Friends visiting from Kochi

A couple of friends were visiting from the Kochi prefecture. Sheila is a Baha'i from Malaysia who is teaching at a private school in the Kochi prefecture, and Alice is a one year exchange student from Poland studying at the university of Kochi. It’s always nice to have English speaking friends over!!

We spent a couple of days sightseeing around Nagasaki and the surrounding areas. They arrived in the late morning on Sunday in Isahaya, and from there we drove to Unzen, a quaint little town most famous for onsens (hot springs). Unzen is located near the top of an active volcano. The most famous place to visit in the town is the jigoku (hell). Similar to the hells found in Beppu (see ‘Please be naked!’), the ground is so hot that the water/mud bubbles, and there’s steam that rises from the ground.


There’s a slightly elevated path that goes around the area. The dozen or so times that I’ve been to Unzen, there’s always been some construction happening due to the high levels of sulphur found in the water which ruins the wood/metal.

We then soaked our feet in a foot onsen, which is always an enjoyable experience.

Above the foot onsen, there’s a sign which says something about the water being good for stiff necks/shoulders and that while sitting and relaxing your feet in the water, one should ‘make pleasurable conversation’.

The road leading to Unzen is a winding road up the side of the mountain. Along the way, in a small area where a car could pull over, there was a large chair. It looked so out of place.

After Unzen, we headed into Nagasaki city where we visited Urakami Church. Before being destroyed by the bomb on August 6th 1945, it was one of the largest church in East Asia. The statues in the forefront of the picture remain from the original church before the bombing.

Later on, we went down to China town,

also to Hamanomachi arcade (a strip mall) where we ate the scrumptiously delicious ‘choco cros’. I’ve eaten way too many sweets in the past couple of days!