Kyushu 2024 Day 3: Nagasaki

 DAY 3: 27 NOV 2024

Megane bridge

We have a full day set aside for exploring Nagasaki city today!

We originally booked a Gunkanjima island morning boat tour.

However, due to high waves and strong winds, our tour got cancelled.

Although it is a pity that it was cancelled, I am glad that they prioritised the safety of visitors above all else.

Due to the tour cancellation, we started our morning by visiting the key historical sites in Nagasaki.

Everyone should know about the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.

There were a few places to visit to learn more about it and the first place we headed to was the Nagasaki Peace Park.

Nagasaki tram

The main modes of transport in Nagasaki are buses and trams.

We decided to try out the tram which stops at the key tourist sites.

We paid the tram fares using our Icoca card.

Upon alighting, we took a short walk to the peace park.

When we arrived, we saw many groups of students on a learning journey at the park.

The peace park had a few statues and monuments with description boards for visitors to understand more about them.

I recall reading about the symbolic meaning of the huge statue as seen in the photo above.

After exploring the park, we took a short walk to the atomic bomb hypocenter.

Atomic bomb memorial monolith

As implied by the term 'hypocenter,' the atomic bomb was detonated 500 metres above the right side of the memorial monolith.

Thereafter, we headed to the atomic bomb museum to learn more about the destruction caused by the atomic bomb.

The museum entrance fee is 200 yen for adults.

Unfortunately, the students who were on learning journey also visited the museum.

The museum was packed with students which made our experience less enjoyable.

The museum exhibits primarily focused on the timeline of the atomic bomb plans and the devastation it caused. 

I felt that the exhibits effectively highlighted these aspects. 

However, it is important to remember the actions of Japan that contributed to the dropping of the atomic bombs. These were notably omitted and possibly resulted in portraying skewed perspectives for museum visitors.

We spent close to 2 hours at the museum.

The skies were glooming and grey when we stepped out of the museum.

We spotted a huge shopping mall, Mirai Nagasaki Cocowalk, during our tram ride and decided to head there next.

十割そば 素屋 みらい長崎ココウォーク店

We were spoilt for choice when we arrived at the mall.

After looking around, we settled for soba!

I had the tempura cold soba while Zhi Sheng had the hot duck soba.

After lunch, we hung around the mall before taking the tram no. 1 to Dejima wharf.

It started pouring while we were on the tram.

We were initially thinking of alighting mid-way to hang out at the shopping mall next to JR station.

However, we decided to stick with the original plan.

Although it was raining when we alighted, the rain stopped and only continued intermittently.

Dejima Wharf

The wharf was boring in my opinion.

There were a few restaurants and nothing much to see.

After a brief stay, we begun walking towards Chinatown.

Chinatown

While walking around Chinatown, we spotted a cute Studio Ghibli store!

They even decorated the shop front with Totoro toys. 

We also chanced upon a shopping arcade which was filled with retail stores, including pharmacies.

Megane bridge

We finally arrived at the famous Megane bridge, also known as the spectacle bridge.

Since we had time before dinner, we decided to do some window shopping at AMU plaza Nagasaki.

The shops at the shopping malls close by 8pm and we did not get a chance to explore the mall yesterday.

Mister donut

We passed by Mister Donut and we had to buy some donuts back.

A Mister Donut outlet just opened at a mall near my place in Singapore and the prices are 50% more than that in Japan.

So glad I had as many pon de rings as I would like in Japan!

We went back to the hotel to chill before heading out for dinner.

I found a cosy local eatery selling okonomiyaki located about 6 minutes walk from our hotel.

Hiroshimatei

When we arrived just before 6pm, there was only 1 customer.

English menu is available in the restaurant. 

After looking through the menu, we ordered an Osaka-style and an Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki.

The Hiroshima-style one has yakisoba in it.

Zhi Sheng had this while I took the Osaka-style one.

But after trying both, the Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki had more flavour which tasted better!

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel for some rest.

Since it was our last night at the hotel, we had to try the massage chair again, have our free ice cream and ramen!

And that was how we ended our last night in Nagasaki!

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Click here for our Day 4 adventure

or retrace our steps here for our Day 1 & 2 adventures!

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