April 10-11, 2024
In Nagasaki, time stopped on August 9 at 11:02 AM, 1945, as the bomber Buscar dropped an atom bomb named Fat Boy just above the middle of the city named for the island on which it resided, effectively ending WWII in the Pacific. It exploded approximately 1800 feet above ground to maximize immediate damage and limit long term nuclear contamination. About forty thousand died in the initial explosion, but the effects of radiation created concentric circles of death (as observed by Dr. Takashi Nagai, who was instrumental in restoring the city and promoting world peace) killing another 30-40,000 people over the following weeks.
Since 1945, the people of Japan and the US have become strong allies. The Japanese are gracious hosts, and simply ask we not forget the civilians that died on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A Peace Park and museum in Nagasaki shows how they seek to remember and vow to work toward peace in the future.
(One thing I would like to remind my fellow tourists and travelers – please don’t smile and point in front of memorials to the dead. I was appalled at how many see nothing wrong or inappropriate doing just that in front of memorials depicting weeping women holding dead children.)
The city rebuilt and is a thriving center of economy and culture. And they have Karaoke rooms. One chain throughout the islands is Big Echo – a 2-4 person room for 30 minutes and 2 beers was about 3000 yen ($20 US). The problem – no instructions in English. The lady delivering our beers showed us where to find the English keyboard on the computer screen, but it lacked a space button. I chose a Shania Twain song (not many artists called Shania), then we stuck with The Beatles and Queen. Fiddling with dials we managed to adjust the volume, which had been cranked up.
Next stop – the island of Kagoshima, where neighboring Sakurijima island’s active volcano dominates the skyline. About a mile walk from the ship to the tram station (well-marked path), where the day pass costs 600 yen. Tram to the ferry terminal took about 30 minutes, ferry across to Sakurijima (160 yen pp) to check out the active volcano and then boarded the Sakurijima Island View Bus (500 yen pp) around the island. The bus has several stops – we went up to the main observatory (second to last stop) where the bus waits for ten minutes – enough time to run up the steps – get photos, then back down to the same bus instead of waiting 30 minutes. We caught the ferry back across and explored the downtown area for lunch before getting back to the boat via tram. (One of my friends left their Go-Pro on the tram, it was turned back in and they’ve arranged to have it shipped to Dubai).
