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Get ready, take your marks, GO!
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So I finished packing at 1.30am (I shouldn't have gone with Taka when he dropped Aki in Shonandai - although he didn't have to work hard to convince me - it was nice to be in a car and I think I was delaying my last inevitable goodbye).
As I missed my plane last time, this time I made sure I was at the airport with heaps of time to spare which involved getting up at 4am. After an uneventful 2 hr flight (*:*)Zzz and an equally uneventful 2 hr train journey (*:*)Zzz I was in Nagasaki.
In the afternoon I concentrated on the Peace Park, Peace Museum and hypocenter displays which promote peace hoping that the events of August 9th, 1945 are never repeated. The destruction and suffering from this day was enough to bring me to tears. The numbers are totally incomprehensible:
* a bomb carrying the equivalent of 21 kilotonnes of TNT
* 150,000 people killed or injured
* winds of 170 kmph (Hurrican Katrina apparently had winds of about 80kmph)
* 70% of the victims were women, children and the elderly as the men were away fighting.
All of this and more is graphically displayed at the Atomic Bomb Museum.
As for the Peace Statue - well good intentions aside, it's a monstrosity of immense proportions. It's a man with 1 arm raised toward the 'threat' of nuclear war, 1 arm outstretched in peace, eyes closed in prayer for those killed, 1 leg bent crossed under in meditation and 1 leg stretched down from the platform ready to jump up and help the needy. All in all - he's doing too much.
Although, on 2nd thought I just saw a giant turtle carrying the goddess Kannon on it's back - now that is a monstrosity! My guidebook says you shouldn't miss it. I think it would be hard to even if you were trying really really hard.
Surprisingly, Nagasaki has a large Christian population. The accidental arrival of an off-course Portuguese ship in 1542 allowed Nagasaki to trade with the west and missionaries soon followed. By 1587 the Japanese authorities began to perceive Christianity as a threat (seems to happen everywhere) and in 1597 26 Japanese and European Christians were crucified. The religion was banned in 1614 and Nagasaki port was closed to trade until 1859 and the start of the Meiji Restoration.
Now there is a memorial to the 26 martyrs and also the largest Christian cathedral in Asia (maybe about 100m in length - I don't think there is much competition for that title) and lots of pleasantly named establishments like 'Joyful Supermarket', 'Nice Day Drug Store' and 'Angel's Restaurant'.
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