Day two began with a fair amount of shrine and temple hopping, which I remember being very excited about. Since we started our journey on the north side of the city and started working our way down, we wanted to go ahead and hit the next thing, which was Temple Street, aka Tera-machi-dori. I’m quite enthusiastic about temples and shrines so I really enjoyed this walk even with it being a bit hot. By the end of it my accomplices were about “temple-d out,” and I was still ready to go! But it’s likely a good thing we cut it short with all the uphill slopes!

After completing our fair circuit of temples and shrines throughout the area, we started our route toward Chinatown by stopping to take in the Spectacles Bridge. While we were meandering through the area, an elderly man gifted his map to me, and directed my attention to a particular area of the stones in which a certain shape could be found. Can you find it in the picture at the beginning of this entry? I’m thinking so. :)

Afterward we made our way to Chinatown on the tram, which is a flat rate and something that many cities in Japan enjoy. Our main reason for stopping here was to have champon, a mixed seafood noodle dish, borrowed from Chinese cuisine. We popped into a fairly crowded and popular restaurant with good timing and grabbed a table, settling down to stuff ourselves with Chinese food. We circled the rest of Chinatown and found out – much to our disbelief – that Chinatown consisted of exactly one street! We were pretty surprised by this, given all the talk about it being Japan’s first Chinatown; we just had expected it to be a little more built out. But nonetheless, we made the circuit of shops and checked it off our to-do list!

Our last stop of the day was stopped Glover Garden, and the more general area of the Dutch Hollander slope leading up to it. We only stopped briefly at the garden because we were tired from all the walking, but it has a great view out onto the city of Nagasaki itself, so it’s no wonder the Glovers seized up that land immediately and built upon it.  The slope is a very cool area with many food stands and souvenir shops, but also some very cool jewelry stores further up the slope for those who are interested. I also bought a whole lot of omiyage in the form of castella cake from the souvenir shops. They have all kinds so I went kind of wild and picked a few to bring back to my schools.

We got back into town and decided that we were fairly ravenous, so we lighted upon this Italian place in the mall. The three of us had no idea, but the weekend we were there it happened to be romance/couples weekend or some such thing, which explained why we were unable to get a hotel, but the unforeseen plus was that we had a perfect view of a major spectacle of the event – fireworks! It was unexpected but great as we leisurely ate pizza and pasta, and drank wine. It was a pretty fun time.

Then we Cybac’ed (one of the better, cleaner Cybac’s I’ve been in on both nights) it again and woke up at the crack of dawn the next day to hit the bus and catch the earliest ferry home. Once there we drove back into our placement city. Though it was a bit of a tiring excursion it was very worth it. And there’s still more stuff I’d like to do in Nagasaki!! It’s a great city.

During my first year here, in October 2013, a couple of friends and I seized the opportunity to visit Nagasaki over the course of a 3-day weekend. We took the passenger-only ferry from Reihoku over, and initially sat inside. It was an odd sensation; bobbing up and down amidst waves that you couldn’t see. Then we hopped on the bus and rode into town to start our adventure!

First we stopped at the Peace Park, taking in all the sculptures and artwork dedicated to the area throughout the years. Then we stopped by the Atomic Bomb Museum, walking and stopping through at various smaller parks and outdoor sights along the way. For example – shrines – of which there is no shortage in Nagasaki. There was an incredibly large set of old trees framing the front of a shrine I don’t remember the name of, so we stopped in briefly, then continued on our way to food at Amu Plaza, choosing to dine on the Indian food that’s all-too-rare in Amakusa.

After satiating our appetite and perhaps doing a little shopping, we headed to Mt. Inasa Ropeway, the bottom of which is located inside of Fuchi Shrine. We were good in our timing insofar as we went around 5 PM and ended up staying until sunset/dusk. Apparently Nagasaki ranks #5 on some lists of the best night views in Japan. It was really beautiful and totally worth stopping by. But if you decide to go get there early! There’s so many cameramen who set up to capture the sunset that it’s a little ridiculous. Inside there also happened to be a cool concert going on showcasing some various artists, mostly incorporating some traditional element into their performances.

After enjoying all we could for the first day, we set out to find a restaurant called Bronco, located in Nagasaki’s street arcade. I had read online that it was a Mexican and steak restaurant, thus my urge to go, but it turns out it is an exclusively steak restaurant. Though at first I was a little disappointed, it was a very good meal, and it proved worth the visit regardless of my initial impression from online. The shop is quite small and narrow, so it’s a bit awkward, and the food is tasty once you get your hands on it. It was a busy night there, it seemed.

A first for me with this trip was the unique experience of what I like to call Cybac’in’ it. Cybac is a particular net cafe franchise, where you can rent a space for 12 hours for a very cheap price. If you’re picky you can even purchase a shower or anything else on the menu you might need. The idea is that you browse the internet or use the computer during this space of time, but it the cheapest, though not necessarily most comfortable, alternative to paying for a hotel room! There’s no reservations though, so you have to be willing to live in the moment and be flexible regarding which space you stay in (a 1 person, 2 person, or family room).

That’s the end of Day 1! I have a lot in the backlog for now, so keep an eye out for Day 2, coming soon.