Nagasaki Day Trip: Echoes of History Day Trip Japan LWJ Episode 108
welcome to Lost Without Japan a travel podcast about the life-changing experiences of exploring Japan and those moments we would be lost without for your listening pleasure allow me to introduce your very own Kanko Gaido Michael [Music] Welcome to this week’s episode of Lost Without Japan available for your pleasure as a podcast on Japan and hopefully you know after my surgeries and the rest of this year uh when it comes to summertime back to a YouTube-based show i’m your director of travel for TKIC Studio Productions and I’m coming to you with positive thoughts and excitement for your next journey to Japan and my return probably in about 2 years um as I’m saving currently to go with my daughter and honestly um just as I was with my son could not be more excited to do so so thank you all for giving me a bit of time of yours uh to listen to the show today and I hope that the podcast finds you in a good place or on the path to a better one and if you are returning Lost Without Japan listener thank you for returning once again and if you’re new to the show um coming from my son Sam’s uh YouTube channel or whatever place brought you uh thank you for pressing play remember you can always reach out to the show at lost [email protected] or loss without Japan on Instagram if I can answer any questions or assist you when you are traversing Japan on your own or with your own family had people do so in the past i’m always happy to help out today we’re going to be embarking on a journey to a city that I’ve know wanted to talk about for quite some time and that is Nagasaki in this city you can hear Gothic church bells from the Urkami Cathedral uh which can mingle with the simmering of Champion Ramen where cobblestone streets whisper tales of faith and where people’s resilience shines brighter than its past atomic shadows this really my friends is not just a day trip uh depending you know it really could be uh pilgrimage through time so let’s begin lodging first option that I’m going to be talking about today is the Hotel Mterrey Nagasaki um currently uh is just $55 a night for April i’ll provide the link uh in our show notes which will bring you directly to our Google maps for Nagasaki where I have saved everything that we’re going to talk about today a nice you know part about this location is it is an 8minute walk to the UNESCO heritage site or a church um we’ll talk about that though a little bit later now why stay here well there’s European inspired stained glass windows there are rooms with harbor views there’s spas offering oil massages uh there can be private breakfastes you could end up having some smoked salmon and some matcha lattes uh this hotel is near the site of a 19th century Dutch trading post and the hotel’s architecture kind of mirrors that fusion of east and west some of the um buildings in the area will even have uh brick work from Dutch warehouses that were preserved um and you can see those faint scorch marks of oil lamps that were used by traders uh there are um with this um if you can get and you’re choosing to stay at this lodging uh the any suites that face towards the harbor you’ll enjoy an amazing sunset um that you’ll be able to enjoy just from your your room itself there are some reviews that mention that the staff uh will even uh deliver um at times uh sweet potato mochi which is a Nagasaki delicacy uh invented uh by Christians uh in hiding uh who needed portable non-p perishable snacks uh while they were under uh persecution uh so I don’t know if that’s just a seasonal thing or if that’s just something that was mentioned once but I’m sure it’s something that you can find at you know uh confectionaries or just places uh in and around the area our next uh lodging option is the Dormy Inn of Nagasaki and that is a 10-minute walk to Dejima um why stay here well there’s an open air onen and free midnight ramen and at times uh free ice cream as well there seems to be like some free things throughout your day reviews mention that the onen’s water um is sourced from um hot springs uh that were also used uh by 17th century Dutch traders to soothe their seawary muscles there for English uh things it’s here it is mentioned uh in some of the reviews that there is some limited English speaking uh for this um there are just for Nagasaki in general it is a stop for a lot of cruises and some people and they’re you know stepping out uh from a cruise can you know go to Chinatown which we’ll talk about later and some other locations so they’re not uh you know they’re not unus to seeing uh tourists so uh your chances of finding uh at least some limited English speaking uh is uh let’s say you know higher than your normal uh cities uh that you’ll find in the area next up is Fujio Coffee um I have a link for that as