Milla.X, Adventurer: Nagasaki

Last day in Nagasaki was dedicated to doing all the necessary sad shit: visiting the A-bomb museum, memorial hall and the epicentre of the bomb. I don't have any photos from the first two places, because the museum was too interesting (if not full of propaganda and some information errors) and because I think photography in memorial places is tacky, like taking smiling photos of yourself at the Holocaust memorial in Berlin. Anyway, here's the photos from our last day in Nagasaki!

Whoops, actually, this is from the victim memorial hall. Instead of flowers, people had left paper cranes. I thought they were nice.

Epicentre.

A single crane on the memorial monument. Someone had great eye for dramatics.

One of the only things to survive in the immediate vicinity of the epicentre.

Wreaths of thousands and thousands of origami cranes, sown together.

Very serious sausage dog, remembering all the lives lost.

In the peace park, hunky bro reminding us all that peace is the way to go. I agree bro, I agree.

Park employees fishing out algae (and probably some thrown in coins).

We managed to see almost all the sights marked on the Nagasaki tourism map, and the last one was this bridge: The Spectacles Bridge. Get it? Because the mirror image on the water makes it look like glasses!!!

This guy knew all about the bridge, and also about the 10 other bridges around, impressing the knickers off of these ladiesss.

No close up photo could stress just how much Koi there was in the river. Enough to make me fear for my safety.

Getting to Japan from Korea was really straight forward and easy. First I had to take a bus (number 51) from in front of our house and kiss George goodbye as he was also on his way out, to leave for work. The kiss was met with scandal and delight from tiny girls who were squealing from behind the school gates, and whom sometimes treat me like a super star. Then I had to take a coach from the Gyeongju coach terminal to Busan. This cost approximately 3.5€, and lasted for exactly an hour. From Busan bus terminal I had to take an underground to the international ferry terminal. This took 45 minutes, I can't remember the cost because I just beeped my national travel card. Then I had to walk about 200m to the ferry terminal, and wait there for three hours, avoiding old senior grandpas who were trying to hand me all the Jehova's witness pamphlets they had in their arsenal. Then I got to check in and wait another hour and a half to board. During this time I ate a slice of cheesecake. Then I was allowed into the ferry, which was exactly like an airplane, ferry hostess' and seat belts (which had to be on at all times, in case the ferry had to manoeuvre around whales or "other sea creatures") and all. Then I sat in the ferry for three hours, watching a Japanese soap film about a deaf/mute woman who wants to be a geisha. I also fell asleep, only to be woken up when my head became too heavy and I smacked it to the windowsill. Then we ported in Fukuoka, I went through passport check and customs, and received my 90 days of tourist visa. Then I took a taxi, 10€ for about 5min, to the Hakata train station. There I bought a train ticket from a woman who couldn't speak any English apart from "Reservation or No Reservation?" To no avail, I tried to get information on what the difference was, exactly. She said the difference was 300Y (2€ ish) in cost, but not much else. In the end I decided on getting the reservation ticket. Then I had 30 min to buy snacks, and I did. Then I got on the train to Nagasaki, and quickly found out that reservation meant first class. First class had wooden floors, glass lamps and plush leather seats. The journey from Fukuoka to Nagasaki took about 1h 50min and cost 33€. Then I walked 7min from the train station to the hotel (cost of this was free) and had finally arrived. See? Simples!

Now here's some photos of Nagasaki.

We started our first day at a mall, as Sam's luggage had decided to stay in Amsterdam for a bit longer than his layover. So he needed some weather (fucking hot and humid) appropriate flipflops and other nicknacks.

A Japanese clothing shop with a Finnish name "Ehkä Söpö" (=Maybe Cute) with random Finnish words decorating the walls. Well joke's on them, because my Finnish aesthetic eye actually really liked all these clothes!! I'll be sure to buy at least one tshirt before I leave.

From there on we continued to our first museum, the Dejima. This was an old seaport that during 1600 to 1800 was the only gate open to Japan.

Sam modelling those flipflops.

Basking in the attention of prepubescent children.

Sam doing the traditional Asian pose..

..Me doing the traditional hiphop "all of this is mine"-pose.

I was hellbent on having this picture taken and I'm still laughing.

After the museum, we walked to town through Chinatown. Having had Noro virus twice this year, I related to this lion.

Sam and the gate to Chinatown. He probably offended this older gentleman in the photo.

All the whale meat and whale bone keychains one could wish for!

At the mall.

This Shiba inu was a model at heart.

As was this stray cat.

Proudly posing next to this Vinland called restaurant. The next day we went there and it turned out not to be a Finland themed restaurant, but a small restaurant owned by an eccentric but incredibly nice man, fond of italian food, Indiana Jones, Brutus (as in the stabber of Ceasar) and cyborgs. We had delicious risotto, watching Battlestar Galactica on the telly.

But this was Sam's meal on the first day. There was no photo of mine because I was too impatient.

Sam posing with inanimate but humanised objects part 1.

Sam posing with inanimate but humanised objects part 2.

OK MOVING ON TO DAY 2.

Day 2 was a real cat day. Cats everywhere. Let's kick off with this one that we saw in a park where we enjoyed a healthy breakfast of cake. Cat with an old general or something. Was more interested in the cat.

Steps leading to a shrine. Not Sam in the picture.

Gate at the shrine. Sam in the photo.

This little fruit and veg selling cutie had nice decorative hair clips on her ear fluffs. Posing with gusto.

A different shrine.

A wild cat appears!

Another cat, sleeping off his hangover.

Sam took this one. This cat is wearing vanity contact lenses.

Someone's lovingly tended bonsai tree.

Taking rest from heat with these babes.

Feeling the flipflop pain.

I hear you, bro.

Taking a skylift to the top of the mountain, to a place we had been calling the Clover Garden the whole day, expecting beautiful clovers. Upon arrival, we realised we had been misquoting the place, which was in fact called the Glover Garden, after a Scottish man who used to live there. DISAPPOINTING.