Jap Blog 8th August 1996

Statues seen and photographed in Peace Park, Nagasaki – Fountain for Peace, Monument, Main Statue, Soviet, Czechoslovak, GDR, Bulgaria, Brazil, Cuba, Turkey, USA, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Mother & Child from Netherlands. Visited Matsuyama-cho along with Urakami Cathedral, the famous One-Legged Torii, Unknown Victims Shrine, Nagasaki International Culture Hall (Atomic Bomb Museum) – saw a couple that travelled a fair distance on trains with us a few days before. At the Peace Park I had an interview with six Japanese students and we kept bumping into them. Museum was pretty gruesome. Atomic bomb hypocentre, on-legged torii, Sakamoto International Cemetery (here are the Hebrew site and Glover gravesite, site of martyrdom of 26 Japanese saints, Goddess Kannon on Turtle at Fukusai-ji and inside (all the discs are messages to aborted or stillborn children saying how the parents wished that the baby was in a better place), Shojuku-ji with its huge camphor trees (these were blown away except for about 10 feet at the bottom and amazingly they regrew!), talked to a hibakusha – nuclear victim – in a cemetery. He really wanted to talk about his experiences and showed us his scars.

Visited Suwa-jinja Shrine with fortune telling taking place and lots of steps to climb. Took the tram down to Sofukuji Temple and then we got slightly off track. Wayne asked two girls for directions and they had only been in Nagasaki for two hours. They also were looking for the Spectacles Bridge, as it turned out. Finally, we got directions and Yuko [author’s note – aren’t they all called Yuko?] and Emi joined us. They came from Fukuoka. Bought ice creams and went into the city to find a Chinese restaurant. Had a five course meal for 3000 Yen each. We wanted to head back to the Youth Hostel and the girls decided to go out to an all-night nightclub. Stupid us.

- posted by Hammy @ 8:14 am