Shockingly, Miss “I barely look into things when I plan them” thematically placed too many similar things together for our first full day in Nagasaki. Oops. Well, little did they know that they were about to aggressively get lessons on Nagasaki’s (and therefore, Japan’s) first and rather unique encounters with Western Europe and Christianity.
But not with our first stop, Megane (glasses) bridge.
A distinctly Japanese tourism thing is traveling to normal landmarks that are for whatever reason outstanding, be it some gimmick of architecture or something truly impressive with history or the landscape, or a mix of the two. Megane bridge leans more on the gimmicky side. I live for kitsch and I live for this.
It’s a cute little bridge with two arches. When the wind is still, the reflection looks like glasses. Cool beans. You can walk across the shallow river at a few points for pictures, and of course we do this thing.
I’m truly shocked the surrounding restaurants don’t sell any food shaped like the bridge.
Instagrammable bridge aside, it’s good walking – the river is peaceful, the weather is perfect, and we are charmed by the bridge. I guess it worked on us.
The rest of our day is filed under “things I didn’t realize were semi-elaborate museums, and so they each take far longer than I thought.” And the second part of the theme is “Stuff Westerners Did Here (That Didn’t Kill Or Exploit The Locals As Badly As Other Countries).” (Wow)
First up, Oura Cathedral, is a Catholic Cathedral (yeah, weird for Japan!) and it offers the history of persecuted Christians. Honestly a unique thing in this city as there is not a ton of overt Christian stuff elsewhere in Japan (minus Christmas, but that’s quite secular here). Once Japan decided to close, a lot of Christians were killed or forced into hiding.
The cathedral itself is gothic style and relatively simple, as one would hope a church is, since it really should be, I dunno, using its resources to do churchey good things and not hoard expensive art, but who am I to judge? I thought it would be like European churches – pay to go in, have a look around, and then leave after 20 minutes.
Wrong. I am wrong. This is Japan, this church is unique, so of course there is a museum attached. It’s got some neat artifacts and tells you about all the crappy things that happened to the persecuted Christians. It also focuses on the good things the church does, like building schools or feeding the poor. (Notably absent are any parts about child abuse, which does happen in Japan but seemingly less frequently than other countries the catholic church exists in so uh – yay that, but it could also be a numbers thing?)
My favorite part of the exhibit was when it mentioned that the Christian Western world was upset that Japan still suppressed Christianity after they were forcibly reopened to the world in the 1800s. Japan realized this was hampering growth, and apparently the retort of “I mean we could have killed the Christians but we didn’t, you should obviously be thankful!” didn’t go over so well for some reason, so they had to change their approach. Honestly a nice try, Japan.
We become hangry and desire Castellas, which are a Nagasaki Food Thing (thank u the Dutch). We found a super cute cafe run by a nice lady & her husband. 15 years ago, she invented the CASTELLA ICE CREAM SANDWICH and of course we need this ASAP. She also serves hand-roasted indonesian tea in 150 year old mugs her grandfather brought back from south asia (upon writing, I am Doing The Math, yea these came back from the age of imperialism probs).
Her cafe was also full of a ton of super cool paper-cut art that her friend made. I deeply want one but refrain (such strength).
(Like I am not going to spend 50k yen on art, right? RIGHT????)
Narrator: Wrong. Days later, she spent a similar sum on a Hasui woodblock print, whispering “You’re on vacation” and “It’s 3 paycheck month” and “At least it qualifies for a tax-free purchase” while booping her credit card
Next to the church is Glover Park – which I totally was a park that would take 30 minutes. Wrong. It’s a bunch of reconstructed / renovated homes, perched at the top of a hill. I live for this kinda thing (houses + hilltops).
The houses and gardens are super unique – western exteriors, some Japanese interiors – and they take you through the lives of influential rich whities who grew industry & innovation in Japan. I really love the mixed style homes and the old timey artifacts. The old sitting rooms and koi ponds and gardens are divine. They even have a cherry tree that’s currently in bloom – it blooms twice a year!
At the end of the Glover Garden path, it sends you through a building that holds Nagasaki’s Kunchi festival floats. The floats come out for the early october festival and are carried by hand. They even have a few giant dragons – super unexpected, and I really enjoyed seeing the floats up close. What a lucky find!
And speaking of lucky finds – I occasionally excel at finding hole in the wall restaurants that serve up comfort food. I found a four-table restaurant that was filled with soccer paraphernalia. My zarusoba was divine. It’s a great day for this lunch.
Our final activity is Dejima – which I knew would be bigger, making it the ONE thing I properly anticipated. Dejima is the island the shogunate confined the Dutch traders to during Japan’s period of isolationism, which lasted two centuries – until Commander Perry said “open up or I blow u up” in the 1800s.
It jutted out into the bay and got battered by all kinds of fun natural disasters. It was home to traders who let goods come & go, and the reconstructed homes take you through the copper refineries, storage, and general history of commerce. These buildings are kinda the opposite of the Glover Park ones – Japanese inside & outside, but Western furnishings.
My favorite was learning about the copper trade and the room full of gadgets, including an earthquake early warning detector and several clocks.
We stay as long as our feets allow us and then head out to visit the grocery store for dinner. I look for real wasabi and jam with a lid that closes itself. Grocery stores are the best places for souvenirs.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Nagasaki. There’s so much to do in and around it, I wish we had another day or two!
PS – The church had the highest entry fee for the day, and was far from the most elaborate…