Nagasaki, Japan

Thursday April 18 – Nagasaki

 

Today we are on Jeju Island in South Korea, and it’s our third straight port day (Nagasaki, Busan, Jeju Island). Tomorrow will be a sea day, followed by three days in the port of Tianjin, China (our gateway into Beijing). This post will be only on Nagasaki, Japan, as there is more than enough for this amazing city.

Nagasaki, of course, is primarily remembered as the city that was leveled by the second atomic bomb on August 9, 1945. Even though there was a major shipbuilding operation in Nagasaki, it wasn’t the original target for the bomb. Kokura, with its armament factory, was the intended target, but the cloud cover didn’t allow a clear sighting, and the plane went to its secondary target, Nagasaki. Today, the city is known around the world for its promotion of peace. Below are a few of the photographs I took.

 

The city is also home to Japan’s oldest wooden church, Oura Church, which is up a slight hill from the harbor, and right next to Glover Garden (Glover was a Scotsman who founded the shipbuilding industry in Nagasaki that later became Mitsubishi). While the inside of the church was mildly interesting, I would tell people to save their 300Yen for use somewhere else (such as a 250Yen ice cream cone).

A major sweet food item in Nagasaki is the Castella sponge cake that was brought by the Portuguese in the late 16^th century. Flour, sugar, and eggs are the main ingredients, although the flavored varieties have other items in them.