Last night in Japan!
Saturday August 5
The landlady at our minshuku told us all about this promotion that's currently running in Nagasaki where you can get a free pass that's good for the trams and a special tourist area bus plus admission to Dejima (the old dutch trading island), Glover garden and the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture for a reduced price so after breakfast at Royal Host, we headed off to the museum to start our (admittedly late starting) day of touring areas related to the European/Japanese historical ties. The museum covered all international ties, so we got a bit of info on the chinese settlements as well. We got one of the audio tour machines which was really worth it since they provided much more information about the things we looked at than even the Japanese descriptions.There was also a recreation of the magistrate's office, since the museum was built where the old magistrate's office used to stand. It was pretty cool. Then it was off to Glover Gardens, one of my favorite places in Nagasaki. They've restored all these old merchants homes -very expensive homes might I add- and kept up the landscaping to create this beautiful hillside park that has amazing views over Nagasaki harbour and all the shipyards that are associated with Thomas Glover (now the Mitsubishi Shipyards, which were the intended target of the A bomb but couldn't be sighted through the cloud cover) it starts at the top at the Mitsubishi No 2 house where crews used to stay when they came into harbour. At one of the houses, they have period costumes that you can rent and have your picture taken in while you wander around the garden. Surprisingly, it's only $5 for ½ hour...really cheap when you consider what the old fashion photo parlours charge! So I convinced mom to join me in period costume for a stroll around the garden. And it was pretty thourough costumes too, considering. They put us into crinolines and bustles (I wasn't sure if I would really need one...) before putting on the dress and a matching hat. They were lined with polyester lining though, and mine was made of velvet and mom's of brockade, so we were pretty hot and feeling very sorry for the women in those days who were even laced into those dresses. *winces* But before mom demanded we go back before she died of heatstroke, we did manage to get some good pictures I think.
Also in this garden is Alt House, which always amazes me...it's this grand house, that Mr. Alt and his wife (who was only *17* when she arrived to Japan and be mistress of this house) only lived in for 4 years before moving north. There was also displays about a famous Japanese opera singer from that period on display in one of the houses.
When we finaly finished in the gardens we walked down the path to the main street lined with shops (we had come up the back way via the skyway-an elevator that slides diagonally up the hill) we stopped at a couple of cool places, like the picture book museum (a very awesome fairytale like building houses it) and a shop that sells music boxes! So I finally found a music box that plays “Sakura Sakura” and isn't a jewelry box! Hurray! Then it's back to the tram and onto Dejima.
When I visited Nagasaki in March and went to Dejima I was disappointed since most of it wasn't open due to renovations and I didn't have much hope that they would be done, but luckily I was proved wrong! With all the buildings open, I got my wish to come back when it was fully operational. It was crazy, sitting in the sun room and looking out the window at what had been the harbour but now has all been reclaimed and is a bustling area of the city, complete with tram line. Overall the exhibits were quite interesting, especially the historical ones, but I found the exhibits about the restoration work a bit boring. But if you're into that kind of thing, they've done an excellent job explaining the restoration as well as putting in glass floors in some spots so you can see the excavation and old foundations etc.
After we left Dejima, we headed over to the Mt. Inasa ropeway (gondola), -picking up dinner from a japanese take out restaurant- since our passes seemingly also included a ride on the ropeway. It was not so. I never did get an explination that I clearly understood as to why the ropeway was included in the booklet but not part of the deal. Perhaps it's such a tourist trap at the top that they also charge you for the view as well, since that's all I could make of their explination. Since we were pretty tired and not willing to pay $12 a pop to go up a mountain we decided to eat and then head back to the hotel with some coolers. LOL. I stuggled manfully through half a can of pineapple cooler before putting the rest in the fridge for the next day and going to bed.
Sunday, August 6
2am: Awoken by a bunch of cats outside that were involved in feline WWIII or some such thing. Man were they ever “cat-erwailing!” Our poor eardrums and broken REM sleep!
