Nagasaki

Nagasaki


We woke up before the wake up call but not by much. I started my shower and the room service came a little after. We were to appear at the Passenger Terminal at 8:15 am for immigration check: fingerprint, photo, thermal scan, and then to join our group for our tour today. Instead of telling you all the details, I’ll just tell you that it was a royal mess. Not the Japanese immigration because when you eventually did get to that part, it went, as expected, very quickly and then we were onto our bus. We didn’t leave until almost 9:30 am (we were supposed to leave around 9 am and then we had to return for a missing passenger. It was a fellow we know and he would not have held up anything if there wasn’t a good reason so we were all good natured about it all.
WOW! Cherry blossoms
It was chilly and downright cold in many places, especially when the wind whipped up. But we were so lucky because we are here at the ideal time for cherry blossoms. Everywhere you see these fairy like trees, sometimes in isolation, but more often in long rows adorning properties. So we all felt very lucky. And our weather was absolutely gorgeous with bright sun all day.
The ride was 2 hours to our destination but along the way we stopped for a rest room and tea break at a little store that would come close to a souvenir shop but not completely. They had very hot green tea for us to enjoy and samples of various candies; Ed bought some crunchy chocolate. The restroom had both western and the oriental squat toilets. I don’t mind the latter: it’s good exercise for my thighs and actually, from an anatomical perspective, it’s much more logical in that position. These were more modern (and cleaner) than I’m accustomed to in China. And they have a regular flush mechanism unlike the ones I mostly used in China where you had to dump a pail of water in them to flush. So it was an interesting “cultural” experience and my thighs served me well which tells me my habit of squatting when I can has paid off.
Japanese money
We still had about $25 left over from 2 years ago. Since the exchange rate has improved, for a change (no pun intended) it was a good thing to hold onto it especially when you consider the fees for changing money. We learned on the bus that the 5 center piece with a red ribbon tied around it, is a sign of good luck. So several of us were going to the cashiers and trying to explain to them that we wanted to exchange a larger value coin for the appropriate number of 5 cent pieces. Just try that with someone who doesn’t know much English; they don’t get that request every day.
Nagasaki itself
We didn’t actually see a lot of this but it is modern as you’d expect after the destruction of the bomb in 1945. This was mentioned only once today. It is a city of over 400,000 residents. Our tour guide lives about 2 hrs away and attended the Univ. of Michigan for a year while her husband was there. She was gorgeous and charming and we learned a lot about the Japanese way of life including her own. You do see some English signs but you clearly are in a foreign country with signs in Japanese.
The countryside
There are true, sharp mountains all around and Nagasaki nestles in the midst of many of them. There are many long tunnels and toll roads to get you quickly around. The busses are modern and very comfortable though not all of the seat belts worked properly and it is required that you wear them in Nagasaki. The bus driver stops the engine at each stop light and then quickly starts it up when it’s time to go. It seems not to take any more time.
Every spit of land is terraced and cultivated with crops and it is common to see people working the fields and plots. Plastic is everywhere covering the plants and as a part of hot houses. There were plenty of potato and carrot plants among them. It’s redundant to say it’s lush and green. You would often cross a high bridge and look down to see for as far as the eye could, terraces plots into the distance snuggled between the mountainsides and split on the side or middle by a contained river which was also terraced sometimes with designs in the cement which had been put on the bottom.
The homes mostly look like the shogonate style (my description) with gray slate roofs. It’s common to see solar panels and I even saw a wind fan in one field. In fact, there is much here that is black and gray but it is not dour by any means.
The people
Are uniformed almost always, greet you with sincere smiles, bow repeatedly as a sign of respect. They line up in front of their businesses when you arrive and greet you and they do the same to say goodbye. Some folks were surprised by this part of the culture. There’s a lot of (nervous?) laughing as they speak but there weren’t any gloomy Guses anywhere today.
They drive on the left side of the roads which are well kept up; gorgeous bridges when you don’t see an old one. This port is the gateway to Japan for most of it’s history and so it has a long experience with outsiders.
Shimabara Peninsula
This was our destination and there were two busses going there. Our bus was about half filled for which we were all grateful because it meant a better choice of seats and we could spread out.
Our first stop was the old samurai residences where we toured 3 homes each owned by a samauri of increasing importance, thus the home got larger and more elegant. Still each was a few simple rooms covered with tatami mats behind a tori gate and fence. Outside there’s a water canal with spring water from the mountains which has been used by the residents since the clan era. We ran into some school children who giggled and allowed us to take photos. There was a geisha along the way and so we have lots of photos of her.
Shimabara Castle
This was our next stop and wasn’t very far from the Samauri houses; the more important the samauri, the closer their home was to the castle. The whole plot around the castle is abloom with cherry blossoms. When we arrived in the parking area, there were two ferocious samauri types there for us to enjoy in picture taking. There were also two young ladies, one of whom (I think) was dressed in formal samauri clothing.
The castle itself is a museum with lots of interesting displays especially of the samauri regalia. It was built in 1618 the (then) lord of this region. He cut the outline of the castle into a mountainside, erected the stone walls, dug the moat, and completed it 7 yrs later.
