Nagasaki Album
	This is the statue of scholars in Nagasaki. For 250 years, from 1600-1850, Japan was closed to the outside world - except in Nagasaki, where Dejima Island was the only place in Japan where foreign ships could make port and trade. Because of this, those who wanted to learn about the outside world, and who wanted to learn foreign languages, came to Nagasaki. A modern traveller approaching the city on the train sees these two religious icons dominating the skyline and giving first hand evidence of Nagasaki's mixed heritage.. Above is a Buddhist temple, Fukusaiji, and to the right St.Philip's Catholic church, both still very much active. These two images, along with the church steeples, tell a fascinating story. . When the Shogun took power around 1600 he decided he did not want anyone to have allegiance to anyone but himself . . . and so he ordered the death of all Christians. To set an example, his troops captured 26 Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries, 3 of them Japanese (the shorter figures in the monument). He forced them to march over 400 miles from Kyoto to Nagasaki, in Winter, where they were crucified on a hill overlooking the harbor. Kenji Imae, an architect from Waseda University who was influenced by the Spanish architect, Gaudi, retraced the route of the martyrs and collected pottery from every town where they stopped. He used broken pieces to construct the mural on the wall of the museum and as decoration on the steeples of St.Philip's. The monument to the 26 martyrs was designed by Angelico Funakoshi and finished in 1962 when Pope John Paul II visited to celebrate the centenary of the sanctification of the martyrs. A sculpture of a different sort, this one commemorates Giacomo Puccini, composer of the opera, Madame Butterfly, and Miura Tamaki, one of the earlier divas to play the lead role. The story was modeled after the life of Madam Tsuru Glover, wife of General Glover, an Englishman who aided the Satsuma and Chohsu samurai in overthrowing the Shogun to open Japan to the outside world in the mid-nineteenth century. This is the Glover house, the first western styled structure built in Japan. It overlooks the harbor. This is the upper harbor, and the main part of the city center, about a mile up from the Glover house, and very near the epicenter of the A-bomb that devastated the city and surrounding area. The broken, one-legged torii gate below, is all that's left of a Shinto shrine. But the Mitsubishi shipyard, since rebuilt, was completely destroyed, even though it was near the mouth of the harbor, over a mile from the explosion. The Peace Park in Nagasaki is not nearly as extensive as Hiroshima's, yet the ceremony marking the anniversary of the bomb, August 9, is nonetheless a time for reflection . . . and paper cranes play as important a role. The rest of the city is just as interesting as other cities, perhaps more so for the variety of cultural influences - Dutch, Chinese, English, Catholic - in addition to the traditional Japanese. There are many islands in and just outside the harbor, and one of them, Ioujima, has been turned into a resort area. Behind the Minshuku - family inn - where I was staying, near the train station on the waterfront, the hills of Mt.Mubonzan rise sharply. Several acres near the bottom are taken by an extensive graveyard, with steep stairs and pathways, and terraced gravesites, making a maze-like area that was fascinating to traverse. The streets are just as narrow and crowded and fascinating as any I'd seen . . . and I even was able to meet and make new friends, at a tavern on this street. I stayed 4 nights in Nagasaki and it was particularly hot - over 100 degrees F. So I decided to eat my suppers in a neighborhood tavern, and by the 3rd night I was welcomed by the regulars and offered a seat at the bar. This is the crew - left front is the owner, Nagao Masanori, and right front is Miki Akasaki, a 32 year old kindergarten teacher. Back left is Ishikawa-san, the owner of a Kasutera-ya, a bakery specializing in Castella (japanized as kasutera), a Portuguese chocolate-covered pound cake, unique to Nagasaki, and shipped and famous all over Japan. Right rear is Matsuo Tetsuya, 34, a hotel owner (family business) and boyfriend of Miki. I had great fun with my new friends, and on my last night, I was treated to a 'going away' party - free food and beer. It was a great way to end my stay in Nagasaki.
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