Nagasaki
Nagasaki, Hill to Mountain
Nagasaki taken as one slope, ending above it: a hillside of period houses open at eight, the church just below it, the hypocentre walked uphill after lunch, and the harbour from a summit deck, reached in daylight and held past dark.
4 stops · one day
The route
- 01
South Nagasaki · Minamiyamate · From Nagasaki Station · ~25 min · Better early
Glover Garden
Nine period houses on one slope, and the route runs downhill the whole way.
What to look for
- Former Mitsubishi No.2 Dock House — a two-storey lodging for ship's officers, moved up from the shipyard and standing at the top of the slope
- Former Walker House — a relocated merchant's house on the upper terrace, its veranda turned toward the harbour
- Former Ringer House — stone and timber on its original plot, one of the three protected houses
- 02
Nagasaki · Minamiyamate · From Nagasaki Station · 5 min uphill from the tram
Oura Cathedral
Japan's oldest church, and the room where the hidden Christians came forward.
What to look for
- The stone stair and west front — the white plastered face under a single octagonal spire, seen from the foot of the steps
- The Our Lady of Japan statue — the Madonna in the porch, sent from France to mark the discovery of the hidden Christians
- The rose window — glass from the original church, the window that came through the atomic blast intact
- 03
Nagasaki · Matsuyama · From Nagasaki Station · ~5 min walk from the tram
Nagasaki Peace Park
Two grounds, one argument: walk up from the hypocentre, not down from the statue.
What to look for
- The hypocentre marker — a black stone column on the lower ground, at the point beneath the burst
- The old Urakami Cathedral wall — a surviving section of the destroyed cathedral, kept inside the hypocentre ground
- The Fountain of Peace — a wide basin at the foot of the hill, with a verse by a girl who went looking for water
- 04
Nagasaki · Inasa · From Nagasaki Station · ~5 min by ropeway
Mount Inasa Observatory
Take the later car and you get the same view with room at the rail.
What to look for
- The summit passage — the covered walkway linking the ropeway station to the deck, lit along its length
- The observation deck — a circular open terrace with a full turn of harbour, city and surrounding hills
- Nagasaki Harbour — the long inlet the city calls the Crane Harbour, running directly below the deck