Today was the atomic bomb history day. We started at the peace park with our breakfast via the local lawson's convienience store. They were preparing for the Aug 9 anniversary and were erecting these huge tents and sort of walls decorated with two big cranes around the peace statue(and obscuring both the side shrines except for the golden cranes on the top) We finished our stroll through the be-statued and prision ruins-ed grounds and headed over to the hypocentre park. They've kept a display of ground level at the time of the blast which is quite sobering. Together with the statue in the park and part of the ruins of urakami cathedral together with the tall black column that marks the hypocentre, this is a much more sobering place. Mom needed a minute before we headed over to the museum. I'm not sure I can say which museum is the better one. Nagasaki's is smaller, certainly, but I think it has a better layout, with excellent impact throughout, rather than mostly packed into the end like at Hiroshima. Though Hiroshima's museum had quite a balanced view on the lead up to the war- Mom says she felt like there was a real feeling of appology for Japan's actions in the war that helped lead up the conflict and the loss of so many forced laboures from Asia (especially korea) etc. It's my opinion that Hiroshima has more effect on the emotions -mobilized students, the tricyle etc whereas Nagasaki elicted a more visceral, gut reaction- the hand entombed in glass bottles, the helmet with bits of a victims skull melted onto it. Also, in Nagasaki, the survivors' testimonials were incorporated right into the exhibit, which I really liked -and some which even tied into some things we'd seen earlier on display. There was a really disturbing photograph of a teenage boy being treated for intense burns on his back, that we later heard the horrifying testimonial of. It truly amazes me that he was able to survive, especially after hearing about his “recovery” period. We then stopped by the memorial for the A-bomb victims before heading back to the main street in search of tram passes, of which we'd already had a few aborted attempts at obtaining. Finally with tram passes in hand we were off to the station to enquire after a bus to Kagoshima since the Beppu-Nagasaki leg had worked so well. No luck. Only the train. After we bought the train tickets we went up to see the memorial for the 26 martyrs and Mom taught me the origin of the word gaudy -since the church/museum that was part of the memorial looked like it was directly influenced by the Gaudy Cathedral in Spain, from which the word arrived. Since we hadn't had time for the dutch slopes the day before, we spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around that area, checking out the mini museums in the restored houses. I even parted with 100 yen to enter three houses that hosted the historical picture museum, of which the guidebook said there was a rare photograph of Meiji hero Sakamoto Ryoma, but turned out to only be the original of the photo which we had seen copies of everywhere else. Oh well. We then caught the tram back to the hotel, started our landry and had a bath before heading out to the bookstore and after that for dinner. Mom finally tried omeraisu (omelette filled with tomato sauced rice) -I'm quite fond of it. Then it was back to the hotel and to sleep so as to make it for an 8:30am train.
Monday August 7
Up at 7 and checked out by 7:30 in an attempt to make it to the station with time enough for breakfast. Didn't arrive till 8 so it was a bakery-bought breakfast on the train, and despite me buying corn bread especially for Mom, she apparently didn't hear me say it was corn bread and so didn't eat it... *sniffs* We arrived in Kagoshima at 12:30 and immediately were able to check in to our hotel. Upon discovering that the cut rate carrier we were going to try and fly with had gone out of business we were left with no choice than to go for a regular airline. But aside from the usual hassle that sometimes comes from using a foreign credit card (and despite any and all offers you may get to sign up for a credit card here in Japan, it's illegal for foreigners to apply for Japanese credit cards) we got the seats on the flight we wanted at the price we were quoted in Beppu. Then we headed off to the beach for the rest of the afternoon which was just what the doctor ordered. Stunning views of Sakurajima from the beach as well, though she wasn't smoking today. The water was so warm.Even if it was just for two hours, it was really nice to get away from the constant sightseeing and just relax in the sun. After a shower at the hotel we went for Satsuma style cuisine at a local restaurant. I had read about the pork ribs done in miso and black sugar and trust me they're even more delicious than it sounds. Yum! Mom and I also checked off a few more things off of the to eat list besides that...onigiri, which I'm really glad we got there instead of at the convienience store since it was hot and delicious. We also sampled some oden...specifically potato oden. Oden is sort of a hot pot dish that's made with fish broth and various foods are cooked in it. I've been meaning to get mom to try some and now we have. After dinner we did some browsing for gifts for Lyle and Craig. All in all, a somewhat lazy day I suppose.
Tuesday Aug 8
Up and off for the 9am bus tour of Sakurajima! The scenery was pretty amazing. Very different from Mt. St. Helens though. Granted when I saw it (and it's mostly Mom's recollections here since I think I was 6 or 7 when we went and only remember the trees) it was 10 years after the last eruption rather than 60 years as at Sakurajima. The main lava flow area was still totally bare but futher down a few plants and trees were making a comeback among the tumbled rock and hardened lava. Quite a few interesting shapes too. There's one that's supposedly shaped like a tanuki (racoon dog) but I swear is more like a fox to my eyes.
