Nagasaki Part I

Me and my husband spent 6 nights in Nagasaki, initially we thought it was going to be too long for just one place. We were wrong.

Where we stayed was situated in the middle of local red-light district. (Phew, again!)
The noise was just relentless and kept us awake till the early morning...so natuarally we developed the habit of late-start.

Day One.
It wasn't too hard to find the neighbourhood of our accomodation, but the actual building, especially the front part was hidden behind the Cosplay pub (costume play) that it was so easy to miss. When I rang up the owner, she told me to ask at the police station, but I couldn't spot what looked like a police station.

Did you find the police station in this photo? Well if you're wondering, you're like me. The one on the left behind the passing car is the police station, believe it or not.
Yep, this is Nagasaki we're discussing here. Here's the better one.

As you might guess, we were so exhausted from all the walking we did in Osaka and Nara that we didn't do much apart from doing the grocery shopping.

Day Two.
Walked to Dejima Wharf. Almost every tourist destination was in walking distance. We had went to the big cafe by the sea and had coffee with Sakamoto Ryoma's face froating on it. There was a nice park across as well, so we had a decent walk and had lunch there.

By 1pm, we were back in our room.
We had a plan to see the night view from the peak of Inasa Mountain later that night, so we just rested up until 3pm.

We left our room around 4pm. With plenty of time to kill, we decided to have a stroll around the neighbourhood first.
Shianbashi Street mall, just 2 minutes from us was small and narrow, was located opposite from the red light district and most of the shops were restaurants and pubs. There were also a few alleyways, about the width of an average pedestrian path, with tiny Izakayas and Karaokes (those places all had this musty smell, possibly coming from old timber). As we got to the main street, we saw more
shopping malls we would have liked to explore had we had the time. That time, however, we just stopped by Kanko Street shopping mall where we had an early dinner and bought some cheap veggies, then walked further down to the cozier shopping district ahead. The famous Meganebashi (Spectacles Bridge) was just a minute walk from there.

Departed from "Kokaido Mae (Town Hall)" tram stop around 5:30pm.
Mt. Inasa Ropeway wasn't too far away. The weather was okay. It was forcasted to rain the next day so we did it while we could.
There was a Gondola lift operating every 20 minutes from 9am to 10pm. It was only about 7 minutes ride from the Fuchi Jinja Station.

(Inside the tram.)

We were very early and had enough time to see other small islands through the telescopes set up on the viewing platform.

Below it was an expensive but amazing restaurant with perfect view of the city. The food there was said to be really nice but we only had a drink each since we were rather short of money.
For the next 2 hours we enjoyed the free wifi provided there and from time to time, watched the Nagasaki's nightlife slowly came alive.

While we were there, I read a bit more about Dejima Wharf's history and then planned the activities for the rest of our stay.

Day Three.

Rainy during the day, overcast in the evening.

We rested most of the day, got some massage in the evening near Shianbashi tram stop. Ate an amazing meal at seafood restaurant on Shianbashi Street mall, with live fishes caught in front of you and cooked in the kitchen behind.

Yep, the Sashimi was fresh, alright. The tail of the fish that the guys eating next to us was still moving! Oh, it made me so close to tears.

On the way back, I dropped into a cafe run by an oldish lady, who introduced me to the brief history of the neighbourhood and Nagasaki in general.

The area (Maruyama Machi) used to be an up market Hana-Machi (where wealthy men were entertained by female performers, such as Geisha and Maiko.)

The historical high-class brothel called Kagetsu, which now was an exclusive restaurant, was just around the corner, so we walked up there to see Maiko san's coming out of the building. Straight away you could see that grade of Maiko san different to what you are used to see on the TV. They had a class. Everything about them was graceful, literally, from tip to toe.
From the elegant way they walked, how their hands swayed, the proper manner when they talked to their seniors, it was easy to imagine that they would make a perfect cup of green tea, and entertain the customers with their top level dancing and music performance. How I wish I could take their photos. Even the photos wouldn't have been enough to capture the air they emanated.

I was hoping to upload the photo of the restaurant but I seemed to have lost it. There are few photos that went missing after coming back from Japan. If I manage to dig them up, I will put them up.
Kagetsu is actually on the very top of the large photo in which you can see the very old dutch style police station on the left. I have some daytime shots of the place. Here are some.

Well, the first three days flew past like that. We only had two more days to explore Nagasaki. The main part was yet to come.

Oh, talking of Tram. Trams are still operating in few towns in Japan, Nagasaki, Hakodate and Tokyo. There used to be ones running in my hometown Yokohama, and I used to play on the old, decaying tram desplayed in the big park next to my old elementary school as a child.

In the next post, I would like to upload some photos of the trams.

Chinatowns in Japan

Well, it's already been 3 months since I came back from Japan but the memory is still afresh, so I am going to write a little about Japanese Chinatowns.

As you may know Chinatowns are found in a few large cities in the world. I am sure that there are many more than I know, namely the one in Melbourne, and the one in Sydney as well as in San Francisco and New York.

Prior to my last trip to Japan, I only knew the one in Yokohama where I grew up. The biggest one in Japan. As far as I know, many shops are run by 2nd and 3rd generation Chinese-Japanese. There is a high school just outside the Chinatown for Chinese Japanese children.

When I was a kid growing up, Chinatown was always bustling with tourists as well as Yokohama locals, for us Yokohama locals, it was located close to other popular spots like Isezaki and Motomachi shopping malls, which made this place an ideal weekend leisure destination.

The Chinatown in Yokohama, I realise now is that it is more commercial than those in Nagasaki and Kobe.

