20231019 AAAA Trip - Nagasaki, Japan - Promoting peace

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 33/105 - Nagasaki, Japan - Preserving memories to promote peace

Today marks our final day in Japan.  Five days in Tokyo, two days in Shimizu, Osaka, two days in Hiroshima, Beppu, Kagoshima, and now, Nagasaki, makes a 13-day run in Japan.

We were docked when we awoke.

Stealthy Japanese Naval vessels

Our tour today was the included tour, Scenic Nagasaki.  It had a stop at the Nagasaki Peace Park and the Hypocenter Park at ground zero where the atomic bomb was detonated.

Peace Park

Peace Statue

The crane signifies strength - it is said that making 1,000 paper cranes will get your wish granted

Local children make paper cranes to wish for lasting peace

The remains of the walls of a prison destroyed by the bomb

Fountain of Peace

There were hundreds of schoolchildren of all ages visiting the park

There are many statues throughout the park.  Each one is a gift to Japan from another country as a sign of solidarity in the desire for peace.  The United States donated many dogwood trees to the park in 1983.

Monument of People's Friendship from the former German Democratic Republic

Joy of Life from Czechoslovakia

Statue of Peace from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Tree of Life: Gift of Peace (Punu Wankalpainya: Kalypa Nyinanytjaku) from Australia

Triumph of Peace over War from San Isidro, Argentina

Constellation Earth from St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Infinity from Ankara, Republic of Turkey

Sun Crane of Peace from the Republic of Cuba

Monument of Peace from Santos, Brazil

A Call from Bulgaria

Maiden of Peace from the People's Republic of China

Protection of Our Future from the city of Middelburg, The Netherlands

The Peace Bell

We rode the escalator down and walked to Hypocenter Park.

The stairs next to the escalator were planted with beautiful flowers

These were entrances to a makeshift shelter set up underground where they attempted to treat the infirm.  It was difficult since the bomb wiped out so many, including medical personnel.

This monument marks the exact spot where the bomb was detonated at a height of 500 meters above ground

This section of wall that survived from the Urakami Catholic Cathedral, a few hundred meters away, and was relocated here in Hypocenter Park

Dirt was brought in to bury contaminated Earth.  These stairs go down to the original ground level at the time of the bombing.

Our guide today was one of the most solemn guides we have had.  She related several stories of the horrors of the explosion and what people had to endure.  Like Hiroshima, Nagasaki has a park dedicated to promoting peace and unity throughout the world so nothing like this ever happens again.

On our drive back to the ship, we passed the rebuilt Urakami Catholic Cathedral.

One of the entry gates to Nagasaki's vibrant Chinatown

We elected to not venture in and explore on our own this afternoon.  We enjoyed lunch and then headed to Customs for our Japan exit processing.

The process was interesting.

1. Get off the ship
2. Show your ship card and passport to Japanese security to get to the building
3. Show your ship card and passport to Japanese security to get into the building
4. Show your ship card and passport to get to the Customs agent
5. Show your passport to a Customs agent
6. Show your passport to another agent where it gets scanned
7. Show your ship card to another agent
8. Turn your passports into Viking
9. Show your ship card to get back to the ship

Now, I’m all for security, but if I can’t get to point B without getting through point A, and point A requires me to show identification, then why does point B need to see the same identification as point A?  Japan is all about efficiency and this was less than efficient.  Still, we got through it fairly quickly and were back on the ship.

To celebrate, we visited one of our favorite bartenders, Niti, at the Viking Bar for lemon drop martinis. 

While there, we struck up a conversation with a very nice Australian couple that wound up being a two-hour visit.

Ultimately, we wound up in the Explorers’ Bar to meet up with friends before heading to the World Café for a nice dinner.  We sailed under the suspension bridge over the harbor.  As we sailed away, we said farewell to Japan.  It has been a nice visit.

We decided to make it an early evening, but when we got to the room, we discovered that it was another time-travel night and we gain another hour.  So instead of an early evening, we have a really early evening.

Tomorrow, we will enjoy a well-deserved day at sea after 13 straight port days before we arrive in Keelung City,  a port city near Taipei, in northern Taiwan.