Page 28 - RCI EV Asia October 2015

Nagasaki
Many may associate Nagasaki with the atomic bomb that had a catastrophic
effect on the prefecture during World
War II, but this pretty port city, perched
on glittering Nagasaki Bay, is so much more than the sum of Kyusha’s war time past. Nagasaki has reinvented itself as a sparkling waterside city that sports a laid- back modernity alongside its volatile past. Its landscape features hot-spring towns surrounded by forested valleys, mountains that feel plucked from a Hiroshige woodcut and a subtropical coastline that’s home
to Japan’s best surfing. A visit here means an encounter that caters to nature-loving families, thrill seeking couples and solo adventurers seeking food for the soul.
However, no visit here is complete without a trip to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Nagasaki Peace Park - a leafy square flanked by monuments that are moving tributes to the horrors of war and the dream
Nagasaki beach
of worldwide harmony. It’s also worth heading down to Doza-machi, a village- like midtown district, to try sardine or iwashi sashimi, a regional specialty, or iwashi no-nanbanzuke, a deep-fried dish pickled in onion and vinegar conceived by the Dutch explorers and Portuguese missionaries that sailed here in the
16th century.
While you’re in Nagasaki, make sure you set aside an afternoon to explore Dejima, the fan-shaped island near Nagasaki harbour. Dejima was built at the command of shogun Tokugawa lemitsu in the 16th century to keep Portuguese Christians from the Japanese mainland. It later served as a trading post for the Dutch. The island was restored in 2006 and offers fascinating insights into the region’s mixed-up
past. For example, it features elegant, wooden buildings that blend Japanese
and European elements, exhibitions that address Japan’s relationship with the West and a kimono hire shop, if you fancy an
Saga prefacture
authentic experience. Nagasaki Peace Park is locataed at 852-8118 Nagasaki. Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum is located at 7-8 Hiranomachi, Nagasaki.
Saga prefecture
Take a 90-minute train ride from Nagasaki, past hillside scenes and rice fields that feel like stills from a Hayao Miyazaki movie, to reach Saga, a seaside prefecture in Kyusha renowned for pottery traditions that go back hundreds of years. If you’re a ceramics enthusiast, spend a couple of days in Arita, a charming town that plays host to galleries, kilns and white-walled merchant’s houses, where the discovery of Kaolin clay in 1616 gave rise to generations of potters and artisans. Be sure to stock up on Imari ware – vibrant porcelain etched with brilliant blue-and-white patterns – at Pottery Promenade. Then head to the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, where you
can browse masterpieces from the Edo period and Kakiemon-style bowls from
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