For one of the classes I'm taking, we had the opportunity to take a trip to Nagasaki and stay overnight. While there, we visited the Hara Castle ruins, Oura Cathedral, the Glover Gardens, and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
To get there, we traveled by bus and by ferry. The picture above is us during our short ferry ride. Everyone was outside enjoying the scenery, and we spent the time feeding the seagulls. One of my Japanese friends, Takanori, wanted to try feeding the seagulls from his mouth, alas he was not successful, but he came close!
And here's a picture of a few of us Exchange Students on the Ferry.
After we arrived at Nagasaki, one of the first things we did was stop off by this little convenience store. I took this picture because I thought it was so adorable. The girl above, Sachi, is an exchange student from Vietnam. While we were in the store, this little boy just came up, grabbed Sachi's hand, and started pulling her outside. She was laughing the entire time, and tried to get the little boy to stop. The boy's parents finally took notice and rushed over, apologizing over and over again. We all just laughed and said everything was okay!
We stopped by the Hara Castle ruins, and were amazed by the view. Though the castle no longer stands, the remaing ruins are only pieces of stone that used to make up the surrounding fortress. At the top of the hill though, we found all these beautiful statues.
Our next stop was the Oura Cathedral.
Sadly, these were the only few pictures I was able to take as we were not allowed to take photos inside. The surrounding area was small and only had a small patch of grass with a pond that had koi fish and a crucifix statue.
Next up was the Glover Gardens.
In the pictures above, you'll see a heart stone. There is actually a legend behind it. As the story goes, touching a heart-shaped paved stone will make your dreams of love come true. The tree next to it was adorned with love notes people had decided to leave, tied to the branches of the tree.
Here are some pictures of a few other things we saw there. There were beautiful fountains, and as we went up more and more stairs, we could see drop offs that had water cascading down their sides. The house on the bottom left corner is the Former Mitsubishi No. 2 Dock House. It used to be a facility where ship crews could rest while their ship was getting repaired.
Then, we visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. The pictures show some of the remains of the Urakami Cathedral. In the bottom pictures, you'll see some rosaries that were recovered. The picture on the bottom right is actually several rosaries fused together. From the intense heat of the bomb, the glass beads melted and combined. It was said to have been from a woman whose mother died during the blast. The woman found all her mother's rosaries fused together like this and kept them for 40 years before finally donating them to the museum.
This was my favorite piece in the entire museum. It is a clock that was recovered after the bombing. The face is forever frozen in time at the exact moment the atomic bomb exploded, 11:02 am.
As we were leaving, I stopped by the gift shop. I saw some pamphlets there and the women behind the counter said it was okay for me to take one. Upon looking inside, I saw these words on the first page,
"August 9, 1945, 11:02.
The atomic bomb exploded.
Down under the enormous mushroom cloud
people had been going about their daily lives.
Find records of the various facts about that day
and the atomic bombing
at the museum.
Express thoughts and emotions born at the museum
by praying at the memorial hall.
These two facilities are connected.
Learn at the museum; pray at the memorial hall.
We hope that visitors will carry the emotions born here
into the future,
so that the atomic bomb will never be forgotten."
Though the trip to Nagasaki was a fun one, it was also draining. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. Those who lost their lives during the atomic bomb will never be forgotten.
Here is one last picture of everyone who attended the Nagasaki trip.
またね！
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