Precious Memories: 2nd Visit, Nagasaki, Japan

Monday, August 14, 2023

2nd Visit, Nagasaki, Japan

2023 Spring Asia Cruises II - 9-Day Kyushu Spring Flowers Cruise, Roundtrip Yokohama, Japan

March 20, 2023 (Monday) - Nagasaki, Japan

This is our second visit to the port of Nagasaki. We have visited the Atomic Bomb Museum and the Peace Park on our previous visit and planned on doing something different this time around. After a relaxing breakfast at the main dining room, we are ready to explore this city once again.

Steak and Egg for breakfast.

Can't forget this piece of information.

We purchased our one-day tram tickets at port and walked out to the tram station to the left. Fortunately, there weren't that many people and we all got on the #5 (green) tram and headed over to the Shinchi Chinatown Station. It was just a short ride. (For those who plan on visiting the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Park, you will need to change to the red tram somewhere along this route.)

Dejima

After getting off the tram at Shinchi Chinatown Station, and walked towards Dejima. Dejima is an important historical site in Nagasaki. It was a man-made island built in 1636 that used to isolate and segregate foreigners (Portuguese) from the Japanese population to control their mission work. Portuguese were expelled in 1639 and then the Dutch moved in 1640. It also served as a trading post for mainly Portuguese and Dutch for over 220 years. After the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854, Dejima was abolished and then integrated into the city. In 1922, the Trading Post became a Japanese National Historic Site.

Western style building inside Dejima.

Sign of the Dejima Trading Post.

The man-made island of Dejima.

Dejima Omotemon Footbridge that connects the island with mainland.

After entering the front entrance and paid the admission, we walked into this old town-like street with historic buildings on both sides.

It takes a couple of hours to thoroughly enjoy all there is in this compound.

Some indoor exhibition.

Very unique experience.

There is a miniature model of the compound.

I believe this was the seminary.

Yes, Protestant Seminary,

Very old buildings.

I really enjoyed our visit here. We took our time and went in to see what interested us. They also have souvenir shops and cafes which made it pleasant for spending a couple of hours here.

Shinchi Chinatown

From Dejima, it is just a short walk to Chinatown after passing the tram tracks. This Chinatown is definitely smaller than other Chinatowns that we have visited but still interesting.

Entering the gate into Chinatown.

Lots of restaurants and shops. We tried a couple of snack items and they were inexpensive and good!

Lunch

From Chinatown, we walked a couple of blocks north to the Hamachi Shopping Street, which is a covered shopping area with plenty of shops and eateries, including KFC and McDonald's. After we bought some famous castella cake, we were looking for the restaurant where we had lunch on our last trip but couldn't find it. Instead, we found this new place called Katsushika, famous for their pork cutlets. What a wonderful find! We totally enjoyed our lunch here and will definitely come back if we are in the city again!

Did not understand any of these but we knew where it says "set meal" and the word 'thick'. That was what we ordered. The 1,800Y set meal.

As usual, came with a salad (all you can eat).

The thick-cut pork cutlets were absolutely wonderful!

The outside of this restaurant.

After lunch, as we walked outside to the river, we noticed that it started to drizzle. We quickly decided that we should get on the tram and back to the port area. We still had a couple of places in mind that we wanted to visit.

Nakashima River, behind the Fukurobashi should be the famous Maganebashi (Spectacles bridge).

Again, we took the green tram, the station (Maganebashi Station) is just a close walking distance away.

On the tram.

One can scan their passes or drop exact change into the slot.

We rode the tram to the end of the line, and got off at the last station (Ishibashi) where we walked first to the Confucius Shrine but decided not to enter after all. Then we walked back to Ishibashi Station and found what we were looking for--the Glover Sky Road Inclined Elevator, which will take us to the top of Glover Garden. Just that we don't have to hike up there.

Glover Garden

Bottom station of the inclined elevator amidst the residential area.

There was hardly anyone there so we got on the first elevator available.

Going up on the elevator.

to the top of the elevator

Beautiful cherry blossoms.

We could even see our ship.

Entrance to Glover Garden

From here all we had to do was walking downhill.

Koi Pond

The garden is absolutely beautiful sitting atop of the hill with several buildings of formal residences.

Interior

This is close to the cruise port.

It was a nice and easy walk down, with a few sprinkles on the way.

Then we were down at the shopping street and the Oura Cathedral.

From there, it was just a stroll back to the cruise port. There are plenty of souvenir shops along the way making this an interesting area.

The castella cake that we bought.

from the famous bakery

Yum!

After getting on board, and time for sailaway, a group of high school students performed in the rain to bid us farewell. A touching moment, indeed! It was cold and wet!