Nagasaki

There is a lot to see in Nagasaki when you only have the one day! We were able to walk from the ship to the tram stop and catch the tram to the Peace Park. We walked up to the Fountain of Peace and the Peace Statue. They are very symbolic. The Peace Statue has one arm raised pointing up to symbolise the danger of atomic warfare and the bomb and the other arm in a symbol of peace. It seems to float over the square from certain positions. We were able to go to the top by a series of escalators

                                                       Gail at the Fountain of Peace

                                                               The Peace Statue

There are many statues and we can only share a few. They have mostly been donated by different countries in support of peace.

                                         There are many beautiful statues.

We made our way down past The Atomic Bomb Hypo Centre with a stark column marking the position. Later we walked through the Atomic Bomb Museum.  There were graphic pictures but we did not take many photos as it is a sombre place and showed that more than half the population died as a result of that one bomb.

This photo tells the story.  At 11.52 am when the B52 bomber dropped the atomic bomb known as “fatboy”  on 9 August 1945, this clock stopped forever.

After returning to the ship for a very late lunch we soon headed out again. We stopped at the Chinese Confucian temple as it is the only one in this style built outside China and demonstrates the strong Chinese influence in early Nagasaki. What we came across changed our mood from this morning’s sombre visit to the A bomb site. We came across young children practising for a lion dance performance for the festival to be held in October. The kids had all the moves and as their only audience other than their Mums and Dads, they made us very welcome. Later we toured the temple and museum.

                                        We have video but not sure if it will download

                                                The adults were showing them the steps.

                                                          The Lion King

                                               A highlight of the trip!

                                The temple was excellent. This bridge made for great photos

                                                          Just look at. those Koi carp

    

Our next visit was to the Glover Gardens.  Thomas Glover was a Scottish man who came to Japan in the 1880s as a young man, set up a business in Nagasaki and stayed.  The gardens are very beautiful with ponds filled with koi carp, statues and several interesting buildings.  The main house unfortunately was closed for earthquake strengthening but we visited several houses belonging to other expat families from that era. 

                                           More fish. This time at the gardens.

                                                    A model of the Endeavour

                           A view over the gardens from one of the many historic buildings

                                       View over the churches and buildings to our ship.

We also visited the performing arts museum that houses these huge floats that are carried through the streets during the major city festival

One of the many statues in the gardens was  Puccini with a butterfly on his shoulder because his opera Madame Butterfly is set here in Nagasaki.  Our evening entertainment was excerpts from the opera performed by the local opera group.  It was excellent.

                                                        Madame Butterfly

                                                         Puccini with his little butterfly

As we walked back to our ship through the Seaside Park, there were people walking their dogs and we saw a bride and groom posing for photos.

 You have seen lots of photos of brides but this is the Flower Dog!

The production was a wonderful way to end a great day in Nagasaki.