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Neko, the cat that calls luck. Part 8 : Nagasaki

Thursday 13 September
We had decided yesterday to take breakfast at the station. JR, de beste maatschappij. This was a lot quicker then in the hotel. The staff of JapanRail give a demonstraion in front of the station. It is to show off, JR is a good company, despite of the latest problems with the scedule. There are a lot of happy green coated men, a horse and a drum. We have to get our train to Nagasaki and canīt stay long to watch. It is getting clowded, but we decide to find a terras anyway when we arrive. At the harbour we find Dejima Wharf a big complex with terasses. We find one that is covered and that is a good thing, because minutes later rain is pooring down.Dejima in het klein It means we have to stay here longer then planned. Not really dramatic. When it gets dry we decide to see something of Nagasaki. Dejima, the old dutch tradingpost is very closeby. Once Dejima was an island where the dutch traders lived. The only onces allowed to the island were the traders, hookers and begging monks. At the end of the street is a scale model of the island. Some houses are restored and decorated as they would have looked in the 17th century. This place is filled with schoolchildren now. As they are in groups they get very bold: hello, hello. We tell them Dejima is dutch and they to greet in dutch]: hallo. They think about it, it sinks in and a tough guy says: "Oranda, Ichi Ban." ( Holland, nr 1) Yes,yes we agree : "Oranda Ichi Ban, Japan number two." They love it. Yes, yes they scream together, but we donīt think they understood. Their leaders think it is enough and they have to assemble. Like many thing shere in Japan it closes at 5. We have a look at the harbour and go back to our terras. Antoinette is arriving and after two wines she is taking the limelight of the local artist. After 4 wines she exactly knows where she is, but we found it save to bring her to the hotel.

Friday 14 September Fukusai ji  tempel.
At the station is a restaurant that serves american breakfasts. We like it. From the window we see a statue mounted on a tortuce. We get nosy and went to discover. It is the Fukasaiji temple. We walk around the place and discover a church that make us think about Gaudi. The towers are very colorfull. We want to see it upclose. The church belongs to the monument for the 26 martyrs.Monument van de 26 martelaren.In 1587 the shogun banned christianity. 26 christians were crusified on this hill. It was the start of 200 years of prosecution of the Christians. We try to find the onelegged-torii, but give it up when we seem to have passed it already. Because we canīt find it on a map, we decide to go for the spectacle bridge. It is built by the chinese Zenpriest Mozi in 1634, it is the oldest stone bridge in Japan. The reflection in the water makes it look like spectacles. But in real it is not that great to see. We walk to the ropeway. Which is much further then we thought. We are very tired when we arrive. But when we get to the top of the hill and have this view of Nagasaki, all is well. With the binoculair we see the terraces at the harbour. They look very appealing after a day of walking through a warm Nagasaki. spectacle bridge When we arrive down at the road we are looking for bus 3 or 4 in the direction of the station. But all 3 and 4s are going in the opposite direction. A nice japanese lady helps us to find the right bus. uitzicht Bus 30 and 40 do go in the direction of the station. From the station we walk to the harbour. Many people of the Djoser group are already there. It is time to think of a farewell gift for our tourleader Antoinette. Tomorrow is our last day in Japan. We decide to make a string of cranes of papermoney.





Saturday 15 September
The train to Fukuoka leaves at 9.30 so we have plenty of time to have Fukuoka Tower breakfast at the station. Around noon we arrive in Fukuoka. We want to go to the hardrock cafe. The book says we have to take bus 206. But no matter how long we search at the busstation, no line 206, not on the first, second , third or even the fourth floor. A friendly man at the information desk speaks perfectly english and tells us to take bus 306. After we found the right bus it is not difficult anymore. The Dome, the baseball stadium, can be seen from far, the hardrock cafe is near it. We bought some t-shirts and had a drink and something to eat. The Dome is closed, because there is no game. So we decide to go to the Saibu gasmuseum, closeby the Fukuoka Tower. The museum is free and serves as an advertisement for Saibu gas. Surprising what you do with gasflames. Very colorfull. And there are some fysics tests you can do. Taking the bus back to the city is a different story. The traffic is completely jammed and we have the slowest driver of Fukuoka. If somebody tries to cut in line, he let them do it. We see bus after bus passing us. It was only 15 minutes to the Dome, it took us over an hour to get back! At the station we shop for some souvenirs. And after all we are right on time for the farewell dinner. Antoinette has a personal gift for everybody. A card with a picture of yourself and a few personal words. She is very pleased with the cranes made of the 1000 Yen bills.

Sunday 16 September
At five oīclock we are waked. It is time to leave. The first subway takes us to the airport. We say goodbye to Antoinette. The first flight is to Tokyo and then on to Amsterdam.

Pictures of odd things we noticed during our trip: Japan pictures

See more of our pictures? Look at our Japan page on Virtual Tourist.


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Part 1 : Tokyo
Part 2 : Japanese Alps
Part 3 : Kyoto
Part 4 : Koyasan
Part 5 : Osaka
Part 6 : Hiroshima
Part 7 : Aso vulcano