I woke up in rain-soaked Fukuoka, easily more rain this morning than there was two days back. Maybe that plus a busy Sunday schedule made traffic on the way to the Hakata station (the main station in Fukuoka) a nightmare, and ultimatley I chose to fast walk the last 4-5 blocks, as I was not making the train otherwise. Of course, I still didn't make the train, as I didn't realize for picking up advanced tickets for JR Kyushu, you need to submit the credit card you used for the purchase into the ticket machine. Of course, I did not have this credit card, and no amount of complaining could fix it. So I missed that train and was out $40. Luckily the next train was only forty minutes later, so this didn't throw off my entire plan for the day, just created a messy, annoying start.
But those feelings of messiness, just like the rain, would be left in Fukuoka - which I should mention ultimately I enjoyed immensely. But the last bit was pouring rain which by stop #1 awy from Fukuoka had turned into just clouds and by the time I reached Nagasaki, a good 90 minutes away by non-super-speed bullet train, there was a healthy, beautiful mix of sun and clouds and I felt I was in for a world of fun. Making it better is right opposite their beaming JR station sits my hotel, the Marriott (using a free night and points), and a fancy mall. Now, this may give a slight misrepresentation of Nagasaki at large, as certainly not every part of town is as fancy as this, but the parts Nagasaki does well it does incredibly well.
Lunch was in the food court of the fancy mall - as on the fifth floor they have a series of restaurants, including the one I went to which has a Japanese name, but mainly serves offal soup. Now, that sounds weird, and bad, I know, but it is most certainly not. First of all, calling the meat in it offal cuts is probably slightly mislreading - if they called it tendon and collagen and trimmings it would be more accurate. Not sure that would be greatly more appetizing a name, but either way it was a great hot pot experience. The broth itself is great, the cabbage in it is so fresh and becomes so good when simmered into softness, and their little sides of horse sashimi and pickled vegetables are great. On the whole, best lunch I've had for $15 on this trip.
I have a fairly full set of plans for the two days in Nagasaki, and decided to cross off the furthest afield, which is still just 20-minutes by cab away, which is the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium. The drive out there is stunning, rolling hills, areas of shore and bay, nice bridges - very reminiscent of Busan in a way (which is not too surprising given how close Busan is). The Penguin Aquarium is weirdly great - the weird part being the lingering thought of "why is this here?", as notably penguins do not live in Japan - anywhere near Japan really. But of course, those adorables little fluffballs are very famous anime / cartoon / toy characters and I think that is part of the popularity. The aquarium itself is small but loaded with penguins - they have one semi outdoor space for the ones coming from more temperate areas (Chile, Africa, Australia, etc.), and a second floor indoor area for the more Antarctic ones (rockhopper, macaroni, gentoo, king). They are all adorable, includikng a few non-adults (calling them this as i don't know if they classify as "babies"). The aquarium also has a fairly well stocked two level fish tank mixing various species, and then little side exibits on shellfish and jellyfish - but this place is about the penguins and it does that well in spades.
From there, I headed back into town and started my Nagasaki city-based sightseeing by seeing the Suwa Shrine and nearby Nagasaki Cultural Museum. The Suwa shrine is quite lovely and ornate and for better or worse, takes great advantage of one of Nagasaki's defining features - its hilliness, almost like a Rio de Janeiro in that way. The shrine sits up about 200 steps, and four gates, and from the bottom or top the views of this in front of you are stunning, but the experience on teh steps is awful. Doesn't help when the sunlight has made it a good 10 degrees warmer than it had been heretofore on teh trip. Anyway, the shrine was quite nice, but the cultural museum was better, not only becasue it was indoors.
As always there was a temporary exhibit, which didn't really speak to me this time - it showed various art that looks quite different in a lit room v dark room - interesting concept and fascinating to see but probably I'm not the target audience. Seemingly kids are as they packed the place. The main part though was showcasing in lots of detail the history of Nagasaki, which is a super interesting one. I didn't know this coming here, but Nagasaki was essentially the only port that foreigners could visit / exchange goods at for a good 300 years during Japan's inclusive period. Also with its proximity to Asia and being basically the biggest Eastern port, they've had at various points significant enclaves of Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese. All of this was explained in great detail, including a mini exhibit about the underground Christianity that survived through this dark period in Nagasaki. There is also then an exhibit where you walk through a replica of the old tatami-mat and bamboo government offices that sat at that point. The museum was fascinating, really, just to get a better sense of how special and significant Nagasaki was.