The reason for this is probably due to the short history of this particular one. Even though Chinese immigration started in the mid 19th century, the establishment of the Yokohama Chinatown was slow due to the Great Kanto Earthquake (which destroyed over 570,000 homes in central Japan and killed up to 142,000 people according to Wikipaedia) and of course the WWII.

So really, the Yokohama Chinatown didn't happen until the war ended. That explains the more contemporary design of the place.

Up there are the photos of Guan Di Miao temple in Yokohama.

In comparison to "our" Chinatown, Kobe one is smaller, and older. It originates in 1860s and even though it was destroyed by the bombing during the war, it was rebuilt as soon as the war ended.

Here are some photos of Kobe chinatown.

The last one we visited was the Nagasaki Chinatown.
This one was very different from the other two. Since the 15th century, Chinese traders settled in and around where the Chinatown is. Nagasaki has long history as the biggest and oldest trading port in Japan, and the only port remained open to the western world during the Edo era though limited.
The style of the gate and the roof design, are quite distinctive, too, I found.
It was less than half the size of Yokohama Chinatown, but had this homey, intimate vibe where you can't experience in other two Chinatowns. How do I explain this, I don't quite know, but I sensed that this place wasn't meant for tourists, but for Chinese people. It was nothing spectacular, but a part of life.

Unfortunately, the photos of this particular Chinatown are amongst those went missing after coming back from Japan. Good news is that you can still find similar photos under google photo search, using the keyword "Nagasaki Chinatown".

Nagasaki Chinatown google images

(During the lantern festival the Chinatown lit up and looks vibe-y and more glamorous but usually looks rather modest.)

There weren't many things to see there, but having a stroll there day in and day out while we were in Nagasaki and soaking in the feel of the place was a very memorable experience.

We saw other histrical buildings built by early Chinese migrants and have to admit that the one in Nagasaki is very special.

It is said that at one time about one-third of the population in Nagasaki may have been Chinese.

Actually I found the Chinatown in Nagasaki similar to some part of Okinawa design-wise. It could be because that Okinawa was an independent country from early 15th century to mid to late 19th century, and many Okinawan were genetically very close to Chinese. Time wise the Okinawa (then called Ryukyu kingdom) and Nagasaki Chinatown shares the great part of pre-Meiji Restoration history.

Kind-hearted, friendly Okinawans I met in 2011.

My guess is that many Chinese migrated into these two places around the same time that the both also shares the similar ambience. Down here are the photos of chinese buildings.

The typical Cinese style fence.

Overlooking them from Oranda zaka.

Now here are the photos of Shurijo Casle I took back in 2011.

This is a castle so it may not be a good example of the similarity, but some of the old houses in Okinawa has the roof design similar to those I found in Nagasaki. (it's just my own impression.)

Nagasaki is famously known for the atomic bombing, but it has influences of China, Korea and western countries everywhere.
I am hoping to write a little more about Nagasaki in the next post.

One Day in Nara

Well, I'm now back in Melbourne and reminiscing my time in Japan.
It was as exciting as ever but at the same time it was tiring. It was largely to blame on my cheap and nasty pair of walking shoes with no proper arc support, which were already giving me enough trouble; and the day's destination was Mt. Shigi in Nara.

It took a few transfers to get to the foot of the mountain. The Hanshin line train my husband I took took us to Kintetsu Ue-Honmachi station, where we transferred to a connecting train to Shigi sanguchi station ("The Foot of Mt Shigi" station) where we took a cable way to Takayasu Yama Station, which means Mt. Takayasu station.

Takayasu mountain is another mountain in Ikoma Mountain Range, but I don't know, for some reason I was intrigued by Mt. Shigi more.
We took a bus from the cable way station and the amazing view was already in front of us.

Out of a pure serendipity, we found a hotel that had a hot spring. We were so pleased because we had wanted to go to a hot spring but all those I could find were too far away from where I was staying.

We didn't have any bath towel with us, but I had a small towel and my husband bought one at the reception. They had a Roten Buro (Open-air bath) in Women's bath as well as Men's. Enjoying the hot spring while watching a magnificent mountain view was truly indulging, but one thing to note; people with tattoos are not allowed in the (public) bath.

A lovely view from the front lounge.

About half an hour later we headed to the peak of the mountain, which the google map said would take 17 minutes walk.
No way, it took more like 30 minutes. Maybe it was because the weather was rather hot, or maybe it was after having a bath, or it could be because we detoured a lot by dropping by the temple half way up the mountain that made the distance feel a lot farther. Either way, we continued to walk up the seemingly endless steps to the top of the mountain.

Temples on the way up.

We were puffing heavily, as I was dragging my body up somehow, my husband would ask me every few minutes "how much longer to the top?" - Well, that's my question, my dear.
Then shortly after, a monk in Yamabushi-like outfit spotted us and greeted us with a bow. He spoke English and told us that it would be just 5 more minutes walk away and gave us a god's blessing with a horn as he took off.
Amazingly all the people we met on the way up there were middle-aged to old people, who are used to walking up and down the mountain daily.

The peak we finally reached was nothing fancy, but very special. The sense of achievement was of course part of it, but overlooking the breathtaking mountain range and the nearby temples with nobody else around but us, sitting at a bench and eating sandwiches, is also something that we will never forget.

After coming back to our accomodation, I could barely move. I was so exhausted, my legs felt like tree trunks, and we had to give up on the plan to go to Kyoto the next day.

We spent a few more days in Osaka, but for now I finish my journal entry for the day and wish you good night.