well um you can start your day at Fujio Coffee which is a retro kisaten a traditional Japanese coffee shop where time slows to the drip of a handcrafted brew um it’s tucked into a weathered wooden building uh near Nagasaki’s um historic streets and the location has been around for 60 years and is run by uh Fujo family a third generation of coffee artisans who roast beans in small batches over charcoal and it’s a method that has remained unchanged since the Showa era um their morning set of butter toast with fluffy omelets paired with their signature Nagasaki blend uh dark roast with notes of orange peels and molasses uh that are inspired by Dutch trading ships uh caramel coffee that is a siphon brewed and topped with housemade caramel uh recipe passed down from uh the founders’s wife uh ambiance there are some vintage uh you know definitely feels to it there are wooden booths rotary foams even at sometimes and just uh there could be music even from a spinning turntable um the walls have uh photos of Nagasaki’s 1970 harbor and it’s really uh not just uh copy at this location um it’s really a kind of testament to Nagasaki’s post-war resilience as the beans that are sourced from a Colombian farm that were once supplied by uh Dejima’s uh Dutch traders and the notes that are here like the caramel notes that you can pick up from the coffee um are stirred with bamboo paddles carved uh funny enough um or unfunny enough you look at it um that are carved and remain from uh hidden Christian woodworkers so you know like the the area of the town and people that are there uh did their you know there there were those of those people that were looking to um help those uh being persecuted out in ways that they could uh our next stop is the Nagasaki Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum um you’re you know it really varies on your time uh I I say it’s one of those things where you’re you know you go to do something like this and it really is um a matter of like how long you feel that you can um you know go cuz I went in Hiroshima and there may be just certain things um that really um resonate with you and it’s not a negative thing um but it may just be um you know only so much that you can handle uh so just be prepared for that uh I’ve seen you know mentions that you could easily spend around 2 to 3 hours at this um there’s a peace statue which is a 10 like meter bronze figure symbolizing um the hope of nuclear disarmament and the sculpture Sabo uh Kitamura modeled the face after his own mother who survived the bombing uh the statue’s right hand points towards the sky and its fingers um if you look closely are deliberately incomplete um symbolizing humanity’s unfinished journey towards uh an eventual peace the hypoenter park um a black pillar marks uh marks ground zero of the 1945 atomic blast uh nearby the atomic bomb museum displays artifacts like melted rosaries surviving diaries and the regrown bombed uh camper tree the trees saplings have been sent to 30 countries as symbols of regrowth including a grove in Hiroshima’s own peace park um I’ll just say that that portion of the museum I would probably save towards the end if you’re going to want to spend any long length of time um just because those are the things that really impact me the most um survivors art gallery um are paintings by bomb survivors um and can re you know include Toshi Maroki’s haunting um Hiroshima’s panels uh one piece uh ghost of Irakami depicts a shadowy figure holding lotus flowers uh just a metaphor of rising from the mud um there can be English support uh there are some audio guides that you can pay for that are around 500 yen um which you can end up then carrying around with you and hearing some uh you know things in English um there are also the possibility to to get volunteer guides um reserved online but whether or not they speak English or how much um is really hit or miss um if you are attending um around 11:02 a.m there’s a ceremony uh water ceremony at the fountain of peace where um the fountain uh has 48 jets representing uh the 48 seconds it took for the bomb to detonate after being released and there are sometimes where um you can find uh paper cranes and wishes for from locals for global peace um our next stop is at Dejimas Historic District and the location that I have saved for you in um the Google Maps is actually the front kind of entrance you know for the area and you could spend multiple um hours at visiting this uh some key sites are um Chief Factor uh residence where Dutch Globe star charts and different things are recreated uh kind of show how traders smuggled tulip bulbs hidden in sake barrels uh dining room plates um that are you know have hidden Christian crosses on their floral patterns uh there’s a Dejimo Warp exhibit where there’s um holograms of smugglers hiding uh Christians