goes the old gaijin joke. "Why, Nagasaki of course!"
... we decided to put it to the test - just how much of Nagasaki can you do on a day trip and how much change is left from 10,000yen? Quite a lot, we found....
9:05 Take Express Bus from Tenjin Nishitetsu Bus Centre. Cost 4500yen, it`s a 2:15min trip, with buses leaving every 15 minutes. Best to reserve though..
11:20 Nagasaki, opposite train station. Have booked on 18:15 back to Fukuoka, so I have just 7 hours.
11:21 First stop, Tourist Info centre (off bus, up walk-bridge and left) for one-day tram Card (500yen) Mmm - well, they speak SOME English....
11:50 Atomic Bomb Museum. (10 minutes on the tram to Matsuyamachi.) Walk up slowly through the Peace Park to the Museum. It`s a new looking building.... Lots of English information. Then on to the Memorial Centre behind the museum. It`s underground, beneath a giant pool that is lit at night with 70,000 points of light at night. Austere, simple and rather beautiful.
13:30 - Where next? Glover Gardens or the cable-car up Mount Inasa? Choose Mount
Inasa. (5 minutes on tram to Takara Machi station, then 15 minute walk.) The cablecar runs every 20 minutes. (1200yen return). Just miss one, so wander around Fuchi shrine until it arrives. Cablecar is large, seats about 10 - Inasa International Cemetery is spectacular, terraced up the side of the hill as we climb. Great views from top of harbour but spoiled by haze, so can`t see much.
2:50 Glover Gardens. (600yen) Wow! - I could spend hours here - wonderful place. Regret time wasted on hazy view from Mount Inasa.... Wander through the gardens, peering into all the 19th century houses, looking at how gaijin USED to live.... So Glover imported guns did he! - `bet that`s more lucrative than English teaching.... Real English roses! - I could be back in granny`s garden.... Relax and gaze over harbour.... Wish I could stay longer....
4:45 - Omiyage shopping in little group of shops down the hill from Glover Gardens - and YES! - THE most politically incorrect shop of the trip - "Whale Ivory" indeed!
Running out of time now, so dash up to Hollander slope. Not so interesting - but that Confucian Shrine looks good...
17:01 arrive just as it closes... Built in 1893, it also houses a museum. WHY did I waste time on Mount Inasa... Must see it next time. Ah well - let`s walk from Glover gardens back
to the Bus station, going through Chinatown. But what`s thht? A prison? No - the old British Consulate.... No time for Dejima, but I have heard it has been over-restored and looks a bit "fake", so no great loss...
17:10 Tired and ijime-poi, so go into koban for directions and pretend not to speak Japanese..
17:15 Chinatown! - this is more like it - Nagasaki has a wonderful sense of being alive! - mmm - the smells, the colour - and some old buildings too.
17:55 - whew - a long walk back, but lots to see. REAL ARCHITECTURE! ! Now - where IS the sea. Ah, here`tis... 18:07 - just one more stop, the site of the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints... Dash up hill - is this it?
18:14 - Bus stop, waiting for bus. oooops - wrong place.... helpful local puts me right - "run gaijin run"
18:15 - 20:15 - Back to Tenjin.
Total cost of day: 7000yen plus food.
If you try and do Nagasaki in a day, we suggest visiting the Atomic Bomb Museum in the morning and the Glover garden area in the afternoon. Go up Mount Inasa after dark and take a late bus back. Japanese language abilities required on trip? None really....
Total cost of trip
¥4500
¥200yen
- (Atomic Bomb Museum)
¥600 (Glover gardens)
¥500 tram (1day ticket)
¥1200 - Mount Inasa
Total: 7000yen
(Check out the picture gallery for more images of Nagasaki....)
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Nagasaki Picture Gallery
Gallery (Inline)
