Nagasaki/ Obon Weekend

I know that this entry should have been written a month ago. Oooppps! Sorry!

On August 13th to the 16th for the Obon weekend, I took a trip to Nagasaki by myself. I caught a bus from Miyazaki to Nagasaki. It took about 5 1/2 hours, but the bus was comfortable and it stopped twice at rest stops, so that we could stretch our legs.

Once we arrived, I took the tram to get to the hostel. Of course I ended up taking the wrong tram and had to back track. Once I got out of the tram, I started looking around at my surroundings and trying to figure out which way to go next. Two girls got off the tram with luggage at the same time as me and asked if I was going to Akari hostel. We ended up walking together to the hostel and later we found out that we were placed as roommates at the hostel. Funny Coincidence! They were only there for 1 night though. The rest of the time I was there, my roommates were Interac ALTs from up north.

Overall, my trip was great. Nagasaki is a wonderful city. It reminded me a bit of Macau because it is clearly influenced by a variety of cultures from both the West and East.

One of the most important, but most emotionally difficult places to visit is the Atomic Bomb Museum. Certain images are just so painful to even witness. However it's important for people to learn about the horrors caused by the bomb, so that we do not repeat the past.

Another great place to visit in Nagasaki is Glover Garden. It has many European resident houses from the Meiji period. There are also good views of Nagasaki city. I was surprised to see a statue of Giacomo Puccini and a statue of his opera Madame Butterfly in the garden. I did not know that Madame Butterfly was based on events that occurred in Nagasaki in the 1890s until I got there.

My hostel, Akari hostel, was great. We had an event every night. On the first night, many of the guests from the hostel got together and did fireworks together. On my second night, we took a cable car to the top of Mt. Inasa to see the Nagasaki night view.

However, the highlight of my trip was probably the Obon festival in the street. Obon or "Day of the Dead" is a custom of honoring the deceased spirit's of one's ancestors. In Nagasaki, families create floats with lanterns and pictures of their deceased family members. I even saw a float for deceased pets. They would walk around the streets with these floats while fire crackers were going out everywhere. It was really noisy because of all the firecrackers. Once I got there, I realized why the conbini had ear plugs at the front of the register to purchase. lol. However, it was a really interesting festival to observe. I was glad that I got to see it.

I really enjoyed my time in Nagasaki. If you are in Kyushu, you should stop by. That's after you visit Miyazaki, of course. (^_^)

You can go to my Flickr account for pictures of Nagasaki- www.flickr.com/photos/stefy29/sets/72157621938467771/