Brandt loves his gyoza!!!!
Ken then wanted to go out partying so we took him to the Jigger Bar for some Scotch served on hand chiseled ice balls. Very fancy!
The next day we were off to Nagasaki and stopped at Saiki Park to view the Cherry Blossoms. Most beautiful time of the season. And the beginning of allergy season, which has kept me very busy as a dentist! The most popular thing to do is bring a picnic under the cherry blossom trees.
Under the bridge if you look closely is a walkway to view the water. On the other side, everyone was picnicking and there were vendors galore. Ken liked most of the food he tried except the large fish cake that was about the consistency of rubber and the onemeaki (noodle pancake with Yakisoba sauce).
One girl even brought her per rabbit!
The Japanese even take their shoes off for their picnics!
This is the vendor making Onemiaki.
The park also had a concrete sledding area...don't fall off your sled! Japan is so funny with its concrete sledding and grass skiing, which I have yet to try either. Good thing he is wearing his helmet!
There was also a fish market there with an awesome Squid dryer that spun the squid around to dry them and then they were BBQ. Yummy! And Whole Tune for 7000 yen or about $70 US.
Then I got called back to work for an emergency case. Boo! But we were quickly back on the road and checked into the Nishiki-so Ryokan in the Hills of Nagasaki (only 8000 yen per night including breakfast). My assistant made our reservations and said "Just call from the police station and they will come get you to show you where the hotel is". That sounds easy, right?! Well the lady did not speak very good English and before anyone came, the police told us to move our car. But they did show us how to get to the Ryokan so that was nice! Just a short walk up the steps to get there! Here's the police station.
Our hotel was in a great location, located in the Shian-Bashi entertainment district. And short walk to Teramachi (Temple row) to see the many temples. We attempted to see as many as possible before it got dark.
Then we went out to find the famed "gyoza place" my parents kept talking about but go figure, it is not open on the weekends. So a local man pointed us to another shop for beer and gyoza. For the only time the whole trip, Ken does not like the gyoza and instead ordered "steak and peppers" which turned out to be fat and peppers. Delicious and welcome to Japan! Then it was back to bed with breakfast in the morning. Best Breakfast ever for western style! Our beds for the night are the Japanese style futons laid on tatami mats! Much more comfortable than the western style beds throughout Japan. Buddha Ken enjoyed his coffee also!
After Breakfast it was a one-day whirlwind tour of Nagasaki led by Brandt and I! We checked out Chinatown, then the Spectacles Bridge. Because what do they look like?
Here we are figuring out where to go...or where we are exactly.
This father and son were just below the spectacles bridge attracting all sorts of animal species! Must be good food they're handing out. I thought it was a cute picture though.
Below is one of the larger temples named Sofuku-ji Temple. This gate is in the style of the Meng Dynasty and was built in the 1600s.
From Sokufu, we headed over to the Fukusai-ji temple. Very interesting place, especially the pushy lady who chased us down to make sure we paid our 200 yen entrance fee and then gave us a full tour whether we wanted it our not. The book said "if we were lucky we would get a personalized tour"...I don't know if I would call the lucky or not. The temple was originally in 1628 but burned after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The only remaining aspect is a small alter and the new building is a TURTLE with the goddess Kannon on its back. She watches over the children of the area. At the fountain, you are supposed to splash the water on head of this Buhdda for good luck. I though you were supposed to rub his belly but this is definitely a "different" kind of temple!
This is the only remaining part of the old temple. You can see it in the above picture...
So I've said this before, but Japan and Shintoists who have gates and Shrines and Bhuddusts who have temples. In Japan, you are baptized (thus "born") in the Shrine and marry, then die in the temple because temples have the graveyards. So here are some of the awesome graveyards that line the hills of Nagasaki.
In this same area, I took this picture of this girl playing under the cherry blossoms and thought it was adorable! You can't see the petals very well but the wind was blowing and it looked like snow around this girl. Cute!
After the turtle temple we headed over to the "26 Martyrs" Memorial to pay homage to the 26 Christians who were crucified in the 1500s, including 12 and 13 year old children. As Connie and Ken were reading the displays, I noticed they really have been hanging out a lot since retiring last year since they have the same stance now. Funny!
Then we got in the car and drove up to the Northern area of Nagasaki to see the Atomic Bomb Museum, Hypocenter and Peace Park when the A-bomb was dropped on August 9, 1945. What the blast didn't kill with it's heat and shock, it destroyed with the fires that ensured for days after.
This is the Hypocenter. Above this 35m above this point, the bomb was dropped killing 73,884 and injuring another 74,909 people instantly. Over the course of a few years another 40,000 were added to the list of dead. The worst part was that the Japanese hate the Koreans so much that any Koreans living over here (actually detained in a concentration camp where our military housing area is...thus lost of bad spirits in that housing area) were not helped or given Medical assistance by the Japanese. The survival rate of Koreans was 5% after the blast. Sucks to be Korean at that time and people think the US houses so much racism...
This is Peace Park, which ironically enough was 50m from the Hypocenter and actually a prison. So the first ones hit by the bomb was a prison.
One of the fountains at Peace park. This is supposed to signify angel wings. Look how angelic I look! "I see angels!" (I think Nikki is the only one who will get that joke, mom should too).
Just like at the temple with the wish papers, these colorful "streamers" are actually thousands of origami cranes strung together as personal wishes for peace. A larger example was in the museum...
Another example of the blast was the remains of the Urakami Cathedral, located 500m from the epicenter. At one time it was the "grandest cathedral" in East Asia.
Another example of the force or the blast ripped this Tori Gate in half. Amazing what remained and what didn't!
Here is the explanation with the Half Tori and the remaining pieces that lie just behind it.
Up behind the half Tori gate are some huge old Camphor Trees as the entrance to the Sanno Shinto Shrine. Once again, these survived the blast...Strange.
Lately, by keeping our eyes open and not keeping a schedule, we find some pretty cool things. We saw this huge red arch and upon my insistance, decided to investigate. I don't know what this shrine is called, but my lab Technician told me it is the temple of good health. It makes me feel healthy just to be at a place this tranquil and beautiful!
There are five different types of Cherry Blossoms in Japan, this one is a weeping cherry tree. Not one of the more common ones, so I took a picture!
This little boy was so cute, I had to take a picture. I feel like my dad! He is cleansing his hands before heading into the temple.
When I see different or interesting things, I look to include them on my page. So, because Japan has limited packing, they are mechanical garages where you pull your car into a slot and then the garage raises it up to stack cars. You just remember you slot and type it in like a vending machine, and out comes your car. Nice!
Last but not least, here is a fabulous fashion of the weekend!!!! Pink high tights with short shorts. Wonderful!
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