Day 77 - Sunday March 31, 2024, Nagasaki, Japan

Arrival: 08:00 All Aboard: 16:30 Departure 17:00

Happy Easter

We will be docked at the port of Nagasaki which is surrounded by mountains. The port is home to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and I can see several ships being constructed here.

As we make our way into the harbour, three Japanese naval ships are docked. One of them is a submarine.

A Viator walking tour with a local had been booked by Janice. The guide's name Armand van der Hamer was of Dutch origin who married a Japanese woman. Our friends, Jean and Pete joined us as well. Armand provided a list of things to choose from. The distance to travel to the Nagasaki Memorial Site was not selected as we would need to travel by taxi, and it was quite a distance and we had been to Hiroshima several days earlier. Both sites may have been different although we wanted the day to be more upbeat.

Once off the ship our obligatory stop was to a 7 Eleven to snap up two egg salad sandwiches. As they say in the song for Les Miserables - "One Day More" to buy egg sandwiches until we leave Japan.

With the sandwiches in hand, it was off exploring with a visit to Higashiyamate the Western style houses built for the Europeans in the 1860s. These blue and white coloured houses overlook Nagasaki harbour.

Meandering through these houses we come across Misaki Road featuring narrow passageways where the residents must climb up and down the steps to get to work or buy groceries.

As we make our way to the bottom of Misaki Road we come across Dojin-Do Shrine. It was built in 1691 at the request of Chinese shipowners and other residents. Destroyed by fire in 1784, it was rebuilt and underwent repairs and restorations over the years. The shrine was demolished in 1950 due to wear and to damages from the atomic bomb. The present building is a replica constructed in 1977.

We continue our climb through the streets of Nagasaki until we reach the Umegasaki Tenmangu Shrine where people in the park across from the shrine are playing the game of pétanque under the blanket of cherry blossom trees. Yes, we have finally found cherry blossom trees.

The objective of the game is for players to throw balls to a target ball known as a jack. The closer you are to the jack gets the points. Janice played when she was young as it was very popular in Quebec.

While here Armand points out a sweet (candy) shop that has been in the family for generations. We stop here to see a gentleman in his late 90s still working. It was very impressive to see him sitting in lotus position which he does for hours on end.

It is past noon, and the decision is to go to a food court to get takeaway. The food court had everything you could imagine. I settled for a salad with two meatballs and a spring roll while Janice had a salad. We finally found food that we could in Japan!!

Our tour continues through Sofukuji Temple and the surrounding cemeteries as we make our way to Mount Kazagashira. Armand takes the time to discuss various head stones in the cemetery but neglected to tell us that to reach the top it was necessary to climb approximately five hundred steps of all shapes and depths. We would climb maybe twenty steps then turn right or left. Without a guide you could certainly get lost.

Finally at the top it was time to break out the lunch and listen to a Japanese duet singing Brain Adams' songs. The duet did play a Japanese song at one point and finished with Stand by me.

Lots of Cherry Blossoms Trees are present.

A taxi is called to take us back to the ship. A high school band plays as we depart for Fukuoka 154 nautical miles away. It will be a slow sailing this night.