Tuesday, 25 November 2025

Miserable day in Nagasaki, rainy and windy and quite a contrast to yesterday. I’ve glad that I did the ropeway yesterday as conditions at the top tonight would have been less than ideal and I’m very glad that all the trips to Battleship Island were fully booked. I don’t know if they went out as there were vessels tied up at the piers when they should have been out this afternoon but if they did it would not have been fun in the squally weather.

As the weather was going to be unpredictable I bought a one-day pass for the Streetcar/Tram. I could have used my Suica too but an unlimited pass for 600 yen compared to 150 yen per trip seemed like a deal. In the end I took 6 trips. So what did I do while exercising my fine umbrella and the tram pass? First off I went to Nagasaki’s version of a Peace Park. As I arrived there I couldn’t help remembering that it was raining the first time I visited Peace Park in Hiroshima in 2006. Maybe that’s a sign, or something.

It is also amazing how a place is mostly empty of people when it is raining but once it stops there are suddenly hordes of people.

This is one of Nagasaki’s modern trams and it took me from the station near my hotel (and the train station) up to Peace Park.

Peace Park in Nagasaki isn’t at ground zero but was the site of a prison that was completely obliterated by the bomb. It’s also on a hill (but thoughtfully there are funky escalators to go up) and there were air raid shelters dug into the hill where some people survived the blast.

When I arrived this school group was (I assume) getting a lecture on the site while attempting to stay dry under their umbrellas.

While I was taking pictures the rain stopped and suddenly the site was full of kids. I have no idea where they were hiding.

And it seemed that they all appeared in order to get a commemorative photo taken as this photographer was wrangling a number of groups. It was fascinating watch her work.

The remains of the prison.

The park contained a number of sculptures and I found one from Australia, linking the people of Nagasaki with those impacted by the British tests at Maralinga, Emu Field and the Monte Bello Islands.

I then went across to the actual ground zero, and visited the hypocenter monument.

The pillar is the remains of the Urakami Cathedral. I went to visit the rebuilt version after leaving the park.

For unknown reasons photography isn’t allowed inside but it did provide shelter from the latest rain shower.

It has some nice stained glass but nothing remarkable that I noticed.

Sadly I forgot about the One-Legged Torii Gate as I took a tram back to the port area so I could visit the recreation of the Dutch Trading Post that was built on an artificial island. Before I visited it I noticed an interesting ship tied up. No access to the pier and no information about it so I have no clue.

The site of the former Dutch Trading Post on Dejima was well done. Dejima was originally an artificial island built to restrict the foreign traders who were constrained to it when Nagasaki was the only port accessible for foreign trade. Originally this was the Portuguese but they got expelled and replaced by the Dutch. See https://nagasakidejima.jp/english/ for more info.

This is a recreation of the First Ship Captain’s Quarters.

It was interesting to see how they packed plates for transport.

Onto the next place and that required two trams, not that it was far away it was just an artifact of the way the tram lines are laid out. These are different trams of similar vintage.

There are only two of the 1700 trams, 1701 and 1702.

I was heading to the prayer triangle zone, there’s a temple, shrine and church in close proximity which is claimed to be rare. Of course all of these things are on a hill and there are more steps.

I wonder how this guy feels about having a bamboo pipe strapped to its head?

Onto Oura Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The 1000 yen fee includes the museum that includes information on the persecution of the early Japanese Christians when Christianity was banned. Most of it was only in Japanese though. Also no photography in either the cathedral or the museum, which doesn’t make much sense to me.

The last stop of the day, in fading light and right before closing time was Glover Garden, which includes relocated colonial buildings. The park might have been nice too in the daylight. They had a couple of escalators to go up the hill and there was a wheelchair route as well as the steps dominated one but you’d need to be a thrill seeker in the wheelchair to cope with the cobbles and the actual gradient!

Being up the top of that ropeway may not have been pleasant if the rain hit.

One final tram of the day and I finally hit a historic one, which they had painted for some project.

A type 300 built in 1954. The interior was also stunning.

This was just after I got on, at the next stop it was packed.

And that’s Nagasaki done. Should have been longer but everything after Kanazawa has been a bit of a rush and more a taste than some serious exploring. Southern Japan will need to wait for another time. One more stop before the Nozomi to Tokyo on Friday.