Sakurajima is the volcano in Japan with the most explosive force and one of the most active as everyday it smokes and sends down ash on Kagoshima.Certainly no one is allowed to climb it, only look at it from specific observation spots and old lava flow areas. Though at first signs of an imminent eruption they would have to be abandoned I think...there are a couple of torii (the gates that lead into shinto shrines usually red painted wood or stone) that are completely buried up to the crossbars that are all that's left of several buried villages from the 1914 eruption, which is credited as being one of the most powerful in recent history, sending ash 8000 metres into the air. That was the explosion that make Sakurajima no longer a -jima (an island) but connected it to the mainland on the Miyazaki-ken side, creating a peninsula.Though for a volcano that blew properly rather than sideways like Mt. St. Helens thats quite a bit of damage as well. I'm thinking I should find out which was considered the larger/more devestating eruption since i'm far from an expert! After we returned to Kagoshima and ran a couple of errands, we went over to the Reimeikan (Kagoshima Prefectural Museum of Culture) to check out the history of Kagoshima and the folklore of the area. Kagoshima is the old Satsuma domain, which together with the old Choshu domain was instumental in forcing the regime change of the Meiji Restoration. It was from this area that the first exchange students were sent to England and the rest of Europe to gain the knowledge Japan needed to modernize...without the Shogun's knowledge or approval. In anycase, it was very interesting if somewhat hard to understand since only the theme of the area had english translations. Oh well. After there it was more shopping dinner and more shopping but yeah! gift finished pretty much. Then back to the hotel to catch some sleep before our flight to Tokyo.
Wendesday Aug 9.
Got to the airport with plety of time for breakfast...though our eggs benidict certainly wasn`t eggs benedict as we know and love. Three guesses as to what replaced the hollandaise sauce... well if any of your guesses was mayo then "pin pon pin pon!" (the you`re right! sound) Other than that it was pretty good. HAHAHAHA anyone remember tamagotchi? Guess what decorated our plane? including the head rests... One of my life`S goals has now been acheived with this plane trip. Other than that, our day was mostly filled with rearanging of bags, sending of one last box home and generally bothering pretty much every service desk in the hotel for a couple hours before we went out for books, a bit more shopping (Lolita socks are now mine after a false start, but I now own some!) and dinner at Yoshinoya a japanese fast food place that serves donburi and is exessivly cheap before coming here to update.
Thanks everyone for putting up with these massive updates and I promise that the next update will not only be froｍ Canadian soil but will be much shorter! See you all soon, I hope! Though it feels really odd to be leaving Japan...
The landlady at our minshuku told us all about this promotion that's currently running in Nagasaki where you can get a free pass that's good for the trams and a special tourist area bus plus admission to Dejima (the old dutch trading island), Glover garden and the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture for a reduced price so after breakfast at Royal Host, we headed off to the museum to start our (admittedly late starting) day of touring areas related to the European/Japanese historical ties. The museum covered all international ties, so we got a bit of info on the chinese settlements as well. We got one of the audio tour machines which was really worth it since they provided much more information about the things we looked at than even the Japanese descriptions.There was also a recreation of the magistrate's office, since the museum was built where the old magistrate's office used to stand. It was pretty cool. Then it was off to Glover Gardens, one of my favorite places in Nagasaki. They've restored all these old merchants homes -very expensive homes might I add- and kept up the landscaping to create this beautiful hillside park that has amazing views over Nagasaki harbour and all the shipyards that are associated with Thomas Glover (now the Mitsubishi Shipyards, which were the intended target of the A bomb but couldn't be sighted through the cloud cover) it starts at the top at the Mitsubishi No 2 house where crews used to stay when they came into harbour. At one of the houses, they have period costumes that you can rent and have your picture taken in while you wander around the garden. Surprisingly, it's only $5 for ½ hour...really cheap when you consider what the old fashion photo parlours charge! So I convinced mom to join me in period costume for a stroll around the garden. And it was pretty thourough costumes too, considering. They put us into crinolines and bustles (I wasn't sure if I would really need one...) before putting on the dress and a matching hat. They were lined with polyester lining though, and mine was made of velvet and mom's of brockade, so we were pretty hot and feeling very sorry for the women in those days who were even laced into those dresses. *winces* But before mom demanded we go back before she died of heatstroke, we did manage to get some good pictures I think.
Also in this garden is Alt House, which always amazes me...it's this grand house, that Mr. Alt and his wife (who was only *17* when she arrived to Japan and be mistress of this house) only lived in for 4 years before moving north. There was also displays about a famous Japanese opera singer from that period on display in one of the houses.
When we finaly finished in the gardens we walked down the path to the main street lined with shops (we had come up the back way via the skyway-an elevator that slides diagonally up the hill) we stopped at a couple of cool places, like the picture book museum (a very awesome fairytale like building houses it) and a shop that sells music boxes! So I finally found a music box that plays “Sakura Sakura” and isn't a jewelry box! Hurray! Then it's back to the tram and onto Dejima.