relics and um you can see how the Christians bribe guards with Dutches Jen to receive uh baptisms um one um hologram shows uh you know a trade trader wrapped uh swapping like a Bible for a samurai sword uh so there’s a lot going on uh depending on you know if that exhibit is still up and running when you’re there there’s even uh a medical school a Japan’s first uh small vaccine was administrated there in 1823 using serum smuggled in ice blocks uh Dr philip Fr uh Fron von Cyold a German physician disguise the vials as pickled plums to evade inspection um if you’re visiting uh this area in December uh the Christian markets can be there uh you can hear Dutch carol sung in Japanese uh the market piece centerpiece is a 10-ft tulip tree made of Nagasaki’s famed uh silk and it was a craft actually taught by 17th century Dutch weavers uh for lunch uh we’re actually I’m not giving you a specific location as much as an area um you’re going to go to Shinshi uh Chinatown and one of the things you might want to end up eating is the Chicago um Champon uh like a ramen and um you can explore the whole Chinatown area where it’s filled with numerous restaurants and if you en want to try out the dish that I talked about it’s a hearty uh seafood pork noodle soup um and has been served in the area since 1899 uh the dish was actually created to nourish and povert Chinese students uh studying at Nagasaki’s Medical College uh the chef’s original recipe uses discarded fishbones from Dutch ships and let it simmer for days to extract the flavor that was used the secret ingredient that I was able to find is the broth was actually smoked bonito shavings um that came from a 150-year-old factory uh in Kagoshima uh the owner uh Mr nakamura claims his you know grandfather supplied fish uh even to Thomas Glover um there are some additional hidden gems there’s Safoku G temple um which um has different paintings on the ceiling a lot of symbolism here um you can even find canon statue that hides a Christian cross carved into the base uh a nod to persecuted uh converts during the Edeto period hidden Christians would kneel here and pray to uh Maria Cannon a fusion of uh Buddhism and Catholicism uh next stop is going to be our Glover Garden and you could easily spend a few hours here uh there’s a tram ride of about five minutes if you do or 15 minutes if you take line five to get there from our previous spot um the Glover House is Japan’s oldest western wooden building blending Scottish stonework with Japanese Shou’s screens uh Thomas Clover’s wife Suru um hosted secret meetings with anti-shogun rebels uh the parlor’s floorboards creek under a hidden compartment where she stored smuggled gunpowder and blueprints uh the Madam Butterfly statue is a panoramic harbor view um so many different things you can find there including um like different uh traditional performing arts museums uh videos and various things that are there um our next stop is going to be the Aura Catholic Church which is a UNESCO heritage site uh it’s about a 7-minute walk from Glover um it’s Gothic architecture and stained glass windows depicting the 26 martyrs of 1597 uh the church’s bells are cast in France uh surviving um the atomic blast its cracks were filled with gold and the art uh the Japanese art of Kinsuki uh you know symbolizing beauty even in brokenness um and it was mentioned in one of the things here that one of the um bells is uh currently being um like repaired um and will go back up um this year um in kind of like a um you know like memory of what’s been there and like you know how much time I forget how many years it was uh for it but there is a celebration coming up for it there’s even a hidden Christian museum where you can find disguised rosaries Mary statues and plaques uh just different things uh to see what they did to go through um Mount Inasa’s um night view is going to be the next stop which is a 25m minute train ride and a fiveminute ropeway um some amazing sites are here it’s like uh been mentioned that this is like a like you know $10 million view uh and is ranked among the world’s top nightscape views period uh the Meami Bridge arcs over the harbor like a diamond terrace the cathedral spires glow in the distance and on Clint nights uh clear nights you can even see the faint lights of Sheridado Island where William Adams the first Englishman in Japan lived as a samurai there’s also the Starry Sky Cafe Castella Cake and Gooto Island Coffee the cafe’s recipe for this recipe um dates back to 1571 uh when Portuguese missionaries introduced it um one of the options uh for this area is to do the hike uh the Inessa Yama trail for 40 minutes um and if you do this uh you can actually find if you’re looking closely uh hidden Christian cedar uh carvings uh etched into bark uh by different families near the sam the um summit a mosscovered