovers

Along with it being a haven for alley-cats, Nagasaki is a romantic city with giant green trees growing amidst narrow snaking streets. It was also a portal for Western contact with feudal Japan. It's a small city that's perfect for walking around in and getting lost. Nothing particularly exciting happened here, I was just happy to roam the streets and come across beautiful temples, white cranes, and children with their very own pet dragons.

























Nagasaki's largest camphor tree





































I would've been just as happy if I had to stay in my room. This minshuku was up a hilly street and crazy stairs. But the proprietess was so nice and the room was so cozy,













I didn't mind that the 70s groovy wallpaper was peeling and that it smelled of roach spray all along the hall. And, there was a movie channel! I watched 'Love, Actually' two times and 'A League Of Their Own' once.

One of my favorite places in Nagasaki is Sofuku-ji, a Zen temple. I snuck past the dozing security guard, but later came back and paid the 300 yen entry fee.














































I found this huge porridge pot and promptly fell into a daydream about swimming in a giant pool of Malt O Meal. Mmm, Malt O Meal....





























After wandering the city, I braced myself for a visit to the hypocenter. When I got there, I found a little oasis in the suburbs, making it hard to imagine the damage inflicted by the bomb.














The hypocenter



















It was heartening to see so many paper cranes still being sent to the monuments. Some in tupperware containers and plastic bottles....
























I ambled over to the Peace Park and found this hunk watching over the citizens of Nagasaki, praying for a peaceful future:

















The park was built over the ground of a prison that was obliterated by the bomb. All the inmates and workers perished. Only the foundations remain, covered in clover...














I checked out the A-bomb museum. It seemed mainly to focus on the destruction of the city. Damage directly inflicted by the blast, all of it, happened in the space of three seconds. That floored me, especially when I saw the warped clocks on display, all of them stopped at 11:03 am, the time the bomb was dropped. And yet, there was still this disconnection and it felt really far away. It wasn't till I went to Hiroshima's museum that my feelings dropped into my stomach.





Later, I went walking up the windy streets to take a look at the city at night. It was cloudy, so it was hard to see the lights. I wandered into a cemetery, begged pardon from the local ancestors, and took pictures of the cityscape. After a couple hundred tries, I gave up.








































The next day, I took my time checking out the Dutch Slopes (old gaijjin neighborhood) and the garden of some old rich white dude,


























































and checking out the turtle parade, where they show a little leg if they're feeling feisty:






























I sauntered over to Chinatown. The Chinese still exert a lot of influence in the area, right down to the garbage trucks.



























I visited Koshi-byo, a Confucian shrine, and hung out with a couple of scholars. I also got a look at an amazing ivory sculpture of a goldfish with a garden in its belly.




































and picked out the house I wanted to live in. I could buy a little red Vespa and live my little dream in Nagasaki.I loved it there.


















Next up: the rest of the Amazing Whirlwind Tour