Nagasaki, Japan

So much of this journey has been like a trip through history, especially WWII. The oceans we’ve sailed through and the islands we’ve passed have been reminders of battles and tragedies during the war.

Our first stop in Japan was in Nagasaki. Nagasaki is on the island of Kyushu, one of the four major islands in Japan. It is better known as one of the two cities in Japan destroyed by atomic bombs during WWII. At the time, Nagasaki was the site of major shipbuilding and munitions production. 

We took a tram to the Peace Park, site of where the bomb was dropped. A monument marks the center of the bomb blast.

Peace Park Monument

Nearby the Peace Park are the only remains of the Urakami Cathedral, one brick corner of the building. The cathedral was rebuilt in 1959, a short distance away.

Remains of Urakami Cathedral

Throughout the Peace Park a number of memorials from various countries surround the fountain and plaza—all inscribed with words about peace. One was from the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota, which had been the sister city to Nagasaki.

Memorial from Saint Paul, Minnesota

After we left the Peace Park area, John toured the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, and we then went down several narrow side streets searching for the one-legged Torii gate. Only one of the gate pillars remained standing at the Sanno Shinto Shrine. When we finally located it, it was closely surround by structures that had been built up around it, and if we hadn’t seen it on the map, we would have thought it was a utility pole.

One-legged Torii Gate

From the memorials, we headed to the Glover Gardens. On the tram ride there, we sat next to a woman from the ship who told us to go to the second entrance to the garden. The garden sits on an extremely steep hill, and the second entrance provided an incline lift that took us to the top. That way we could walk downhill through the gardens and not have to climb the steep steps. At the bottom, we would also end up near the ship.

When we reached the top, we found we had a fantastic panoramic view of Nagasaki and the surrounding mountains. One of the attractions of the garden was the home of Thomas Glover, a Scottish merchant who established a trading company in Nagasaki. The house is the oldest western-style home in Japan and is romanticized as the home of Madame Butterfly. We walked through the house viewing photographs of the Glover family and others who had lived or visited there, wondering what life would have been like for a Western family in Japan 150 years ago.

Glover Garden - Glover House

Along our route down the hill we passed a cemetery filled with black marble headstones inscribed with gold Japanese letters. Also on the hill stands the Oura Catholic Church, which is the oldest wooden church in Japan. In 1865 a French missionary supervised the building of the church in memory of 26 Christians martyred by a shogun. The church is considered a National Treasure. The members of the church use a modern church close by the wooden structure.  

Oura Catholic Church National Treasure

We ended our day being entertained by five year olds from a local school who came to the ship in traditional clothing and danced for us. They were so well behaved and their dances were beautifully choreographed. We couldn’t believe that children that age could be so disciplined and perform such intricate dances. They were absolutely charming.

Japanese School Children