nagasaki

Since our hotel had a convenience store located near the lobby (there was a "secret" entrance for hotel guests), we decided to pick up some baked goods and have them with some coffee from the convenience store for breakfast.

Before catching the light rail back to our hotel the night before, I spotted this bakery, Pan no Ie.

When you enter the bakery, there is a wall of tobacco, I figured out that this place mainly sells cigarettes to the bars in the area and the baked goods are just around for people feeling peckish after midnight.

We picked up their salad bread, this was supposedly potato salad in a soft roll, I didn't find any potato salad in there and wasn't too impressed with this.

A baked curry pan, and a croquette pan.

This thing called renga (brick). Boy, was it heavy!

Filled with raisins and fruit, this was probably my favorite of all the things we chose.

The weather that was forecast to be rainy turned out to be cloudy...whoo!

We purchased an all day light rail pass for 500 yen and made our way to the Peace Park. (FYI: one ride on the light rail costs 120 yen)

The Peace Park was created with a desire for world peace. The statue sculpted by Nagasaki native, Kitamura Seibou is about about 13 meters high (including the pedestal).

The raised right hand pointing towards the sky symbolizes the threat of nuclear weapons. The flat outstretched left hand represents eternal peace. His eyes are closed in prayer, in hopes that the souls of the victims may find rest.

Near the Peace Park is Urakami Cathedral. The original church was destroyed in the nuclear blast.

There is a remnant of the original bell tower on the side of the church. It is huge! It was hard to imagine a blast so strong it would blow the bell tower off the church! Definitely eye-opening.

Nearby, is Enokijunseido, a Japanese confection maker that has been around since 1844!

They are famous for these...Ikkoko

You'll be surprised if you try these because they are filled with..air!

Apparently, if you eat them as is they are very hard, but if you put them into the toaster oven or into a heated pan for a bit they become a little softer.

I wish we had bought enough to try it once in the toaster...

Simple and not too sweet...86 yen a piece.

Down the road from the Peace Park is the hypocenter.

Seeing this area was also eye-opening and left me with mixed feelings (since I am Japanese-American)...

We then hopped back onto the light rail and headed to Chinatown to drop off our bags at the hotel we would be staying at.

Since the weather turned out to be cloudy with spots of sun, we decided to join a tour to Hashima. This island was abandoned 40 years ago when the undersea coal mining under the island ended.

The island is also known as Gunkanjima because it looks like a battleship.

As we walked to the light rail station, we shared this kakuni manju by Iwasaki Honpo. Love kakuni (shoyu pork)! This one was sweet-salty and the meat very tender.

We caught the rail to the pier. Since the tour would be three hours, we grabbed lunch at Nagasakiko.

Satoshi tried their Ji-ge-don. An assortment of seafood caught locally. I should've tried that too as my maguro-zuke don was kinda frozen in places...

Before joining the tour, you have to sign a waiver and promise to follow all sorts of rules, mainly to stay within the boundaries and to follow the guides directions.

It takes about 30 minutes to get out to the island. From afar, it really does look like a battleship.

The island was used to mine coal undersea. It was also for the coal miners and their families to live on. The island had everything: movie theatre, barber shop, school, gymnasium, swimming pool, shops. They even planted gardens on the rooftop of the school.

The only thing the island didn't have was a cemetery and crematory. Whenever someone passed they were brought to a nearby island to be cremated and buried.

It was amazing to see how much damage weather can do.

The 7-story building (dark grey) is over 90 years old and was one of the first cement buildings in Japan. It was amazing to see that it was still standing.

After the tour, they circle the island twice, once for the people on the left side of the boat and once for the people on the right side of the boat.

We then headed to check out the one-legged arch at Sanno Shrine.

There were apparently 4 arches at this shrine but when the nuclear bomb hit, this was what was left...wow!

Even this huge kusunoki (camphora) was split in half by the blast. The entrance to the shrine passes in between the split tree.

Another eye-opening sight!

By now, the sun was setting but we still wanted to check out a few more places...Sofukuji.

Built in 1629, this temple is a national treasure and holds many cultural artifacts.

We actually arrived here after closing. There is actually an admission fee but since the gates were still open and no one at the gates, we just walked in and took a look around.

We hopped back onto the light rail and headed towards Glover Garden. They normally close at 18:00 but we lucked out because they were having a holiday light up.

On the property are 9 historical western-style houses included the former residence of Thomas B. Glover, a major contributor to the modernization of Japan.

Very beautiful grounds.

We were also able to see Oura Catholic Church lit up too.

Starving, we decided to look for some Nagasaki champon at Kyokaen. Champon is a dish inspired from Chinese cuisine. It is similar to ramen but uses only one pot to make.

Lots of veggies.

I was in love with the kakuni (shoyu pork) in Nagasaki. This was super tender.

Satoshi always orders gyoza whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, but he said these were...meh!

I always like ordering jin dui, puffs of mochi filled with sweet bean paste. We "had" to order two because that was the only way you could put an order in for them there....sigh! I'm glad that these didn't disappoint.

To end they gave us these frozen lychee. Love lychee!

Bellies full, we walked to the Dejima area, even though our feet were crying.

When Japan was in its period of isolation, this area was the only window to overseas trade for over 200 years.

Another great day, we were happy the weather turned out to be as good as it was and that we got to use that all-day light rail pass to the max!

Tomorrow: Nagasaki-Isahaya-Shimabara

Pan no Ie (UPDATE:2021 out of business)
2-13 Motoshikkui-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.895.8011
Closed Sundays
Hours: 12:00-3:00 (Monday-Thursday), 12:00-4:00 (Friday, Saturday)

Enokijunseido
13-21 Hashiguchi-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.844.0155

JAL Nagasaki City Hotel
13-10 Shinchi-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.825.2580

Iwasaki Honpo
Nishi-Hamamachi Store
3-17 Doza-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.818.7075
Hours: 9:30-21:00

Nagasakiko
Nagasaki Dejima Wharf Shop 1F
1-1 Dejima-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.811.1677
Hours: 11:00-23:00

Kyokaen
9-7 Shinchi-machi
Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
Phone: 095.821.1507
Lunch: 11:00-15:30, Dinner: 17:30-20:30