[Kyushu Holiday] Witness the history of Nagasaki

My Fukuoka holiday post continues! 

After a simple breakfast, we left for Nagasaki! We took the Shinkansen train from Hakata Station by utilizing our pre-paid passes, and the train journey took about 3 hours.

Nagasaki is a port city on the island of Kyushu and is the Capital of Nagasaki Prefecture. It is one of Japan's closest port cities to the Asian Mainland which played an important role in foreign trade relations. However, as most people will surely know, Nagasaki is the site of one of the atomic bombings that occurred near the end of WWII.

Upon reaching Nagasaki, we purchased one-day tram passes for 500 yen each, and this allowed us to explore the town with unlimited rides within a day.

The first place we visited was the Nagasaki Peace Park, and the biggest feature of this park was The Peace Statue. It was dedicated as an appeal to lasting world peace, as well as a prayer and message to the world that such tragedy should never be repeated. Every gesture of the statue symbolised a meaning of peace!

 After the Peace Park, we visited The Hypocenter Area (Ground Zero) where the actual atomic bomb landed and exploded. I had a mixed feeling as it was very tranquil, but I knew that this was the site of carnage and destruction barely 73 years ago.

Next, we proceeded to the Atomic Bomb Museum, and admission fees were 200 yen per pax. Browsing the exhibits in the museum allowed us to know the terrible effects the atomic bomb brought on the people living in Nagasaki. There are many written testimonies and video interviews from survivors as well. It was kind of heart breaking to see the exhibits, but it was a good educational experience. If you ever visit Nagasaki, do make a trip down to the museum as it is worth visiting.

After visiting the museum, I am glad that Nagasaki has spread the message of 'World Peace is of the Highest Priority' to the whole world!

We next took the tram to Hamanmachi Shopping Street to have our lunch. We had Nagasaki speciality - Pork Belly!!

After our meal, we did some shopping at the arcade, and we picked up some castella cakes which were Nagasaki's signature specialities!

Before leaving the arcade, we tried another famous Nagasaki specialty, ButaMaan (Steamed Pork Bun). Both Baby and I enjoyed eating the buns very much! 

We continued to explore Nagasaki with our tram passes. We did more shopping at the Nagasaki souvenir shop! 

Before leaving Nagasaki to return to Hakata, we settled at a historical Chinese influenced restaurant. Shikairou serves a famous Japanese/Chinese noodle dish called 'Champon', which was inspired by a noodle dish that originated from China, Fujian province. It seems this restaurant has been in existence for a long time, and was built to cater to Chinese students that travelled to Nagasaki back in the late 1800's.
 

I had a nice experience at Shikairou as it offers stellar views of Nagasaki Bay from the windows. Thanks Baby for the lovely meal on the eve of my birthday celebration. 

Champon is Nagasaki's famous local dish is not in a traditional Japanese Ramen form, but is still a hot noodle dish! Think akin to our local 'Lu Mian' It has a Tonkatsu broth and is filled with veggies. 

I enjoyed my Champon very much! Baby always ensure he orders a plate of noodles for me on my birthday as we Chinese believe that eating noodles on your birthday signifies longevity.  

Thanks for reading on my travel post on Nagasaki, and my next post will be on 'Beppu', which is also known as one of the Onsen/Hot Spring treasures of Japan!