The last sightseeing stop was the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, which is a really modern, beautiful building that straddles a small canal that leads into the bay. The museum is all glass and truly is something to look at. Inside, they had a feature exhibit showcasign various art and sculpture from Kyushu students that all placed well in competitions, and it showed as some of these pieces were really inventive and beautiful. The main hall showed their personal connection, which is 50/50 local Kyushu and Nagasaki artists, and somewhat oddly, art from Spain (including a few Picasso's, Miro's and a Dali). Apparently one of the main benefactors of the initial museum was a Japanese dignitary to Spain back in the early 1900s, but it still is a bit odd that this museum so heavily showcases just these two places. Either way, it was a really nice museum, and there was a roof garden from which you could some great views of Nagasaki port and the mountains on each side. The sunshine helps, but I don't think I've been to a city that "looks" better so far.
The final stops before heading back to the Marriott for the club appetizers (which replaces my usual craft beer stop for these two days - not a bad thing as craft beer seems fairly limited in Nagasaki) was wandering around the main shopping and entertainment district. Getting there from the museum required me walking adjacent to the Dejima area, which is the name of the whole port part, but now it signifies a 5x2 block area that has been kept to look like it would've done at the time of the Dutch. The main shopping area looks all Japanese though, and had some pretty cool shop faces especially in the areas with teh covered mall look (something that seems pretty omnipresent in Japan). Overall, very impressed me first day meandering around.
Dinner was back in that area (most of he restaurants, and nearly all the bars are either in that main area or bordering it), which was my first this trip at a true izakaya. Now, I've kind of back-loaded those, as I have one my first day in Kumamoto and planned at least one if not two for Kyoto. They too were using the same online ordering system most of the craft breweries I've been to have been using. More than just the app they've embraced modernity with really nice plates and decor - but the food was classic izakaya and all quite good, favorites being a great sashimi platter, a great thing that translated as "duck ball" which was strips of confit duck, green onion and some chewy thing in a meatball, and the karaage. The sake was great too.
After a liesurely nearly two hours there, I hit the town which was fairly quiet (it is a Sunday, after all) but quiet only in Japan terms. I had two stops in mind, the first being Bar Nagarre, which specializes in fruit-based cocktatils. I tried two, including a really excellent yuzu one that is among the better fruit based cocktails I've had. The scene was also lovely, and the bartenders here continued the trend from Fukuoka of being on the more talkative side. Sadly, Bar Nagarre is closed Mondays - in fact of all the places I shortlisted there was a nice 50/50 split of those closed Monday v Sunday, as if they had all made a pact to split the two quiet days.
The second spot was Cellar Lamplighter, which has a Germany Dive Bar style (obviously, being Japan, it is still cleaner than any dive bar), and had an extensive whisky, brandy and gin based cokctail list. I tried one which was something like a Brandy Alexander, which was great. Oddly, they also had a selection of local craft beers, which was weird (and went against my statement earlier of there not being beer bars in Nagasaki), so I tried a local IPA which was excellent.
The last stop for the night was at Bar Ibex, which I read was a more social drinking place, but seems at least on Sunday, its a karaoke bar - but not the type where you reserve rooms and what-not. It is just a bar which also has an open karaoke set-up. The vibe was gerat. It was quite crowded as there was a group of 10 or so that all work at a popular hair salon who are off on Monday (sad, as I would've gone there for my haircut). Wasn't shocked to laern this since they were all incredibly attractive, but they were also super personable (the alcohol helps - the owner was slumped over) and it was a great way to end the night. Wouldn't have guessed that Sunday Night in Nagasaki would be my most social non-club night, but as the day already showed me, Nagasaki never fails to surprise.
