Nagasaki

Now traveling solo, I didn't have a planned itinerary and so I went where the spirit took me.  I decided to go to the island of Kyushu and to the city of Nagasaki.

Most of us know of Nagasaki as the other city in Japan to be victim of an atomic bomb, but Nagasaki has a very important history in Japan.  During the 1600's Nagasaki was the only port in Japan that traded with the West.  It was here where Japanese Christians were murdered.

Within Nagasaki, there was an artificial island built off the coast where a Dutch enclave was allowed to live.  It is called Dejima.

Although now the area around Dejima has been filled in, this moat in front of Dejima is the remnant of its physical separation from the Japanese mainland.

Dejima has been reconstructed in the past century, but it was rebuilt to the specifications of the 1800's.

 

A scale model of Dejima.

Being so far west, Nagasaki has always had influence from the Chinese.  While I was there, the Chinatown area was in the midst of a lantern festival.

A cool tree....which was imported from Australia.

My last stop within Nagasaki was a visit to Shofukuji Temple.  You approach by walking under successive torii as you climb up the steps to the temple.

And here's the temple.

Just wandering around, I went around back and was happily surprised to find this pathway of torii.  I sat down and spent some quiet time here.