When I visited Nagasaki in March and went to Dejima I was disappointed since most of it wasn't open due to renovations and I didn't have much hope that they would be done, but luckily I was proved wrong! With all the buildings open, I got my wish to come back when it was fully operational. It was crazy, sitting in the sun room and looking out the window at what had been the harbour but now has all been reclaimed and is a bustling area of the city, complete with tram line. Overall the exhibits were quite interesting, especially the historical ones, but I found the exhibits about the restoration work a bit boring. But if you're into that kind of thing, they've done an excellent job explaining the restoration as well as putting in glass floors in some spots so you can see the excavation and old foundations etc.
After we left Dejima, we headed over to the Mt. Inasa ropeway (gondola), -picking up dinner from a japanese take out restaurant- since our passes seemingly also included a ride on the ropeway. It was not so. I never did get an explination that I clearly understood as to why the ropeway was included in the booklet but not part of the deal. Perhaps it's such a tourist trap at the top that they also charge you for the view as well, since that's all I could make of their explination. Since we were pretty tired and not willing to pay $12 a pop to go up a mountain we decided to eat and then head back to the hotel with some coolers. LOL. I stuggled manfully through half a can of pineapple cooler before putting the rest in the fridge for the next day and going to bed.
Sunday, August 6
2am: Awoken by a bunch of cats outside that were involved in feline WWIII or some such thing. Man were they ever “cat-erwailing!” Our poor eardrums and broken REM sleep!
Today was the atomic bomb history day. We started at the peace park with our breakfast via the local lawson's convienience store. They were preparing for the Aug 9 anniversary and were erecting these huge tents and sort of walls decorated with two big cranes around the peace statue(and obscuring both the side shrines except for the golden cranes on the top) We finished our stroll through the be-statued and prision ruins-ed grounds and headed over to the hypocentre park. They've kept a display of ground level at the time of the blast which is quite sobering. Together with the statue in the park and part of the ruins of urakami cathedral together with the tall black column that marks the hypocentre, this is a much more sobering place. Mom needed a minute before we headed over to the museum. I'm not sure I can say which museum is the better one. Nagasaki's is smaller, certainly, but I think it has a better layout, with excellent impact throughout, rather than mostly packed into the end like at Hiroshima. Though Hiroshima's museum had quite a balanced view on the lead up to the war- Mom says she felt like there was a real feeling of appology for Japan's actions in the war that helped lead up the conflict and the loss of so many forced laboures from Asia (especially korea) etc. It's my opinion that Hiroshima has more effect on the emotions -mobilized students, the tricyle etc whereas Nagasaki elicted a more visceral, gut reaction- the hand entombed in glass bottles, the helmet with bits of a victims skull melted onto it. Also, in Nagasaki, the survivors' testimonials were incorporated right into the exhibit, which I really liked -and some which even tied into some things we'd seen earlier on display. There was a really disturbing photograph of a teenage boy being treated for intense burns on his back, that we later heard the horrifying testimonial of. It truly amazes me that he was able to survive, especially after hearing about his “recovery” period. We then stopped by the memorial for the A-bomb victims before heading back to the main street in search of tram passes, of which we'd already had a few aborted attempts at obtaining. Finally with tram passes in hand we were off to the station to enquire after a bus to Kagoshima since the Beppu-Nagasaki leg had worked so well. No luck. Only the train. After we bought the train tickets we went up to see the memorial for the 26 martyrs and Mom taught me the origin of the word gaudy -since the church/museum that was part of the memorial looked like it was directly influenced by the Gaudy Cathedral in Spain, from which the word arrived. Since we hadn't had time for the dutch slopes the day before, we spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering around that area, checking out the mini museums in the restored houses. I even parted with 100 yen to enter three houses that hosted the historical picture museum, of which the guidebook said there was a rare photograph of Meiji hero Sakamoto Ryoma, but turned out to only be the original of the photo which we had seen copies of everywhere else. Oh well. We then caught the tram back to the hotel, started our landry and had a bath before heading out to the bookstore and after that for dinner. Mom finally tried omeraisu (omelette filled with tomato sauced rice) -I'm quite fond of it. Then it was back to the hotel and to sleep so as to make it for an 8:30am train.
