Japan & Korea – May 22 and 23, 2016

Sunday, May 22, was mostly a travel day.  Took Peach, a Japanese low-cost/low-service airline, from Osaka to Nagasaki.  I had to pay extra for checked baggage because of weight overage and had to shuffle possessions from carryon to checked because of very strict weight limits on carryon.  But the cost saving was substantial enough to make the hassle worthwhile, even with paying extra for my checked suitcase.  Peach was organized and on time so no complaints.

All Japan Travel, the U.S. travel company, had provided very good instructions on how to get from the airport to the hotel where I had reservations so that was accomplished fairly simply.  Staff at the hotel spoke very limited English, but we managed to communicate.  As a bonus, the hotel had a launderette one floor above mine so I was able to wash and dry a load of laundry quickly, easily, and inexpensively.  Nice to have some clean clothes!

Monday I began my touring with a trip to the Tourist Office at Nagasaki Station where the staff person spoke excellent English.  She had for many years served as a purser on cruise ships, including Central America.  She recognized the decorative embroidery on my shirt as molas from Panama, actually knew that St. Paul and Nagasaki were sister cities, and volunteered to walk me to an ATM that would take my card.  A good start to the day.

 

The streetcars are easy to use and go to most of the primary tourist sights in the city.   

It can be a little unnerving, however, when one gets off and heads in what seems to be the right direction but inability to read the signs precludes definite confirmation.  So I was a little nervous as I headed toward the Atomic Bomb Museum but then saw this, which I took as a sign that I was on the right track.

Continuing on a bit I glanced across the street and out of the corner of my eye saw this:

I immediately felt at home and happy about the links between Nagasaki and St. Paul.

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum was opened in April, 1996, as part of the 50^th anniversary, replacing a previous and smaller exhibit.  One enters the building at street level but goes down a ramp to reach the museum.  Along the ramp wall was this artwork, “A String of Thousand Cranes,” made by Dutch artist Manna Ori and presented to the museum in August, 2010.

The exhibits were well done and had high quality English explanations.  There was a reproduction of ruins from Urakami Cathedral in a room with many artifacts retrieved from the Cathedral where two priests and several dozen parishioners at confession were killed when the bomb struck at 11:02 a.m., August 9, 1945.  Included among the artifacts was a statue of St. John the Evangelist, relatively undamaged.

On display was a life-size model of “Fatman,” the bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki.

From the museum with its displays of artifacts from the event and stories of those affected, one moves to Memorial Hall where the emphasis is on remembering the victims in a quiet way.  Of the approximately 240,000 people who lived in Nagasaki City on August 9, 1945, it is estimated that 73,884 died and 74,909 were injured.

Light is brought into the hall by glass pillars that extend skyward into a sculpted basin on the roof filled with water and providing further opportunities for contemplation.  At the front of the hall is a shelf on which the list of names of atomic bomb victims is kept.  When standing in front of the shelf, one is facing the epicenter of the atomic bombing.

On the roof of Memorial Hall is the water so craved by the victims of the bombing and which is intended to calm the minds of visitors before they enter the Memorial Hall.

Walking down the hill and steps, I reached Peace Park which has several elements.  The epicenter of the bomb strike is marked by an altar-like installation.  When I arrived, a middle-aged couple and an older woman in a wheelchair were dismantling some materials they had placed on the “altar”:  a cloth, two bouquets of flowers, a picture in a frame.  Clearly, what they were doing had great meaning to them.

As I left the area, a school group was arriving.  The adult leader directed the students to stand quietly, remove their caps, and be silent, perhaps praying.  That, too, was meaningful.  At the edge of the epicenter area was one pillar of the destroyed Urakami Cathedral moved here from its original location about a kilometer away.

On the upper level of the Peace Park (with escalators installed to provide an alternative to the many stairs), the Peace Fountain was created.  Its wings of water, representing doves of peace, highlight the Peace Statue in the distance at the far end of the park.  The Peace Statue has a raised right hand pointing to the sky symbolizing the threat of nuclear weapons while his flat, outstretched, left hand represents eternal peace; his eyes are closed in prayer asking that the souls of the victims may find rest.

The Peace Park has many sculptures given by different nations as a part of the World Peace Symbol Zone.  Until 1992 the U.S. did not have a statue.  St. Paul, as part of its sister city relationship with Nagasaki, commissioned a statue by Paul T. Granlund in which the seven human figures represent the continents and the interdependence of the figures symbolizes global peace and solidarity.

I decided to try to add one more “sight” of Nagasaki before returning to the hotel so took a different streetcar line in search of the Nakashima River and the Megane-Bashi, the famous “Spectacles” Bridge.  I found not only the bridge but some colorful koi in the river and some lovely flowers along the riverside.

Returned to the hotel and rested a bit but decided I needed to do the Night Tour tonight because the weather was clear, and clouds have been predicted for tomorrow.  The tour bus picked me up at the hotel at 6:30 and spent a half hour riding around the city picking up people at other hotels before heading across the Urakami River and up Mt. Inasa to an observatory built to provide good views of the city.

Most of the observatory trek was up a ramp with a few steps at the end.  From the top there were good views in both directions.

Arrived at the hotel at 8:30 and immediately rushed off to get some fast food in the Food Square (not Court) at the YouMe Department Store.  Definitely did a lot of sightseeing today; can take it a bit easier tomorrow.