Nagasaki, which means "long cape" in Japanese, became a centre of colonial Portuguese and Dutch influence in the 16th through 19th centuries, and the Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region have been recognized and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
During World War II, the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made Nagasaki the second and, to date, last city in the world to experience a nuclear attack.
Nagasaki, Japan
Where in the world are we?
We had a looong day in Nagasaki, with over 18000 steps and hours spent standing- on trams, in a park, in two museums- and that alone would leave me tired, but today was also rather poignant, and brought up a lot of family memories. And, finally, it was the last port of this cruising season, and I have mixed emotions about that, too. It would be easy to let this post wait until tomorrow, but that’s not going to happen. So here goes…
Our arrival in Nagasaki was scheduled for 9am, and, once again we drew the short straw and weren’t scheduled to go through face to face immigration until after 11am. We were willing to wait yesterday, but were feeling a little less compliant today, and talked ourselves off by 9:30am. A visa was added to the back of our passport copies and we turned the visa back in when we returned to the ship late this afternoon. We also had to complete a customs form and have any bags we were taking into the country x-rayed.
Greeted by musicians in traditional clothing
Once in the terminal, the lines to use the one ATM or the money changer were both extremely long and slow moving. Then we found out that we could purchase an all day pass on the city’s electric trams using US dollars ($5) as well as Japanese yen and that saved us at least 45 minutes in line and started us on our way. We walked out of the terminal down to the closet stop on the Green line tram. We rode that for just a couple of stops to transfer to a Blue line tram. We stayed on that tram for 11 stops and got off at the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Park. Three sites commemorating the dropping of the atomic bomb Fat Man from the B-29 called Bockscar over Nagasaki are located in close proximity: the Peace Memorial Park, the Hypocenter Park at Ground Zero, and the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
We had prepared for today by downloading several articles about the day the atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki when we were in Busan yesterday, and had spent a couple hours reading them last night. I was reminded that my grandpa who died in 2000 at the age of 95 had worked on the Manhattan Project for Baker Brothers in Toledo, Ohio. Baker Brothers machined uranium rods into plugs. Gramps didn’t know until after the war just what he had worked on; all he knew at the time is that he was helping the war effort, but he was proud that he had played a small role in bringing the war to an end.
Of course, as a young child, Gramps was my hero; as I grew older and wiser I did question the morality of what the US had done but, in the end, I truly believe that it was the lesser of several evils. Still, I have a feeling I know what Gramps would have thought of my visit today. He was of a generation that was slow to forgive, and maintained unwavering views on the subject until he died.
So we were prepared to be moved, and we were. We started in the Peace Memorial Park which is probably the most benign of the three sites, focused entirely on a world in which a bomb of this or much bigger magnitude never be used again. Several countries have donated sculptures or memorials, and for Korea and China, it was especially moving to see theirs dedicated to their own citizens who were killed in Nagasaki. Japan had essentially enslaved Koreans and Chinese and US and Australian-New Zealand Prisoners of War to work in the Misubishi munitions plant very close to Ground Zero, and most of them were killed either instantly or within two weeks from radiation poisoning.
The Peace Fountain, meant to resemble a doves’s wings.
Peace Memorial Park had several water features; the Peace Fountain was the largest
Joy of Life statue donated by Czechoslovakia
Several memorials had water bottles as offerings to the deceased who died of burns and thirst.
The Peace Statue dominates Peace Memorial Park. The right hand upstretched points to the atomic bomb, the left hand points to peace and the face is in prayer for the victims.
This photo is just because I loved the reflection in the water
Near the Peace statue, we saw shrines with long strands of 1000 paper cranes each left as memorials, and we continued to see these at the Hypocenter Park and the Atomic Bomb Museum also. In the Hypocenter Park, a monolith surrounded by concentric circles marks the spot 1500 feet above which the bomb was detonated. The monument’s empty tomb stands in honor of those who were never found. Physically being in this place was emotional in a way that is impossible to describe.
These are offerings of paper cranes tightly strung together in garlands.