Monday August 7
Up at 7 and checked out by 7:30 in an attempt to make it to the station with time enough for breakfast. Didn't arrive till 8 so it was a bakery-bought breakfast on the train, and despite me buying corn bread especially for Mom, she apparently didn't hear me say it was corn bread and so didn't eat it... *sniffs* We arrived in Kagoshima at 12:30 and immediately were able to check in to our hotel. Upon discovering that the cut rate carrier we were going to try and fly with had gone out of business we were left with no choice than to go for a regular airline. But aside from the usual hassle that sometimes comes from using a foreign credit card (and despite any and all offers you may get to sign up for a credit card here in Japan, it's illegal for foreigners to apply for Japanese credit cards) we got the seats on the flight we wanted at the price we were quoted in Beppu. Then we headed off to the beach for the rest of the afternoon which was just what the doctor ordered. Stunning views of Sakurajima from the beach as well, though she wasn't smoking today. The water was so warm.Even if it was just for two hours, it was really nice to get away from the constant sightseeing and just relax in the sun. After a shower at the hotel we went for Satsuma style cuisine at a local restaurant. I had read about the pork ribs done in miso and black sugar and trust me they're even more delicious than it sounds. Yum! Mom and I also checked off a few more things off of the to eat list besides that...onigiri, which I'm really glad we got there instead of at the convienience store since it was hot and delicious. We also sampled some oden...specifically potato oden. Oden is sort of a hot pot dish that's made with fish broth and various foods are cooked in it. I've been meaning to get mom to try some and now we have. After dinner we did some browsing for gifts for Lyle and Craig. All in all, a somewhat lazy day I suppose.
Tuesday Aug 8
Up and off for the 9am bus tour of Sakurajima! The scenery was pretty amazing. Very different from Mt. St. Helens though. Granted when I saw it (and it's mostly Mom's recollections here since I think I was 6 or 7 when we went and only remember the trees) it was 10 years after the last eruption rather than 60 years as at Sakurajima. The main lava flow area was still totally bare but futher down a few plants and trees were making a comeback among the tumbled rock and hardened lava. Quite a few interesting shapes too. There's one that's supposedly shaped like a tanuki (racoon dog) but I swear is more like a fox to my eyes.
Sakurajima is the volcano in Japan with the most explosive force and one of the most active as everyday it smokes and sends down ash on Kagoshima.Certainly no one is allowed to climb it, only look at it from specific observation spots and old lava flow areas. Though at first signs of an imminent eruption they would have to be abandoned I think...there are a couple of torii (the gates that lead into shinto shrines usually red painted wood or stone) that are completely buried up to the crossbars that are all that's left of several buried villages from the 1914 eruption, which is credited as being one of the most powerful in recent history, sending ash 8000 metres into the air. That was the explosion that make Sakurajima no longer a -jima (an island) but connected it to the mainland on the Miyazaki-ken side, creating a peninsula.Though for a volcano that blew properly rather than sideways like Mt. St. Helens thats quite a bit of damage as well. I'm thinking I should find out which was considered the larger/more devestating eruption since i'm far from an expert! After we returned to Kagoshima and ran a couple of errands, we went over to the Reimeikan (Kagoshima Prefectural Museum of Culture) to check out the history of Kagoshima and the folklore of the area. Kagoshima is the old Satsuma domain, which together with the old Choshu domain was instumental in forcing the regime change of the Meiji Restoration. It was from this area that the first exchange students were sent to England and the rest of Europe to gain the knowledge Japan needed to modernize...without the Shogun's knowledge or approval. In anycase, it was very interesting if somewhat hard to understand since only the theme of the area had english translations. Oh well. After there it was more shopping dinner and more shopping but yeah! gift finished pretty much. Then back to the hotel to catch some sleep before our flight to Tokyo.
Wendesday Aug 9.
Got to the airport with plety of time for breakfast...though our eggs benidict certainly wasn`t eggs benedict as we know and love. Three guesses as to what replaced the hollandaise sauce... well if any of your guesses was mayo then "pin pon pin pon!" (the you`re right! sound) Other than that it was pretty good. HAHAHAHA anyone remember tamagotchi? Guess what decorated our plane? including the head rests... One of my life`S goals has now been acheived with this plane trip. Other than that, our day was mostly filled with rearanging of bags, sending of one last box home and generally bothering pretty much every service desk in the hotel for a couple hours before we went out for books, a bit more shopping (Lolita socks are now mine after a false start, but I now own some!) and dinner at Yoshinoya a japanese fast food place that serves donburi and is exessivly cheap before coming here to update.
Thanks everyone for putting up with these massive updates and I promise that the next update will not only be froｍ Canadian soil but will be much shorter! See you all soon, I hope! Though it feels really odd to be leaving Japan...