48 Hours in Nagasaki – Japan’s Most Peaceful & Complex City

48 Hours in Nagasaki – Japan’s Most Peaceful & Complex City

Nagasaki isn’t just another prefecture capital in Japan. It’s known as the last place where a nuclear weapon was ever used on people in war. But beyond that past, the city’s unique landscape and culture makes it unlike anywhere else. This time, I’ll wander through those hills looking for a quiet spot to chill and take a day trip to Shimabara, which didn’t exactly turn out as I hoped. Today we walk through Nagasaki, not just to visit, but to understand what makes this hillside city so different from the rest of Japan and why it might be worth visiting for you. Nasaki is located in the eastern edge of Kyushu Island, one of the four major islands of Japan. Majority of tourists land Nagasaki airport which is located on the island in the ocean. The bus runs every 20 minutes during the flight hours and it takes about 45 minutes from Nagasaki airport to the Nagasaki city. There’s a Nagasaki Shinkansen to Nagasaki station but not connected to Hakata in Goka or father to Osaka Tokyo. So you need to change train once in the middle but still you can arrive in the city center without taking the flight. It’s a city with many hotel chains in different grades. station has major hotel chains such as Hilton, Marott and Jushu hotel. There are many small business hotels located from station towards Chinatown. This time I sit at the hotel facing the Saka Stadium for the first night and second night in China. Navasaki is compact city that you can get around the most of the sightseeing spots by street cars or the bus. Great accessibility for travel without a car. Sweet car is 150 yen flat rate which taxi driver was complaining later that it’s too cheap and you can use transportation IC card from Japan like sweet you can get a day pass or a 24 hours pass on smartphone app not sold on the transa I left my luggage at the hotel and I decided to head to Atomic Bomb Museum to use this rainy days for indoor activities. Up here the atomic bomb museum of Nasaki. Sometime is going back to the past 19 45. This day there are lots of school trips and also the Queen AS big cruise ship arrived at Nagasaki. So the museum was very busy. Nagasaki became the second and the last city at make bomb was used on humans. I hope it will be the last one. Here you can study about what happened on that day on August 9th, 1945 and also you can study about the current situation about atomic bombs in the world somewhere like New Mexico and also Pacific Ocean. In the museum there’s a cafe called peace cafe and you can enjoy the cafe latte with the latte art of the peace. So I got a cafe latte. It says peace. August the 9th, the day atomic bomb was dropped in wow. Really pouring rain. Sorry. I want to go to the fifth memory park, but a little bit too much rain. So, I head back to the city center. [Music] I start to walked to the to station but it was a little bit too much rain that probably I get soaked. So I took taxi and the great thing about taxi is that you can hear lot of the local story about the Nagasaki and and Nagasaki Shinkansen lots of local episode and like a gossip and it was very interesting. I just took the taxi and came to Nagasaki station. It’s a very fast and good idea because I think it was a disaster if I walked. So there’s a convention center called Dejima and there’s a Hong K Nagasaki is here. This is a Nagasaki station entrance. So there’s a shopping center. So let’s go through and spend some time in Nagasaki station. I bought this kakuni mangju to take out. It’s called pork sandwich which is a special food of Nagasaki. [Music] and getting a cinema. And let’s take the tram again to back to the hotel for to do the side thing. This hotel wasn’t the best location. [Music] So now it’s 3:00. So I have to check out check into the hotel. Oh, look at the crowd over there. So, room one, two, three, six. I’ve never seen such a huge pile of the hotel. This is the room. It’s a most reasonable type of the room in this hotel. There’s a sink in the room and twin bed. Sofa corner. And let’s see the view. Wa the view of Nasaki is here. This hotel has two type of the views. Stadium side and city side. And I chose city side. But from the Lum you see the houses are lining up like the wall. I’m on the 12th floor today. And there’s a little chair and sofa space. Looks very cozy. And there’s a fridge. And there are coke, tea, orange juice. Those are you can drink. It’s complimentary. No alcohol drink. Here we go. So this place there’s a all the amenities and cups and coffee and tea. Oh, there’s a shampoo and treatment in this little box. And very thick sleeper. Very thick. Oh, this is a restroom. I’ve never seen this type of the machine. Actually, this is Inox. And next to the restroom, there’s a separate bus. This is a Yasaki home. [Music] So, we on the 12th floor and the sixth floor is a pool and let’s go see it. So, I couldn’t film, but there was a pool and a public bus overlooking the stadium. So, lane has finished. So, I’d like to go to Chinatown to explore. To go to Chinatown, I had to change from number three to number one in front of Nagasaki station doesn’t go to the China. Take this one number one. So I just got off at the Shinichu Kagai station and let’s walk toward the Chinatown of Narate. Very beautiful lighting. Lots of