In 2001, Judy and I had the opportunity to live and travel in Japan. One of the sites we visited was Nagasaki. This page is a photo-travelogue of the journey. All Images Copyright © 2001 by Matthew S. Hamrick, All Rights Reserved.
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Judy an I were living in Iizuka, a small town just to the East of Fukuoka. Nagasaki is south along the west coast of Kyushu, I can't remember exactly how far, perhaps as much as 100 miles. We didn't have a car there, so the best way to travel was via train (the Kamome Limited Express.) The countryside out the train window was rather pleasant, here are just a few shots of rural country life in Japan; the last couple showing rice planting going on...
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Up the coast a little ways from Nagasaki is Huis Ten Bosch, a virtual Holland with an $80 entry fee. As I'm probably going to Amsterdam sometime over the next couple of months, I feel that I can pass on this opportunity to see Tulips. The locals, however, just go nuts over this place though... I think this ship is part of a tourist information kiosk.
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Nagasaki is perhaps the most picturesque city I've seen in Japan; at least for daylight shots. Here are some typical street scenes. The first is looking down the stairs that lead to our hotel, the Nishiki-so, a delightful ryokan near the Shian-bashi entertainment district. The second is looking out over some of the Nagasaki hills. If you're good with hiragana, you can see the sign for the Nishiki-so in the foreground.
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When you walk out of the Nagasaki train station, look up in the nearby hills, if the buildings aren't in the way, you should get a pretty good glimpse of Shofuku-ji. The original was destroyed in August, 1945, but it's been rebuilt in the form of the Goddess Kannon astride an Astral Turtle. The Lonely Planet guide book says that there's a Foucalt's Pendulum inside, apparently the largest in Asia. However, the temple was closed when we got there, so didn't get to see... Still, we were able to take these shots outside.
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Unknown to most westerners, Nagasaki was the center of early Christian missionary work in the 16th century. Japanese authorities has begun to view Christianity as a threat in the late 1500's. In 1597, 26 Japanese and European Christians were crucified, presumably to discourage the religion... A memorial to the martyr'd believers stands a short distance from the train station and the Shofukuji temple.
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This is the view from the 26 Martyr's memorial to Shofujuji Temple. In the foreground, you can see another temple, and if we are to believe the map, there is yet another temple between the one in the foreground and Shofukuji. Fukusaiji temple is just beyond Shofukuji in this photo. Amazingly, this is not the neighborhood known as 'temple row.'
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The first two photos in this series were taken out the bathroom window of our hotel. There's nothing of particular importance in these shots, but they do give a general idea for what the Shianbashi area looks like. The third photo shows a demolished lot immediately downhill from our hotel. At the time I took this shot, I was actually aiming for a church spire in the distance; as it turns out, it's just barely perceptable in the center of the photo.
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Another street scene; this one looks down a street immediately next to the Fukusaya Castella Cake Shop which sells really good Portugese style pastries. In the foreground you can see a flyer advertising my favorite local act, "Funky Soul."
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In the Urakami district of Nagasaki you can find Hypocentre Park, located immediately below where "Fat Man" was detonated at 11:02AM, August 9th, 1945. The hypocenter of the blast is commemorated with a black obelisk and a coffin shaped memorial. Images 20, 25, 26, and 30 show this hypocentral memorial from varying angles. Image 21 shows a pair of lanterns common in Bhuddist temples; used to guide the spirits of the departed.
When the crew of the Bock's Car (or Bock Scar as it's written here...) dropped thier bomb, the were aming for the Mitsubishi Arms Works. Sadly, they scored almost a direct hit on the Urakami Cathedral, the largest Catholic Cathedral in East Asia at the time. Image 23 shows the sole remaining column from the cathedral; recently moved to this location. Image 28 shows a closeup of the gargoyles at the base of the column, an interesting mix of oriental and European styles.
Image 27 shows a shrine, memorializing the victims of the bombing. Imperceptable in this low-res photo, the colored streamers are made of paper. Small colored sheets of paper are folded in the shape of cranes and strung as streamers. Image 31 shows a cherry tree entering bloom.
Images 32 and 33 show a memorial statue from the 50th anniversary of the bombing. The motif of a mother clutching a dying child is disturbed somewhat by an irreverent bird atop the grieving mother's head.
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Interpretation of this photograph is left as an exercise for the reader.
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Peace Park is a few hundred meters upriver from Hypocentre Park and has several really nice statues. Whereas Hypocentre Park has a sombre mood, Peace Park is a little more upbeat and hopeful about the future. I snapped photos of a few of my favorite statues here. The first, Image 35 may be my favorite. This statue was a gift from the Turkish government. Images 36 and 37 show the other statue that may be my favorite, a gift from Minnesoda. If you carefully count, you'll find 7 human figures, each representing a continent. The idea of interconnectedness of the world's culture and peoples tends to flow from this interpretation... Image 38 is the most famous (and largest) of the statues at Peace Park. Image 39 we're not sure where it came from, but it seemed to me that this figure was smiling somewhat, a welcome relief to the somberness of some of the other statuary.
Images and Words Copyright © 2001 Matthew S. Hamrick, All Rights Reserved