Konbanwa. After learning about all the atomic bomb stuff in Hiroshima, and getting soaked on Miyajima island, I took the Shinkansen and another train to get to Nagasaki. Yes, its the A-bomb tour, 2010. I stayed in a cool little hostel, Kagamiya, which was more like a traditional Japanese home which happened to have a room with some bunks in. The owners were very nice, one night they took me and two of the other guests, and Indonesian guy and a French woman, to a local bar to watch the Japan vs Paraguay match. I put down 2000 yen for an all night bar tab, which I proceeded to make full use of. A lot of the nama (draught beer) went down, followed by some Japanese spirits which I can`t remember the names of. Japan lost on penalties but no one in the bar seemed to bothered, the atmosphere was very subdued actually. The next night the lady owner drove us up to the top of Mt Inasa, which I imagine can give splendid views of Nagasaki at night when its not cloudy. As it was, the fog was so thick we coudln`t see anything.
Nagasaki is a great little town for wandering around, there is a lot of character and variation in the streets, a lot of which run up and down the hills that surround this long, narrow settlement. The other cities I visited were just too big and exhausting to walk around. I paid a visit to the Cultural museum, which had a lot of information on the first contacts between the West and Japan, by which Nagasaki was the only port that European traders could use. The Japanese built a tiny artifical island, called Dejima, which was the only place the Portuguese, and later the Dutch, could use. I had a look at Dejima island and it was tiny, it would not have been fun being cooped up there. Apparently they were let out at festival time though. Another interesting thing about the city is that it was the starting point for Christianity in Japan. When it started to take off, the reigning shogun decided he didn`t like it so had a load of Christians put to death on a hill in Nagasaki, and there is a monument there to mark it. The Christians had to practice in secret for a long time before it was accepted. (I haven`t exactly done a lot of research on this, sorry)
After Nagasaki, I had acouple of days in Aso town, which is near an active volcanic crater and some mountains which I had a hike around. It was good to be out walking but it was again very foggy with intermittent showers. I`m now at my last port of call - Fukuoka. Not much to say about the place, its a big port town, and my only reason for being here is to catch the ferry to Korea. I had some street food last night, the first in Japan, unlike in South East Asia where street vendors are everywhere this was the first place I`d seen them in Japan. It wasn`t any cheaper than a normal restaurant though. Today I went to Robosquare, a showpiece for some of Japans` robotics which is mostly aimed at children but it was a good distraction from the rain. They put on a show, which featured dancing dog-droids and two bipedal robots which were doing acrobatics.
And now it must be about time to go out, its sad to be leaving here when I`ve got my head around the way things work and I`m just getting an ear for the language. Or maybe that`s a good time to move on!
Rob
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