stone bears the inscription lux and tendrous light and darkness uh next uh is one that I feel like I do with my daughter as well which is the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium which is a 25minut drive from Mount Inasa um there’s a penguin parade daily at 11:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m um and it has been around for uh you know some time the you know it really is what it sounds like uh you know just a very much a penguin uh exhibit um there is some bilingual signage um and again uh chances of finding staff that do speak some limited uh English uh up next uh is I’m just going to mention because uh there are many videos on YouTube uh that mention this location and something that you could do which is Gunken uh Gunkenima Battleship Island uh I’ll have a link for that too it’s a 50-minute ferry from Nagasaki port uh that’s going to be you know 2 hours of time uh alone just to to the you know comingings and goings you could probably easily spend uh anywhere from like you know 2 hours to 3 hours there as you look through some abandoned ruins crumbling apartments schools coal mines um you know there’s all sorts of information that are available uh for that the island’s population peaked at around 5,259 in 1959 um before um the collapsing of Japan’s uh shift to oil uh the hospital’s operating table still has you know rusted tools the schoolhouse holds chalkboard scribbled with h erased math equations and there’s even um the Skyfall film site which was uh used in James Bond’s movie um Skyfall itself you know and uh so uh one apartment uh even still is said to have a dinner table set up for four uh dusted with volcanic ash from the 1991 Unen eruption for uh dinner uh we’re going to go to uh to Kagutsu Shipoku Riori and it’s a 10-minute drive uh by or taxi from Mount Inassi um you know there are tatami rooms with paper ladds and koi ponds the villa’s walls survived uh the atomic blast shielding diners in 1945 um you can even ask to see the bullet holes in the teakwood beam a relic from 19th century samurai duel uh reviews even mention um at times uh some of the menu being in English uh you can even uh depending on your Japanese level um talk to staff uh where they can explain that the dishes uh are kind of a fusion of tempura which is uh they have Portuguese inspired and uh castillan sponge cake and uh the somalier uh Mr uh hayashi pairs each course with shou which are you know is distilled from sweet potatoes uh and grown in an atomic um um soil just a symbol of um rebirth um with that uh we’ll be ending this day trip and resume our adventures in about you know two more weeks uh I appreciate um your uh understanding and patience with me uh in these uh shorter episodes and things that we’ve been coming across um have had a I’ve had a lot going on um between school and um with my surgery that I’m going to be having uh coming up and we’ll actually by the time this airs have passed uh so I’ve been kind of between you know work and school and prepping for this and doing what I needed to uh been very limited on time but don’t want to miss uh being able to give some things uh for you to uh hear um I’m hoping that the recovery for me uh will be uh a quick one um but you know I’ve been told uh that it takes about you know three weeks uh to begin to feel somewhat relieved in about 3 months to finally uh be back to normal so um please uh you know appreciate your understanding again if the next episode is one um where I’m either sharing uh one of Sam’s uh episodes from his YouTube channel or um just sharing some music uh that I have found uh so far this year uh with you and then I’ll return back after that um you know looking through again once I kind of at a point that I can to uh come up with some interviews continue doing what we’re doing but again I just don’t want to miss up on the bi weekly schedule that’s been going on for more than three years and uh you know miss out on episode 108 so with that um again uh if you’d like to follow the show um go ahead uh do so in your favorite streaming service give a like comment if they allow uh and for updates on the show you can even follow it on Instagram at Lost Without Japan if you enjoy today’s show feel free to support it by joining the show’s Patreon the link will be in today’s show notes thank you for our members and those who have donated you’re helping to save towards uh you know microphone I’d like to use when my daughter and I go on our trip uh on behalf of Lostout Japan and the entire crew like to thank you for joining us on the trip we look forward to seeing you on board again in two weeks uh for the next episode to everyone out there ginky day stay well my friends [Music]
Nagasaki Day Trip: Echoes of History Day Trip Japan LWJ Episode 108
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