So it has been about 10 days since the last post was published and it has been quite a busy time finishing off what I want to do in Japan (I have quite an extensive itinerary, which I am sure won’t all go to plan)
Now I am going to be going over some of the things that I have planned for both Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Nagasaki – Site of the 2nd and last Atomic Bomb
Now this is a big undertaking getting to here as my 2nd destination. The reason, well Nagasaki may be the Southern Islands (Kyushu) biggest city, but it is still 1,240km (770.5 Miles) away from Tokyo, a 14.5-hour drive or 7.5-8.5 hours of train travel over 4 different trains.
Nagasaki has quite a bit of a fun and unusual history, which is for a good long time, it was the main gateway to Japan for anyone coming to trade. Even Dutch traders came to Nagasaki and there was a small trading island called Dejima which I am going to visit while there.
Here is some of the places I am going to be visiting while there:
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hypocentre Site – The point where the bomb fell on 9th August 1945 (No other nuclear bombs have been used since then)
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and Pease memorial hall – Site dedicated to world peace and what the effects of a nuclear bomb are.
Mr Inasayama Observatory – High mountain next to Nagasaki (view is supposed to be brill)
The day when I transfer from Nagasaki to Hiroshima, there should be a firework festival on at a place called Kurume, date and time is still to be confirmed.
Hiroshima – Site of the 1st Atomic Bomb
Hiroshima is luckily only a 2-3 hour journey heading back towards Tokyo (still requires 3 different trains though)
Hiroshima is famous for both it being the first target of a Nuclear attack in human history, but also for its Itsukushima Shrine which is actually sitting in the Seto Inland Sea.
Unlike Nagasaki, I will be here for 3 nights instead of 2 which gives a bit more time for exploration and I will also be there on 6th August which is the official anniversary of the destructive attack that happened.
Some of the things that I will be getting up to is:
Getting very familiar with the Hiroshima tramway (which was back up and running only 3 days after the bomb hit) as it is a very convenient way to get around as Hiroshima is a big city
A 3 hour Cycling peace tour with a local guide – looks good and take me all over the city to see different things.
Kyudo experience – Japanese way of the bow martial art
Going to the Hiroshima memorial anniversary.
Fun fact: The new bullet trains (Shinkansen) have built in Lithium-ion batteries which activate when there is a loss of power from the overhead cables so the train can still run at a slow sleep and get to a safe location in case of an earthquake.
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