The paper cranes up close
Ground Zero in October 1945
Ground Zero today
Nearby, a scorched vestige of a wall from the Urakami Cathedral stands as a stark remembrance of the devastating blast. This was once the largest Catholic church in The Far East, and stood just a few hundred feet from the center of the explosion.
Urakami Cathedral wall remnant (500m from the hypocenter)
Brick damage from atomic blast
Just below the wall remnants, along the river, a window is cut into the bank. Looking in we saw the moment of impact preserved, the ground as it appeared immediately after the detonation… strewn with crushed brick, scorched rock, and melted glass. Most moving of all was the pair of pliers and belt buckle that had melted into the rock.
The area around Ground Zero is raised now, but in building it up, the original earth was exposed.
Original ground flattened by the blast
A wrench and belt buckle found melted into the rock
Then we continued up the hill overlooking the Hypocenter Park to what we knew would be the most emotional part of our day, the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. I took few photos in here; some things, such as the human hand bones melted into glass, or photos of victims and survivors were just too graphic to want to record on this blog. A large relief map showed the approach of the bomber Bockscar over the city. In fact, Nagasaki was the second choice for the bomb drop that day; first choice Kokura was covered with clouds and so Bockscar moved on. Though Nagasaki was also covered with clouds, there was one small opening in them though which the target could be identified.
I had been unaware until last night that Nagasaki had several US bombing raid during the weeks leading up to August 9, 1945. In fact, propaganda flyers had been dropped by the hundreds of thousands warning of upcoming devastation and telling them to surrender. After Hiroshima, Japan didn’t believe the US had the ability to duplicate that destruction with another bomb; Nagasaki proved otherwise, and surrender occurred just five days later.
In short videos in the museum, Japanese and foreign survivors described their experience in the aftermath of the bomb. Every foreign survivor said that, as horrific as it was, it saved millions of lives. I guess I like to think of it that way. It’s by far more tenable than the alternative.
Nagasaki in 1945
Clock stopped by the blast about 800m from the hypocenter
Model of the bomb Fat Man dropped by B-29 Bockscar
After such an emotional several hours, we decided to turn our thoughts to something happier, and next visited the Nagasaki Electric Railway Museum. This was no easy find- we walked through tunnels under streets and along a river – but it was worth the effort. But after time spent there, we were starting to wear down. We made our way back to a tram station where we once again were crammed in tight and holding on to overhead straps for balance. We then transferred to another tram and that one took us just two stops to the Cruise Terminal. We were shocked; the tram was empty when we boarded and we actually got to sit down on our final ride of the day.
Nagasaki electric tram
The only tram of the day where we got a seat ;-)
Digital signs on board make it easy to get around
We re-boarded the ship around 5pm, did a quick clean up (showers weren’t required; the day had been as cold as Busan yesterday, in the 30s) and went to dinner in the Vivaldi Dining Room at 5:30pm. We ate in near silence. I was busy uploading photos to this post before we sailed at 7 pm and lost local service, and G was sending out texts to friends. (And that is why we love our table for two.) The Sapphire Princess and it’s twin sister the Diamond Princess were the only Princess ships built outside of Italy, st the Mitsubishi Shipworks facility in Nagasaki. At sail away, local dancers and musicians were on the pier to commemorate that relationship.
There was a female vocalist performing in the Princess Theater, and a physical comedian/mime performing in the Explorers Lounge, one of those rare nights there are two entertainment options. We chose the physical comedian simply because his show started at 7:15pm and we’d get to bed earlier. He was okay. If I had any energy at all I’d go out for the female vocalist’s late show, but, alas, I absolutely do not.
We’ve now completed the ports portion of our cruising season. We do have a long layover in Beijing the day after tomorrow, and, armed with our Chinese visas, intend to take a taxi somewhere for some sightseeing and dinner before returning to the airport, but that will be easy. The tough sightseeing is over. We’ve been very lucky…there have been no falls, no collisions with motorbikes, no injuries at all, no thefts, no losses, and, though we’ve certainly been lost, either alone or through the kindness of strangers, we always managed to get back on track.
Travel...there’s absolutely nothing like it. :-)