yamaonna

My apologies for the irregular postings over the last few months.  Between the parental unit invasion and travel I’ve hardly been on the internet.  But I finally got around to sorting out my photos from Kyushu, and without further ado, here’s the photographic evidence. (warning, very image heavy!)

Day one in Nagasaki:

Oura Catholic Church, which is Japan’s oldest standing wooden church.

Glover Garden, a garden that is the home to 7 western style residences from the Meiji period.

Kakuni Manju, BBQ pork in a steamed bun.  Very very yummy!

Dejima is the island where Dutch traders were allowed to trade with the Japanese during the Tokugawa period.  Due to the Shogun closing Japan to westerners, Dejima was built to allow trade with the Dutch to continue.  Over the years the island was lost to reclaimed land, but recently the island and the buildings have been restored.  I found Dejima to be really fascinating.

Saru Udon

Champon, a Nagasaki speciality, is a cross between Japanese and Chinese food.  Many of the dishes in Kyushu have Chinese influences.

Day Two in Nagasaki:

A visit to the Peace Park, which is just up the road from the hypocenter of the atomic bomb blast.

Here is the monument (on the right) which marks the hypocenter, and a piece of the Urakami Cathedral that survived the bomb blast.  The Atomic bomb museum is only a short walk from here, and really, I can’t use words to describe it.  Going to a museum like this is one of the most sobering and somber experiences you can have.  If you have the chance, go!

Another relic of the bomb blast, the other half of this Torii gate was knocked down by the explosion.

Kitties!

Nagasaki City night view, said to be one of the three best in Japan.  Here you can see Nagasaki Station in the center of the picture.

Day 3 from Nagasaki to Kumamoto via Shimabara:

We caught the train from Nagasaki to Shimabara this day, and had a quick look around Shimabara Castle.  Shimabara is the peninsula where many Japanese Christians were killed in a revolt, and the castle had many relics of hidden Christians in the area on display.  However, the castle was nothing compared to the one at Kumamoto, so I won’t post any photos apart from this –

A Shimabara food, Rokobe Manju, a black steamed bun with sweet potato inside.

After that we went to the ferry and were in Kumamoto by sundown.

Day 4 in Kumamoto:

We started out by going to Kumamoto Castle, which was built by Kato Kiyomasa (above).

A castle turret with the walls of Nimaru and Honmaru (inner and second circle of the grounds).

A close up of the stone walls.

The main tower of the castle.

View from the main tower, looking at the reconstructed palace.

The guided meeting room of the lord of the castle (inside the palace).

Although a lot of the building are reconstructed, there are a few originals, and plenty to see.  We literally spent all morning there, and didn’t even realize we had missed lunch!

Next off to Suizenji Jojuen garden, which was first started in 1632, and depicts the 53 stations of the old Tokaido highway.  You can even see a miniature Mt Fuji.

Dinner that night was Kumamoto ramen.

Firstly Tonkotsu ramen.

Then a salt flavored broth.

And finally a Chinese style simmered pork on rice.  All very very yum!

Day 5 in Kumamoto:

We wanted to make a day trip to Aso, but unfortunately the weather didn’t agree with us, and instead we went to the Former residence of Hosokawa Gyobu, a Samurai house.

Mum and Dad found it really interesting because they had never been into a Samurai house like this.  There were quite surprised at how big it was.

Day 6 returning home:

Finally, on the plane home we were able to see Mt Fuji, and final treat to the holiday.

To see some more photos, please check out my Flickr set!