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Published: November 22nd 2012
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Hypocenter
Bomb detonated 500mtrs directly above this point 9th August 1945 at 11.02am Day 6
After another reasonable breakfast, even though there was no toaster, we made our way downstairs to the coach, which was parked on a nearby bridge as the road along side the hotel was too narrow. As we were leaving, we were waved off by two of the hotel staff - the thing to remember is the custom is to keep on waving until you can no longer see them! We had a 2 hour journey to Nagasaki, where we would be visiting the site of the 2nd atom bomb detonation. Along the way we were entertained by our guide Lim, whom we now realise is completly mad. Aswell as explaining to us that we were going for a "see look" at different places that day, and that when we stop for a toilet break whether you are "half tank or full tank you should squeeze something out" because of the journey time, he told us of his 4 year old child he's found out has fallen down the stairs and is "Blue Black" all over his face, which he found hilarious. He said he would learn a valuable lesson from stairs the experience, that stairs are dangerous!
We were dropped off at the top of the hill, to allow us to walk down and through the Peace Park. A black stone pillar marks the spot 500m above which the bomb detonated at 11:02 on 9th August 1945. The original target was covered in cloud, and so running out of fuel, the pilot flew over Nagasaki, and there was a break in the clouds and so dropped the plutonium bomb. It was more powerful than that dropped on Hiroshima, but the intended target was the shipyards. The blast killed an estimated 75,000 people, and injured a further 75,000. In the park, there is 9m statue depicting a man with his eyes half close in prayer, pointing skywards at the threat of nuclear destruction, and left hand extended to hold back the forces of evil. We thought that the sculpture was "different". The land has been built up since the blast, and down the steps, and behind the glass are some of the artifacts that were lodged into the earth - shoes, glass, ceramics. The museum takes you down into a dark room filled with twisted metal girders, masonry and videos of the dead and dying. There were a
couple of the exhibits that were a little too gruesome to watch, mainly showing the horrific burns. Quite a lot of the other exhibits relating to nuclear capacity and dis-armament were similar to those we had seen at the Hiroshima museum, just depicted slightly differently.
Once we had walked round, it was a quick 5 minute dart to lunch. Nagasaki has one of the 3 Chinatowns in Japan, so the food, whilst customised to a Japanese palette, is reasonably authentic. Lunch was sat at round tables of 6 with the lazy susan, 2 types of soup, sweet and sour, a fish dish, noodle dish, curried chicken, and a couple of other dishes. Dessert was a cake that is famous in Nagasaki - Castella cake, due to the influence of the Portugese - just tasted like sponge cake to us.
We headed towards Glovers Park, which is named after a Scot who was responsible for a number of inovations in Japan including steam locomatives, and whose businesses included the founding of a beer company, Kirin Beer. It was a fairly steep walk upto the top, and once there, we had free time to walk down to the bottom at
our own pace. The gardens were really nice, and the important buildings have been preserved with the furniture of the period inside them for the public to view. Quite a lot of couples get married here, and so the heart shaped paving stones have been added to bring good luck. Towards the bottom, there was the wooden Oura Church to visit, which is one of the oldest in Japan, and Catholic. There was a time when the practising the faith was forbidden, and punishable by death. At this time, followers continued to practise, but disguised their devotion to Mary as that of a Buddist statue in case they were discovered.
Next, we had a 2hour journey to catch the last ferry of the night from Shimabara to our overnight stop at Kumamoto. The ferry, just like the rest of the transport in Japan, left promptly, slightly worryingly though was the choks they put round the tyres on every vehicle, even though they knew it was going to be a flat crossing. Inside, we watched Sumo on the TV, and swapped travel stories with some of our tour group.
Before we got to the hotel, we stopped for dinner
Fat Man
Reconstuction of the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki at a traditional Japanese restaurant. We removed our shoes, and went and sat on the tatami (woven mats) on the floor. In addition to the 6 dishes that were already in front of us, the staff brought addiitonal ones, until the table was full and there really wasnt room for any more. Upon inspection, we had been presented with miso soup (with tofu), sticky rice, sashimi (uncooked fish), tempura, runny tofu with ginger and spring onion, warm steamed egg infused with fish and garlic, and pieces of fruit for dessert. We tried most things, some more successfully than others, and washed it down with a beer, which was neccessary for a couple of things!
We checked into the hotel, and have 15minutes extra in bed, as breakfast isnt until 7am!
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