May's visit (May 3-5)

DAY1

After what turned out to be an 18.5 hour bus ride from Tokyo, May finally arrived in Nagasaki!

We wandered around the Peace Park, where many statues donated from countries around the world can be found. They are all representations of the sculptors' ideas of peace.


Later in the evening, we met up with a friend who I had met during the Japanese course in Tokyo. Sarah and her parents were doing a road trip around Kyushu, and arrived in Nagasaki today. So the 5 of us met up for dinner, then headed to Inasa yama (mount) to admire the night view of Nagasaki city.

Once we finally got home, we still had lots of catching up to do and had ourselves a little guitar playing session. After her long travel today, I don't know how May managed to remain awake as late as we did!

DAY 2

So much for accurate weather forcasts..! It wasn't supposed to rain till Sunday, but we had strong rains all day today! We stuck to our plans of visiting jigoku (hell) today, hoping that the rain would let up once we arrived.

It didn't.

Here's what hell looks like on a raining day:

When we got back to Nagasaki, the rain finally let up a little. We visited the adorable looking penguins at the aquarium near my place.

Later in the evening, we met up with Ryo for dinner. May wanted to visit the Baha'i center, so we dropped by the center and ended up leaving the car there and walking down to Hamanomachi. Along the 30 minute walk or so, we strolled by some of Nagasaki's tourists sites:
Meganebashi - the oldest stone arch bridge in Japan - and Suwa jinga (shrine) amongst others.

Hamanomachi shopping arcade.

After dinner, we ended the evening with purikura..!

DAY 3

After a stormy night, the rain gave us a bit of break in the morning. We took advantage of it and went downtown to do some omiyage (souvenirs) shopping - a very important part of traveling in Japan - and take in some more sights.

Oura church

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb museumYou can never go wrong with kaitenzushi !

Saying goodbye at the bus station

Just as May's bus pulled away for her long journey back up to Tokyo, the rain started up again. I'm glad it held off till then. It was a fun-filled 3 day visit, I look forward to seeing May again soon!!