Fukuoka and Nagasaki: Welcome to Japan

Why do we always insist on picking the earliest transport methods possible? Our alarm was set for 5 o'clock. We had an early flight and still had an hour long journey in order to get to Shanghai International Airport. It is nice to arrive with time to spare, so we don't have to rush like mad. Our flight was a nice short one too, although it seemed to take forever to land the plane and when they did, it came down with an almighty thud. It's always nice to be on solid ground and we couldn't wait to settle in and experience Japan. Fukuoka Airport is very central to the city so it was a nice easy trip in. We expected clean, modern and efficient, we got all of that within the first half an hour of our arrival. Compared to some places, the pavements were clean, not a spot of litter in sight. The toilets were like something from the future, with jet washers. Finally, all the trains and buses we needed were bang on time. After settling into our room we headed straight back out to Hakata Station, which is the main station in Fukuoka. We needed to pick up our JR Rail passes, half of which we had already received in Athens. We just needed to swap the voucher we had paid quite a lot of money for, for a bonafide JR Pass. It had cost us upwards of £300 for 2 weeks train travel within Japan. We had read that taking the super fast Shinkansen trains (we'd end up taking 5 separate ones) is expensive business though, so it is well worth the money. Japanese efficiency was proven again, the process of swapping our voucher for the pass was as easy as pie and then reserving tickets was just as simple. Within 10 minutes we had our pass, return tickets to Nagasaki for the following day and our Shinkansen journey to Hiroshima for the day after that. So simple, from our first couple of hours in Japan, Charlotte and I were smitten, the Hosie and Norris families may have to visit us here when we move in permanently! The rest of the day flew by as we soaked in the atmosphere, even the traffic lights played a jaunty tune when the pedestrians could cross. We popped to the first restaurant we found for a quick taste of Japanese cuisine. We had what we now think were Ramen noodles, which are in a broth. We weren't overly keen but the Tempura Prawns that came with it were really tasty. We just had some time to squeeze in some eccentric Japanese tv, where they appeared to be eating saucepans full of rice for whatever reason.

Surprise, surprise, an early start beckoned for our day trip to Nagasaki. We reluctantly pulled ourselves from our beds, got ready and stepped out into the fresh morning. Our train departed bang on time, a nice change from the unreliable Southern Rail and we settled down with our doughnut breakfast for the 2 hour train ride. It was the little things that were making us love Japan, like when the ticket inspector left the carriage, he would turn, face the passengers and bow to them. Our only issue was that the carriage was freezing but they may have been because we were sleeping almost the entire way. We arrived bang on time (I don't know why we were still surprised by the punctuality) and hunted down the tourist office to obtain our map. Our prior knowledge of Nagasaki was limited to one infamous event from history, the dropping of the second Atomic Bomb in August 1945. We made the museums and parks dedicated to this event our priority and started to walk in the direction. There is a museum, named imaginatively, "The Atomic Bomb Museum", which we went to first. It seemed a bit of a morbid thing to commemorate but it was also a fantastic way of showing the resilience of the people who were immediately effected by the plant. We aren't ones for museums but we really found this one interesting and emotional. You could almost say Nagasaki was unfortunate to be the City picked for targeting, the original target had been Kokura, not far up along the coast, but when the Americans had gone to drop the bomb, there had been low visibility due to fire bombing the previous day. Even when they moved to their secondary target of Nagasaki, there had been cloud cover, which broke just as the bomber was about to abort the run. The photos on display were brilliant, yet gruesome. Showing the effects the bomb had on the area, as well as the people directly affected. Charred bodies and burned and ragged clothing hit the hardest. There were items displayed that had also been exposed. Pieces of wall where a shadow cast on it had left a mark from the heat rays were astonishing. The fused glass bottles were also something that stuck in the mind. The museum was interesting, sad and necessary, very well done and will stick with us both for a very long time.

We were in need of lightening the mood, so after a quick visit to a viewing platform on top of the museum we headed for Peace Park, which is a large memorial park for the bomb victims. There is a huge peace statue at one end and at the other, there is a fountain. Charlotte informed me that the fountain was chosen because the victims of bombing were gasping for water. This was something else done particularly well, situated near the hypocentre, where the bomb exploded. There seemed to be a lot of locals just sitting and enjoying the area. We had a quick lunch break, sitting by an athletics track watching more locals enjoy the miserable Sunday weather with some exercise. We caught a trolley bus back down into the centre of town while the weather worsened, admiring Japan's public transport method of paying when you get off rather than when you get on. We were on our way to an area known as Glover Garden. A short walk from the final trolley bus stop followed by a hike up a load of steps scaling a steep hill. There was a lift but were convinced that you'd have to pay so we skipped that bit. Turned out you didn't have to pay, so as I was coming down with yet another cold, we cheated and took the lift on the final stretch. The rain was pretty steady by now and when we reached the entrance of the gardens we were slightly put off that we had to pay. After some debate, we went for it. We worked our the awkward exchange rate in our heads and thought it worthwhile. Despite the weather, the garden offered us great views ocross the harbour and onto the mountains that surround the city. These mountains helped stop the Nagasaki bomb from being as bad a disaster as the Hiroshima one by stopping the blast from covering lots of ground. Charlotte and I had fallen in love, despite the weather, the city looked beautiful. I'm sure on a sunny day it would look stunning. The park consisted of ponds teeming with giant Koi Carp, which were being fed by young families. A Japanese garden. It was also the home to a man called Thomas Glover, who moved to Nagasaki from Scotland as a young man and set up a brewing company. He did pretty well for himself, made plenty of money and built himself the house and land overlooking Nagasaki Harbour. After our walk through Glover Garden we had a quick nose through the souvenir stalls located at the bottom of the hill but didn't find anything worth departing from our hard earned ¥en for so we decided to take a walk along Nagasaki waterfront. There were a few parks along the way, which we enjoyed, despite the appaling weather. We came across a seaside cafe and decided to sit down, have a coffee and a slice of cake and enjoy the view across the harbour. We sat there for a good hour and watched the world go by.

Our time in Nagasaki was, unfortunately, coming to an end. We made a break for the train station while there was a slight gap in the pouring rain and made it, only slightly soaking. We stopped for some dinner while we there and had some interesting battered balls with pieces of squid in them, along with some rice and vegetables. Knowing the punctuality of Japanese trains, we knew we had precisely 23 minutes to make a quick dash around the supermarket and get to our train. We still had 5 minutes to spare. Unbelievably the train was 2 minutes late arriving back at Hakata Station but I'm sure that was just a minor blip.

That was all for the Island of Kyushu on Japan, we had loved Nagasaki despite our short amount of time there. Fukuoka, we just didn't have the time to see, I'm sure it is lovely though.

Up next, we follow in the footsteps of Grandad Hosie and move in to Hiroshima.

Very sad to hear about my Uncle Bill passing away, I enjoyed many a long walk with him and Jake the Jack Russell along the River Itchen when I was growing up. Our thoughts are with my family.

James and Charlotte