Culture and History in Nagasaki City

Far down south from Tokyo in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, lies the famous and vibrant city of Nagasaki, a port city with a rich history of trade and multiculturalism. It is also the site of the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan in World War II, and features several spots commemorating that event.

We were invited down to the Nagasaki countryside by friends of ours to visit them at their family home during the Golden Week holidays. We enjoyed our time there, then decided to spend an extra full day in Nagasaki City to enjoy some sightseeing before we left. It was the first time for everyone in the family to visit Nagasaki Prefecture, and the first time for our children to visit Kyushu in general, so everyone was excited for the trip.

Getting to Nagasaki City

Our journey started with a small local train line and a transfer to a bigger line to get to Tokyo Station, a quick jump over to Hamamatsucho on the Yamanote Line, then the monorail to Haneda Airport.

After checking in baggage and getting through security, we got on our domestic flight to Nagasaki Airport, which took about 2 hours, then picked up a rental car to use for the trip. Nagasaki City is only about 45 minutes away from the airport, but we had to go in the opposite direction to get to our friend's house to stay. After parting with them a few days later, it was about an hour to get from their countryside location into Nagasaki City.

The day of the drive ended up being very rainy and windy, and although I had made plans to visit a beach on the way into the city by request of the kids, it was impossible to go swimming in that weather. We decided to change our plans to an indoor activity, and settled on visiting the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium instead.

Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium

The Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium is located about 20 minutes by car or 35 minutes by bus from Nagasaki Station, and features 9 species of penguins and many different species of fish, mostly from the waters around Nagasaki. It isn't a big place, but the displays are crafted allowing you to see the penguins up closely, and very importantly for our visit, mostly got us out of the torrential rains.

After looking at all the exhibits, we said goodbye to the aquarium and headed back to the car. The rain was showing no signs of letting up, so it was another wet dash back to the parking lot. From the aquarium, we drove back into the city center, stopping for a late lunch at a random restaurant, before finally heading up some steep roads to get to our hotel.

Luke Plaza Hotel

The Luke Plaza Hotel is located on the slopes of Mt. Inasa, a mountain overlooking the city center and the port area. The view from the summit is considered one of the three best night views in Japan, and while the hotel isn't located quite that high up, it still had amazing views at any time of day or night!

We had planned to visit the summit that evening, but as the rain still wasn't letting up, we instead decided to take the complimentary shuttle bus to the Nagasaki Station area in order to get some dinner.

Heading to the station turned out to be a good decision as the weather continued to be poor. Along with a wide variety of restaurants, there was also a lot of shopping, which kept the kids entertained looking for souvenirs they might want. The adults took a quick break at a stand-up bar in the basement to try some local sake, before we went upstairs to the restaurant area to find a place that had one of the specialties of Nagasaki Prefecture, the Sasebo Burger.

Once we had eaten our fill, we took the shuttle bus back to the hotel and turned in for the night.

The following morning we woke up to cloudy skies, but no rain. We were lucky that the big storm had been on our travel day, and not on our only full day to sightsee in the city. We had breakfast at the hotel for the sake of convenience, then used the shuttle again to go back to Nagasaki Station, where we would start our day of sightseeing.

Upon arrival at the station, I went to the tourism information center to get a map of the city, and also went ahead and bought us all a one-day pass for the trams. It was 600 yen for adults and 300 yen for elementary aged children and up for all you can ride. I originally debated their necessity, but was glad to have the flexibility of being able to use the trams whenever in the end, so I definitely recommend getting them if you're traveling with kids.

Before we got started on sightseeing, however, we first had to make a stop at Dejima Messe Nagasaki, a big convention center across the street from the station. The night before, my car-crazy son had spotted some flags advertising a Tomica exhibition, and there was no way he was going to allow us to skip that! So we had to go there first.

Tomica is a brand of toy and model cars, and entrance into the event also included a choice between two limited edition cars. Once inside, besides various things to see, there was also some games and activities like fishing for cars, or making your own unique car. My son was excited to try everything, so we paid for a few of the activities for both kids to do. The event itself wasn't so big, so we finished within an hour. With my son satisfied, we could then continue on with the actual sightseeing I had planned.

Glover Garden

Using the Nagasaki Suggested History Walk as a general guide, I decided that the kids might be interested in Glover Garden, an open-air museum featuring houses of the foreign merchants who came to Nagasaki to set up trade in the mid-to-late 1800s.

We took a tram to the Ishibashi stop and started walking up to the entrance. There is an elevator called the Glover Sky Road you can take up most of the way, which we gratefully did as there are a lot of stairs otherwise! After buying tickets and entering, we spent about 40 minutes working our way down the hill looking at all the houses and outdoor areas.

