My Weekend in Nagasaki
As my time in Japan is winding to a close, I’ve been trying to visit all those places I’ve always wanted to see, but never got around to going to. Last week it was Shikoku. This week I went to Nagasaki.

Most people know Nagasaki only as the site of the second atomic bombing (or perhaps I’m just inferring my own ignorance onto the rest of you). However besides the peace park and the atomic bomb museum, there are a lot of other things to see in Nagasaki. In old times it was the only port Europeans had access to, and so is the place of the first Western influences in Japan. Today there is a theme park and replicated Dutch village to remember the Dutch influence in Nagasaki. And the Glover Gardens in Nagasaki is the site of an old European settlement, which was the inspiration for “Madame Butterfly.”

Christianity was introduced to Japan through Nagasaki, and so Nagasaki contains many old European style cathedrals, as well as monuments commemorating the persecution of the early Japanese Christians.

In addition there’s also a Chinese town.

And lastly because much of the city of Nagasaki is located on the sides of the mountains surrounding it, it is famous for its night view of the city lights.

It is a difficult city to do adequately in one weekend. And probably just as difficult to summarize in a blog post, but I’ll try and hit the highlights.

Atomic Bomb Museum
I have mixed feelings about writing this.
On one hand it would seem wrong to write about a trip to Nagasaki and not include anything about the Atomic Bomb or the Peace Museum. On the other hand, so much has been written about it already, I’m not sure what to say without slipping into clichés.

Although I’ve debated some of you before about the morality of the atomic bombings, I won’t get into that on this post. You all know how I feel about it. Many of you have had this discussion with me already, and I won’t drag it all up again now. Anyone interested can read this essay by Howard Zinn, in which he makes a very compelling case against the atomic bombings.

But for now I’ll just focus on the museum itself. Although this was my first time to Nagasaki, I have actually been to the Hiroshima museum three times before. Occasionally us JETs will discuss which museum is better (as morbid as that is). I’ve had some people tell me they found the Hiroshima museum more moving. I had one person tell me he wasn’t all that moved by the Hiroshima museum, but lost it and started crying halfway through the Nagasaki museum.

Of course it is a stupid conversation. Both museums are quite moving. Each one gives you a sense of the horror of the event, and the extent of man’s capability for evil, and for man’s inhumanity to his fellow man. In my opinion, after viewing either museum no one could possibly still approve of the decision to drop the bombs. But of course I was against the atomic bombings before I even went in the museums, so my opinion is not unbiased.

I do think the focus is a bit different. The Hiroshima museum was filled with a lot of visual images, such as wax statues of atomic bomb victims walking with their skin hanging off, or the remnants of school uniforms of junior high school victims. (Since the school uniforms then are similar to what my students wear now, I found that the most difficult part of the museum).

The Nagasaki museum didn’t have as many visual images, but contained a lot of stories written about survivors. A father who comes home to find his family completely wiped out. A boy who watches his mother try and save his two year old sister trapped in a burning house. A child who doesn’t understand why his mother is dead.

But some of the visuals in Nagasaki are impressive as well. As mentioned above, Nagasaki was the site of the introduction of Christianity. At the time of the atomic bombing, Nagasaki had the biggest Cathedral in all of South East Asia. The atomic bomb was actually dropped during mass, killing all the worshippers inside. But the ruins of the Cathedral are in the museum. The images of the ruins of the Cathedral make for a very apocalyptic look.

Huis Ten Bosch
In the pre-Meiji era, the Dutch where the only Europeans allowed to interact with the isolated Japan, and only through the port at Nagasaki. Therefore Nagasaki was the site of the Dutch influence to Japan, and a Dutch village theme park named “Huis Ten Bosch” is now in Nagasaki to remember the Dutch influence.

Being of Dutch descent, and coming from the Dutch community in Western Michigan, I thought it would be fun to check out the Dutch village in Nagasaki. I expected something very similar to the Dutch village in Holland, Michigan, only a cheesier and more Japonified version. I was caught off guard by how impressive this place is.

I’m not sure my description can do it justice. It probably has to be seen to be believed. But to start with, it is nothing like the Dutch Village in Michigan. A more accurate comparison would be Disneyland.

For one thing there is the size of the park. The previous Amusement parks and attractions I’ve been to in Japan have been very small and cramped, but this park was the same size as a large American style theme park. The guide book recommended taking two days to visit “Huis Ten Bosch”. Certainly the four hours we had allotted turned out not to be sufficient.

Secondly the effort which has gone into replicating Victorian era Netherlands is amazing. I’m not sure when the park was built, but it most have been during an economic boom period, because a lot of money has obviously been spent on this place. It contains replicas of Dutch Cathedrals, bell towers, and palaces that don’t look like cheesy amusement park recreations, but look like the true thing. In fact I half expected to see a sign in front of some of these buildings saying they had been imported from the Netherlands. The park is on the ocean side, and rivers and boats flow through the park between the different sections of the Dutch village. European style gardens have been reproduced, the road is paved with bricks and all the buildings resemble Victorian era Europe. This place is really something.

And then there are all the things you expect to see in a Dutch Village. We had arrived to late in the year to see the Tulip festival, but there were plenty of windmills and wooden shoes everywhere. The shop names were all similar to the last names of people I know back home, and the gift shops were filled with Dutch Chocolate and Dutch porcelain, those little statues of the Dutch boy kissing the Dutch girl (you know the one), and of course T-shirts saying “Amsterdam, Marijuana capital of the World” and various Marijuana paraphernalia. Everything you expect when you think of the Dutch.