restaurants. [Music] Restaurants. Let me see the menu. [Music] The most famous food from Nagasaki is probably this Nagasaki Champon noodle. It tastes like sweet tonkot noodle taste and it’s very good. And another one famous for Nagasaki is this kakuni which is difficult to eat except Nagasaki. This was really good. I can’t compare with what I got earlier at the department store. It’s very fresh, very soft, tender, and the taste was amazing. I somehow missed on the menu, so I thought they don’t have, but I saw a person next to me was eating. So, I’m so thankful to that person. So, I entered this store called Psycho. It was very good. I was surprised. I didn’t think I can have such a good kakunju. It’s really different from the station. So, I had a Oh, you just turn off the light. So I had a dinner this cycle. It was very good. So there’s a since 1936 street. Wow. Big arcade street here. interesting to find this arcade street in different parts of Japan because really sometimes away from the station unexpected places like a city center like this and sometimes really long archite but almost no meaning but let’s wait here. [Music] Let’s go back to the room. Now, let’s enjoy the nice view from the hotel room. So, I got a breakfast. It’s not much things. Probably the smallest buffet in this travel, but still good. They have kind of t sashimi and some food. It’s getting sunny. And you can go out to the stadium. So windy. The drink holder. So in case you bring out the uh drink from the breakfast place, you can bring there’s a paper cup. So you can bring out to here and you can relax here too. Now let’s head to the trauma station. It’s a very cool day. They say it will be like you need a jacket maybe tonight. Today I’m going to unen Shimabara for a day trip. I wasn’t sure until the last minute if I should stay in the city but let’s see. So this Nagasaki prefecture bus terminal very old building. So tonight I come back to Nagasaki. So I left it into the coin lock. Number three is the toen house 10 boss. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I arrived at Unen bus stop, the last bus stop from Nagasaki station. So I saw lots of the surf of the hot springs. The it was sunny but above the mountain it’s still in the clouds but later after this I’ll go down to the other side of the mountain to Shimabara. So let’s see how it will go. Right now it’s 11:02. So I had to take either 11:30 or 11 12:45 cuz the bus didn’t have the restroom. So better to go before you leave the Nasaki station. And we are here. This unen zigok means unen hill. They say don’t stay too long because there’s a volcanic gas. Wow. It’s kind of cool above the mountain. It’s so warm here. Wow. It’s like in the sun. It’s really moisturizing air. So warm here. Oh, I can stay here. Oh, it’s big. It’s like a Japanese garden. So, this is pretty much everything you can do in case you beat by the bus. And it’s definitely recommended to stay at the hotel so you can do the full experience with food and hot springs. [Music] from Unen and arrived at Shimabala station on the Shimaba laneway back to Nagasaki. I’d like to take the Shimabada way right now 12:23. Next one is 114 or 214. So we are here now in the Shimaba castle. Some old towns around here port is actually far away. So that is a Shimabara station and the street is continent to Shimabara castle. It’s a very quiet town. Very quiet piece of town. There’s a nice coffee shop. [Music] So different produce of simabara in neighborhoods made this smen. So you can compare the different producers. So unfortunately this train run lands only once per hour to head back to Nagasak site. Well, I’d like to go back to Simabada station and take train. [Music] [Music] [Music] We will soon arrive at exit will be on the [Music] So, was it a good idea to take this day trip? I’m not sure actually because I can see this train’s view, but on the mountain side from the bus, you really couldn’t see much by using public transportation. So when you go to Shimabara or Unen, I think it’s definitely better to take one night at the hotel. But still, I’m happy that I could go finally somewhere I wanted to go all the time. So also has a Shinkan sensation, but it only does once per 1 hour. So maybe better to take the seaside liner. Today I’m back to Narasaki station at around 410 and I’d like to head to the tonight’s hotel Kando Hotel in Kando Hotel in Nagasaki. There’s a big big bed as usual just like other condo hotels. Another different design there a table and actually I got a second floor. So I’m not sure if I have a view. It’s just a view of the parking lot. But there’s a view actually not kind of wall or something. Next one to all the direction. So not this one. This one is going back to Nagasaki station. Passengers for Nagasaki station, the atomic bomb museum and the peace park need to take a number. [Music] There’s a Pokemon to one of the popular food in Nagasaki is a Turkish sho rice called to rice. But the store I wanted to go was closed just this day. So I was wondering what to do and I just decided to stroll around. Sky road I wonder if it’s still open 19 m. It take you to higher point of the hill sky lord. So actually this land from 6:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. So this elevator is really like the elevator take you to the above the hill. So you don’t have to go up the hill. So grow garden get