A month ago,
I thought about where I should go next.
While living in Kumamoto,
I would like to visit all the interesting places in Kyusyu.
So, I decided
”Gunkanjima”
was next.
At the begining of November,
I went on business trip to Tokyo on weekdays
and went shightseeing in Kyusyu on weekends.
On the last Saturday morning,
I took the Kyusyu Shinkansen
and left Kumamoto.
Like when I went Shimabara,
Nagasaki last month,
I opened a can of sake.
I had time to change trains at Shin-Tosu station,
so I ate Kashiwa Udon.
The soup stock is delicious.
The sweet crumbly chicken was also good.
I went to Nagasaki on the Nishikyushu Shinkansen
from Takeo Onsen Station
and then went to Nagasaki Port.
Unusually for my trip,
the weather was insanely good.
There was almost no wind.
It seems that the wave height must be less
than 50 centimeters to dock at Gunkanjima.
When I left on the Gunkanjima cruise ship,
the wave height was 54 centimeters,
which was a little high.
In about 30 minutes,
we were approaching Gunkanjima.
It's an impressive island that looks like a battleship.
The wave height fell to 48 centimeters,
and we were able to dock at the island.
It's amazing how much the buildings
have fallen into ruin in just 50 years
since everybody left the island.
We walked along the southwestern coast.
I felt empty,
like the glory days had long gone.
After returning to Nagasaki Port,
we headed to the hotel
but we stopped off at Oranda Zaka (Datch slope).
For dinner,
I ate Goto Udon with a large burdock tempura on top.
I was able to see the fireworks from the hotel at night.
The next morning,
I went to Glover Garden.
I saw a view of Nagasaki Port.
I learned aout the life of Thomas Glover
and his family.
In contrast to the glamoros life of Thomas Glover,
his son Tomisaburo Kuraba
lived a lonely life.
He lost his wife during the war,
and after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki,
he committed suicide.
The war had ruined his life.
After Glover Garden,
I went to the Peace Park
and the Atomic Bomb museum.
I learned once again
about the horror of nuclear weapons and war.
Gunkanjima has been designated
as a World Heritage site
as a site of Japan's
Meiji Industrial Revolution,
but when I came to Nagasaki,
I strongly felt the negative history of showa era.