I enjoyed seeing the insides of the houses and getting a glimpse into how it looked when the original owners lived there, and my husband was most impressed by the Glover House's greenhouse. My son wasn't terribly interested but had fun exploring outside and racing down the stairs, and although my daughter hasn't yet learned much about Japanese history in school, was able to understand the displays which a little bit of coaching from her dad.

Then at the bottom of the hill is the Nagasaki Traditional Performing Arts Center, which is included in the price of the ticket, and displays many of the festival floats used in Nagasaki's famous Kunchi Festival. Actually, both kids liked this area the best, debating which of the festival floats was their favorite one. They all look like boats, which I thought was very unique!

We exited the museum gates and continued walking down the hill, passing by lots of shops and interesting places, including Oura Church. But it was getting to be lunchtime and the kids were complaining about being hungry, so we just took a quick look at the outside, then found a pizza place for lunch in the area.

Dejima

After a delicious lunch, I checked back in to the suggested history walk, but decided to skip a few things as we had walked past them a bit on our way to the restaurant, and the kids didn't seem interested in doubling back. Instead, we decided just to continue on to a new area with a ride on the tram from the closest station, then getting off at Shinchi Chinatown. We took a quick peak at the Chinatown gate, but decided the kids would probably find Dejima more interesting, so continued on instead of further exploration.

I was glad we didn't skip Dejima, as it turned out to really interest both kids. We spent a good hour just exploring the small island and imagining what it would have been like to be essentially trapped on it in order to trade with Japan at that time. The kids enjoyed exploring the different buildings much more than Glover Garden, but I also think that having learned about the Dutch traders from the Glover Garden houses gave my daughter a better understanding of what Dejima was. She also picked up her souvenir here, a cute bear dressed in a Dutch trader's outfit.

Suwa Shrine

Next on the suggested itinerary was a Buddhist temple and a history museum, but as my husband generally prefers to visit shrines over temples, and I figured the museum wouldn't interest the kids, we went off script and got back on the tramline to visit Suwa Shrine instead. Suwa Shrine is the location of the Kunchi Festival, of which we saw some of the floats for in the Nagasaki Performing Arts Museum earlier that morning.

After getting off the tram, we walked up what felt like another million steps to find a beautiful shrine with yet another amazing view. The city is full of these views, but boy do you have to work for them! I could tell the steps and walking were taking their toll on my son, but we bribed him with an ice cream treat later and he made it up without needing to be carried and only minimal whining.

Besides being home to very nice shrine grounds and a cool pond under trees we enjoyed a break at, Suwa Shrine is also home to a Sazare Ishi, a boulder made of many tiny stones fused together that is referenced in Japan's national anthem, Kimigayo.

After a break admiring the quiet pond and the nice views, we went back down the stairs and back onto the tram, and headed to our final sightseeing spot of the day.

Nagasaki Peace Park

The Nagasaki Peace Park commemorates the atomic bomb dropped on the city during WWII. My daughter saw a picture of the statue and wanted to see it, so for our last stop of the day we rode the tram from Suwa Shrine for quite awhile and got off at the Heiwa Koen stop. From there we walked to the Hypocenter Park, which marks where the epicenter of the explosion was. Then after seeing that, we walked on to the Memorial Park where the Peace Statue my daughter wanted to see was located. We decided to skip the museum in the middle of the two parks entirely.

To be honest, looking back I would have been fine just skipping the Peace Park this trip. Although I think it is really important that the kids eventually learn about the subject, it was just really hard to explain what exactly happened and why it happened. My son, of course, didn't get it at all, and didn't bother trying, which at his age is completely understandable. And while my daughter could understand a bit better and therefore asked a million questions, I could tell she had a hard time comprehending it all even though we tried our best to answer her in an age-appropriate way. I'm sure that in the future we can revisit the topic with a lot more understanding, but when it came to this trip, it was just too much.

And with a million questions somewhat answered, the sun was setting and both kids were demanding their promised ice cream, so we headed back to the Nagasaki Station area for a sweet treat and dinner, then back to the hotel via shuttle bus to end our day.

With the dawn of a new day, our trip to Nagasaki was almost finished. We again had breakfast at the hotel, before making our way back to the airport to turn in the rental car and get back on a plane to Haneda Airport. After arriving back at Haneda, we stopped for lunch in Tokyo, then caught the train back to our home station, finally getting home in the late afternoon.

Our trip to Nagasaki was a lot of fun. I was really impressed with how beautiful the city was, and while walking was often pretty exhausting with all the hills and steps, the trams made it a lot easier to traverse the city, and every view was worth the effort! While my son didn't really get much out of the history of the city in the same way my daughter did, he nevertheless enjoyed the Tomica event, and riding the trams. I hope we have the chance to visit the city again in the future!