off at fifth floor. It says nice place. Wow. Came up so high very quickly. I see Nagasaki port. Just going up a little bit changed the scenery a lot. So this is the entrance to Guraba Garden. And look at this is probably a really high point of the city. It’s a good timing to come on sunset. Oh, this is Graba Garden. We are at this gate 2 and you can go down. So, let’s enter here. It’s uh until 8:00 [Music] today. What day? Enter until 8:00. But May 22nd is closing at 6:00. Now, 6:20, so I can’t enter anymore. or private party. So unfortunately somehow everything is closed today or closed earlier on today. So let’s I’d like to go around the graa garden and maybe I’ll find a better view. So the tax shai store and the gloa garden was closed. But as soon as I see cats, I was already happy that they were closed and I could walk this pathways because this quiet sunset time turned out to be one of the best memory of Nagasaki stay. Everything is shining in the sunset. Wow. Very beautiful neighborhood. Oh, actually the one we see in front of the brick building is the Intercontinental Indigo Hotel. It says this address is Minamy and this slope is called Donga. You guide us. You guide me to Nazi. Oh, I’m so hungry. McDonald. This is there’s a hamburger shop over there. Let’s go. Bar bear. Barry donkey. So hungry. I know chain restaurant but I have no time to no I don’t have to choose unburi donkey chain restaurant but I couldn’t resist. So let’s head back to uh where the tama station is. From here I changed the plan and decid to go to Inasaman’s observatory. So, let’s take a bus. So, it’s a Gulaba and bus stop and I’d like to take the bus to the Lope station, 250 and land it. [Music] [Music] Sama. It’s a little bit foggy. Let’s see if we can see. It was a beautiful view from Lope. But ah it’s foggy but we can see a little bit. Unfortunately, bit foggy and cannot see much, but looks like it’s enjoying this situation, too. So, there’s a little tower here. So, let’s go up. It’s even more foggier. So windy, too. I couldn’t see much, but I’m going to come up and see the whole atmosphere. This is a long line. So, when you visit here, you might want to make sure that you know this is happening. You might have to wait 45 minutes or more when you go down from the mountain. We have a ropeway and a slope car slop only goes to the parking lot in the middle of the mountain. It was difficult to listen to the conversation behind me because it was a senior couple and they sounded really tired. Hakodate’s rope in Hokkaido looked more chaotic and busy, but it felt much faster. And I checked about and the rope is four times bigger, which fits 125 people. This is 31. As long as you are ready for it and if you have a lot of time, I think it’s a good place to visit. But in case you don’t have much time or you don’t like to wait in line standing, maybe you can visit in daytime or consider other options. finally came down to the station on the bottom of the mountain. Exactly 10:00. So I think it took about 1 hour to here. I’m back to this Cintuk guy area. Very busy breakfast place. So now it’s 8:00 in the morning and today the day I go back to Tokyo. I’d like to head to the gravel garden that was closed last night. [Music] And this is a street called Han Street continent to the grab garden area. So this is a front street and this is a front slope. So just like Yokohama, it is a place where foreign people used to live. [Music] So it’s a little area with lots of traditional houses, western style houses. It’s a very nice area. Your partner is also like this but looks like it’s Nas has a lot more the historical buildings that are built in 19th century. Something you see all over Japan but don’t see many here is bicycle. You see more motorbikes. [Music] These [Music] old man building 19th century some coffee shop pictures cafe slow. The district is part of the former European quarter of Nagasaki which took shape after the opening of Nagasaki Yokohama and Hakodate at ports for foreign trades in 1859. So now we are back to this area and I’d like to see if the gra I can enter today. And it’s a beautiful sunny days. And that’s where I went up last night. And I can’t see anything. But maybe it’s actually a good idea to go in daytime too. And I see the fair is leaving maybe to go to islands. Nami Park is above the mountain. Looks like it’s this one. Looks a little bit far. It say 400 m. Must be really nice view there. Before I enter Gra, I said to go up this Nami Yama Park. 400 m. Not that far, but this steep actually this way 300 m more. So I came 100 m. Wow. I already see amazing view of Nagasaki. It’s good on sunny bright morning but not be a little bit dark in midsummer or in the evening. Three different directions are by to gate like kind area. So let’s see maybe 200 mters more. We came 300 mters from Grover Garden and only 150 to observe the summit finally. Let’s hope they have vending machine. They didn’t have so better to prepare the drinks. this. Wow. So here we see the Narasak city from the entrance of the port. Nagasaki prefecture has 1,179 islands and 51 of them are inhabitant island. And this is the center of economy and politics of Nagasaki. One of its major industry is ship building. And across the bay you can see spots Mitsubishi’s massive shipyard. About 400,000 people live here in the capital city surrounded by hills. Just like any