I was wanting to see a Akira Kurasawa movie about that time. But I went outside and used another squat toilet (never pass up an opportunity to use a restroom when you’re touring), muse over some “souvenirs” and then move along to a building that displayed a cute selection of dolls along with a model of the castle and some outbuildings. The flowers in colder climates I think have such vibrant colors; maybe it’s because of the contrast with the grayer surroundings.
There were good views of the harbor area from the castle grounds and there was a kind of sculpture garden that many of us enjoyed.
Lunch
This was a Japanese box (not exactly “bento”) lunch where we actually had a selection of many different foods: fish, chicken, pork, red beans, ginger, tempura type fried vegetables, much more and of course: rice. We had water, tea and a choice of beer or Coke Zero. There was miso soup to start but it didn’t have tofu in it; instead there was a solid bread like pellets. None of us ever figured out what it was. We were given chopsticks (wooden but they didn’t bother me) and a fork.
The grounds of this hotel had a cute bridge, some spirit houses, and some gorgeous koi who came swimming to anyone who came near. Clearly they thought we were going to feed them.
Mizunashihonjin
This small village was almost completely buried during the 1991 eruption of Mt. Fugen which is nearby and is gorgeous. You could see the tops of the roofs but not much more. One home had been excavated in the front so you could see that it was pretty modern in a Japanese fashion. I’ve forgotten how many people died in this eruption but almost all of the buildings in this area were built after this eruption for obvious reasons.
The rush back
Because of our late start, we had to rush back to the ship. We knew that we were going to miss the 3:15 p ceremony that took place because this is the first time that this ship has visited this port. It involves the sharing of many gifts back and forth and then a folklorico performance by some children. We saw them as we rushed through the Passenger Terminal; we didn’t have time to get our cameras out as our bus was the last one to return and the ship was waiting for us. There was also a local high school band who serenaded us until we were way out into the bay. They were pretty good too. There was a large banner that said “See you again in Nagasaki” as we sailed off. The descending sun on the sides of the islands as we left were really extraordinary and almost mesmerizing.
We had to surrender our Japan immigration form as we reboarded the ship. I was disappointed as I had put stamps on it at some of the sites where we stopped. Oh well. I also had taken my trekker stick as it’s hard to know from those icons how bad it will be and I didn’t need it. I’m always a little concerned that I’ll forget it on the bus but it made it back safely along with it’s new tip I finally put on it.
Seder
Let’s just say I wasn’t looking forward to this. I feared it would be overly long and we’d be seated with really boring people. Ed’s questioning if the guy is really a rabbi. Many of the women sitting near him were actually doing more about the “service” than he was. We had a handout that originated with Ralph’s grocery stores that told about the things on the Seder plate. And the Haggadah itself was from the internet: www.internethaggadah.com . However, our copies were missing page 13 (are you superstitious?) and a few other pages. I didn’t find it to be particularly helpful as I found it almost impossible to follow whatever he was doing in there. It certainly didn’t feel like a Seder. All the requisite things were there on the plate and there was matzo ball soup and gefilte fish with an egg for each person. Then we were given the choice of chicken, brisket, or lamb. The brisket was actually corned beef and it had so much nitrates in it that I’m still belching it up. I don’t look forward to sleeping with it tonite. The dessert was pretty good actually and they had macaroons but they sure didn’t look like it. I make better haroset.
But there was a wine that was new to me. They did have the usual Maneschewitz (sp) concord grape wine. BUT they also have a white cream concord wine. Anyway, I really liked it so I have a new one to look forward to. Ed says that’s because it’s sweet; he’s right of course.
We sat at a table with a great ocean view (it was sunset) and a lady who we’ve seen around the ship. She has a very upper crust English accent and a rather regal bearing. We often see her at trivia. And she invited a black man from New York to join us. He remarked that there were more Christians (of which he was one and I was another) present than Jews. Some trivia players came up to the lady at our table and remarked “I didn’t know you were of this persuasion.” It reminded me of when Ed and I were met in Israel and in talking with Mr. Panyati he said to Ed: “That’s funny. You don’t look Jewish!” (honest. I am NOT making this story up).
Well she turned out to be an absolute delight and we had great fun visiting with her. That was the absolute best part of the whole experience. She comes from money but has a ribald sense of humor and once you get past the accent and mannerisms, she’s a fun lady to spend time with.
The Seder started at 6:15 or thereabouts (Jewish time you know) and we got back to the room before 9 pm. I still want to read the Haggadah even if it is missing pages, to see what it has in it. I still like Jeff’s Haggadah best with the women whining about shopping and the voice of God booming through the room.
So this meant we missed the “entertainment” this evening which really pained me as you may imagine: it was a comedian – juggler. The Lord saved me tonite.
Tomorrow
We are in Pusan and have a tour there. It is an early start as we berth at 7 am and leave at 12:30 p. The movie “The Sound of Music is showing tomorrow afternoon as Angela Cartwright, one of the child actors in it, is on board and giving interviews. Her husband took a computer class with me and he seems like a fun guy. I know Ed will go watch it as he is agog over Julie Andrews. Since the movie is almost 3 hours long and it starts at 2 pm, that means he won’t be with us for trivia tomorrow.
Cold weather uniforms
Suddenly our staff are in their winter black. It gives a Titanic character to the look of things. I don’t know how they decide when to make the change but it is somehow related to the weather getting colder. I expect that sometime when we are between Beijing and Hong Kong, they will revert back to the all whites never to change back again during this cruise.