Japan in the Spring - Nagasaki

Nagasaki was the only port where we had to walk around with an umbrella but only for a part of the morning.  We have been very lucky.  There was no free shuttle so we ventured onto a tram after getting some very helpful instructions from the Tourist Information at the port.  It was a pleasant tram ride, not too crowded and gave us an opportunity to see the locals.  I've noticed that the Japanese ladies are very nicely dressed when they go out,  even in the rain.  

Our main destination was the Nagasaki Peace Park and the adjacent museum.  The Peace Park had some striking memorials as you can see in the photos below.  The park was also nicely landscaped on higher ground that can be reached by a covered escalator.  Some of the memorials were donated from other countries so it was interesting to see how different nations expressed their compassion for the city that was bombed.

Fountain of Peace, the centrepiece

The beautiful floral pathway up to the Peace Park

Memorial to the people who died in the bombing

This memorial was donated by the Czech Republic

Donated by China, the back of the sculpture has the characters that represents "Peace"

Peace statue

This is where all the wishes for peace in the form of strings of origami cranes are hung

View from the Peace Park of Nagasaki with the Immaculate Conception Cathedral 

All toilets we have encountered in Japan are impressively clean - but this one is actually pretty!

Ground zero was marked by this dramatic plaza in between the Peace Park and the Museum. 

The river separated the Park from the Museum

Origami cranes are symbols of peace

What luck to come across a snowy egret beside the river

After the visit we dropped by the renowned Spectacles Bridge on the way back to the port. I was surprised that it actually looked like a pair of spectacles! 

A surprise cormorant drying its wings

Two children and a dragon - not sure about the symbolism behind this statue, but they all seem to have happy faces

A traditional house in between two high rises

Japanese lady in the rain

I have noticed that Japanese restaurant entrances tend to be very decorative. Here are a series of restaurant entrances that caught my eye on the street that ran alongside the river

This looks like a shop selling supplies for cats - with an unusual entrance

Nagasaki Chinatown was our lunch stop.  It was quite busy but we were able to find a table at a fairly large restaurant - food was okay but I still missed Chinese greens!

Chinatown consists of several streets like this one - a lot of reds and golden dragons -  unmistakably Chinese...

It was a short walk from Chinatown back to the ship but on the way, the Nagasaki Art Museum caught my eye.  I lucked out because the Museum happened to be running a retrospective on the well-known Japanese artist Yoshimura Yoshio (1950-2013).  It was an amazing exhibit of the works of this artist known for his awesome pencil drawings - a feast for the eyes.  I can only include a few here but the exhibit included "perfect reproductions of newspapers made by copying every single character by hand, a series of self-portraits made every day for a year, and a ten-meter-long depiction of flowers that could easily be mistaken for a photograph."  It was an unexpected bonus.

Nagasaki Art Museum

Yoshimura Yoshio self-portraits

The 10 metre wisteria painting done with Faber colour pencils and close-up below

Nagasaki waterfront

The ship left Japan to sail to Busan, Korea that night.  Japanese authorities had to come on board to do exit procedure for every single passenger.  And they will come back for re-entry...

Next post:  Busan, Korea