other cities in Japan, it’s facing the decrease of population. But there aren’t any other cities in Japan that has this much steep. So some people move to Nagasaki attracted to this charm of steeps. Very nice view. And there’s nobody. So it’s a good point if you can come up. If you don’t mind coming up that stairs, it’s a really good place to come. If you can have a car, you can come here by car too. And there is a hashima mine called. Now I have to go down to grow a garden. Now I finally can enter Growa Garden area with lots of historical building preserved. What this moto Google was a 4.6 of probably it’s good cast store. It said can’t be more handmade than this store. So handmade caster. So I got this isan looks like caster based snack. [Music] Through the trade with Portugal, western culture spread to Nagasaki, bringing with a wide range of influences from food to religion. However, as a spread of Christianity, some Portuguese merchants began taking young and poor Japanese people who weren’t Christian and selling them into slavery abroad. that resulted that the Portuguese were eventually expelled and the religion itself was strictly banned. Fearing that the foreign religion taking over could lead to internal control by outside powers, the Tokugawa shogunate enforced a policy of national isolation that lasted for nearly 200 years. The Dutch were granted special permission to remain as they promised to refrain from the missionary work, focus only on trading. Through the artificial island of Dejima in Nagasaki, Dutch became Japan’s only official link to the western world. Much of what we now consider traditional Japanese culture was actually refined and developed during this closed period of isolation. After the end of the period, religious freedom was restored and churches began to appear across Nagasaki once again. Nagasaki’s port was reopened to foreign trade in 1859. Many hidden Christians still live there and churches began to build and ring bells once again. But even that piece would not last a 100 years. In 1945, the atmic bomb was dropped. In an instant, countless lives and even charges vanished. I arrived at Pis Park of this jail was the closest building near the ground zero of the atomic bomb. All the prisoners, more than half as non-Japanese were killed instantly. As you see, Nagasaki has an outstanding deep history that can be seen differently depends on from which side you see the history. So I just met uh my viewer family United Kingdom. Thank you so much for talking to me. Similar layers of school trip photo shooting. This is a one of the artist Sabo Kitamura and his statue you can see in Tokyo’s inocira’s zoo. I’ve been here for the school trip which was decades ago. Oh okay. So this was the wall of the jail too. Now I hear there is a popular restaurant above the mountain. So I’d like to head there by bus. So it’s a Hamachi bus stop and looks like the bus 14. I never I have no idea what to take without Google map but Google map say take this 14 12 14. So let’s take this. So I just got off the bus stop came up really high from the beast park. So actually let me go down this hill. Wow. really steep. So I just wanted to see really regular residential area of Nasaki beyond my imagination. Look there’s a kind of little private Japanese garden tea house. So let’s go there. So this is a root the bus just came up right now like this. It looks like for coffee shop we go up this stairs. [Music] I think they take off shoes here. Very interesting store. If you sit by the window, you can see the city of Nagasaki too. But I decide to enjoy the garden and the flowers here. It was a spaghetti and salad and really fill the teas and every time they come to the table to fill the tea, it changes to different taste and it start from the cold tea and change to hot tea. They said there’s about seven to eight different teas you can enjoy. I didn’t have much time, but I could enjoy up to four different teas today. So, pasta looks good. Very al dente. This pasta is really good. It came with a mini desert too features B. Sometime in Nagasaki, I think it’s good place to come down the street. There’s a Japanese garden. So, let’s see. Wow. So light restaurant. This a Japanese garden. [Music] It’s a really amazing place. It’s amazing view. It’s a season for hydrangera. So now I’d like to say goodbye to Nagasaki. I hope I can come again. And I use this to so many times so I’ll miss it. I hope you enjoy the trip to Nagasaki. Have a great trip to Japan. That’s what we’ll do until the next

I spent 48 hours exploring Nagasaki’s quiet hills, hidden viewpoints, and peaceful streets—chasing unexpected sunsets, a stray cat, and a garden cafe overlooking the city.

Start of This Trip: https://youtu.be/52HK0zkfrSE?si=4773ed4gkFOG9BY8

📍Places visited:
– Peace Memorial Park
– Atomic Bomb Museum
– Mount Inasayama (Ropeway)
– Glover Garden
– Mount Nabekanmuri
– Nagasaki Stadium City Hotel
– Unzen & Shimabara (Day Trip)

Map of places in video:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/3/edit?mid=1qZHGIQIgLIF2ScDFH7nTM4MCZzVJwzo&usp=sharing

⛺️ HOTELS I STAYED
Stadium City Hotel
https://expedia.com/affiliates/kenchan/stadiumcitynagasaki

Candeo Hotels Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown
https://expedia.com/affiliates/kenchan/candeonagasakichinatown

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