Stinking Foreigners (Nagasaki. Days 6-9)

We stank in the car on the way the Beppu Mazda shop to return the car (it’s about time, I hear you say); we stank on the 3 hour bus ride to Nagasaki; we stank on the street-car to our hostel; we stank in the hostel even after showering; we stank in the pasta restaurant; we stank in our sleep.

The next morning we were supposed to be booked in for a cruise to Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), but just as we were leaving the hostel at 8am, I got a call from he cruise company saying that the weather conditions weren’t good, it would be too dangerous to go out, and they had to cancel that day’s trip. LUCKILY, we managed to get booked into the next day’s morning cruise.

[We were up and out so early, that none of the restaurants or cafes around the A-bomb monuments were open, so we had to settle for combini breakfast. And it took us forever to find that combini. And it was out of the way from the monuments/attractions that we wanted to see that day. Ah well.] We packed in lots of things that day - Nyokodou 如己堂, Urakami Cathedral, Peace Park, A-bomb Museum, A-bomb epicenter, the old Dutch housing (‘Holland Hill’ オランダ坂), Confucian Temple (孔子院), Ooura Cathedral, China Town, and wrapped it up by filling our tummies with famous Nagasaki Champon (Chinese style noodles).

Saturday 3rd April – We woke up to our last full-day in Kyushu. 8am, clear blue sky; we didn’t get a call from the cruise company, so we rented bikes from the hostel and rode down to the pier. We got to Gunkanjima in about 45 minutes.

Gunkanjima’s original name is Hashima. Gunkanjima literally means Battleship Island, because of the shape and its silhouette. It used to be a thriving coal-mining island, with mines going as deep as 1000m below sea level. It was once the most densely populated island in the world, but now it is a ghost town with crumbling buildings. The island's most notable features are the abandoned concrete buildings and the sea wall surrounding it. At one point, over 5000 people lived in this tiny island, 9 times the population density of Tokyo at that time. But as petroleum replaced coal in the 1960s, Mitsubishi stopped its mining activities at Gunkanjima and announced the closure of the island in January 1974. By April that year it was completely deserted.

We went ashore the island and were divided into three groups and were taken to three designated observation spots, and some members of the crew explained about the history of the island and what we were able to see and showed picture what it was like back in its ‘glory days’. It was creepy and strange but also wonderful. Surrounding the newly built concrete observation platforms of the observation areas were crumbling buildings and structures. Buildings with no glass, half falling apart; dilapidated structures, empty frames, a dried up swimming pool…It was hard to imagine how so many people could have lived here. But the existence of these buildings – apartment blocks, school, offices, gym, bath house, movie theatre, shrine etc. is stimulating and makes you want to imagine the sounds and the activity that happened here all those years ago. The whole experience was not so much creepy, but bizarre and extraordinary.


Back in the Nagasaki mainland, after lunch, we mozied on to Dejima. Dejima used to be an artificial island that stuck out from next to Nagasaki port. It used to be the Dutch trading zone, Japan’s only outlet to the outside world during its self-imposed isolation of the Edo period. But it’s no longer an island anymore due to land reclamation. And most of the buildings were knocked down. Only recently did the government make an effort to revive this significantly historical part of Nagasaki with reconstructed buildings and exhibitions of what the rooms might have looked like, with dug-up artifacts and donated or reconstructed equipment and exhibits etc.



After some tea and cake and shopping, we cycled to the bottom of Inasayama, a hill in the West of Nagasaki. A cable car ride took us up to the top of the hill, and offered us a spectacular view of the city of Nagasaki at night (apparently called the 10 Million Dollar Night View). Wikipedia says that “This is also a common place for young local couples to break off relationships.” Aahahaha. Aww dear.


On Sunday morning, we explored some of the local temples near our hostel, visited Meganebashi ('Spectacles Bridge'), bought last minute omiyage (souvenirs), had our last Nagasaki Champon and bid sayonara to wonderful wondeful Kyushu. It was truly an amazing trip. Kyushu has absolutely everything you need for a good trip - mountains, rivers, cities, volcanoes, castles, gorges, priceless views, abandoned concrete islands...! Amazing amazing amazing. I would readily go back anyday. Thank you Kyushu. Thank you God for his amazing grace and awesome creative power and giving me the opportunity to go and experience it. BIG LOVE!