I suck, suck, suckity, suck at blogging these days! The month is already halfway over, and I haven’t even written about what I did the first weekend! Ugh…here goes!
The second weekend of Golden Week was spent in beautiful Nagasaki City. Both Nagasaki and Hiroshima were at the top of my list of the places I want to visit in Japan when I first came here. Originally we were going to visit Hiroshima during Golden Week, but it was going to be too expensive, so we decided to go to Nagasaki, which is MUCH closer to us, and we were able to invite our friends. That Friday morning, Ian and I woke up at 6AM in order to leave by 6:20AM so that we could meet at Mary’s house by 7:30AM. We meant to get gas the night before (and were dangerously close to empty), but that Thursday was the day that we rode bikes to Hitoyoshi. By the time we got home that night, all of the gas stations were closed in town. Luckily, we found a gas station that was just opening for business. The guy seemed surprised to see a car of foreigners out so early on a national holiday, lol. 
Whenever we were almost to Mary’s house, poor Melissa called and said that her car had a flat. She was parked at a conbini about a mile from Mary’s house and requested Mr. Ian’s help. I’ve described the “specialness” of our car, so if you can imagine, Melissa’s car is actually MORE special than ours. When she got here in July, her BOE told her that if she stayed a second year, she’d HAVE to get a new car because that one just wouldn’t make it. While Ian put the flimsy donut tire on, Melissa said that a new tire would probably cost more than her car is worth. She decided to tell her BOE about it first thing on Monday and request a new car.
We left Melissa B’s car there and left right at 7:30AM from Mary’s house to race to the Kumamoto port for our 9:30 ferry. Mary’s boyfriend, Hiro, was supposed to meet us there, but he overslept. The look of anger in Mary’s eyes pretty much said it all, but fortunately he made it in time, and we all got on the same ferry. Our next stop was the Shimabara Peninsula, just across the bay from the Kumamoto port. We could see the peninsula from the port, but it’s still quite a distance away and took us about an hour to cross it. Since it was Golden Week and everyone and their mother was traveling, the ferry was ridiculously crowded, so we stood outside the whole time. It was actually probably better that way so that the loud foreigners didn’t have to be trapped inside!
The Shimabara Peninsula is famous for its volcano, Mt. Unzen, which erupted in the early 90s and destroyed a couple of the towns. However, since Japan is always ready for whatever mother nature hurls at it, only a few people died. The rest were safely evacuated. We spent the day on the peninsula before heading to Nagasaki that night. Our first stop was Shimabara castle. I honestly wasn’t too impressed with the castle, but one good thing about it was that at the entrance, they had all kinds of samurai and ninja costumes to dress up in. Heck yes we took advantage of that! I’m pretty sure that everyone got a kick out of the foreigners in Japanese garb. 
Our next stop was the reconstructed samurai houses, houses where samurai actually lived way back when. It was basically a couple of large tatami rooms with a few “wax statues” of samurai. The houses might have been cooler if there was more reconstructed stuff, but it was basically just wide open rooms with nothing in them….so we made our own entertainment by pretending to have a tea party with the wax statues.
Shimabara City was actually really cool because there was plenty to do in not a very big town. Our next stop was the irrigation ditches of this one street, which are filled with koi. Not only are the koi HUGE, but you can reach into the ditches and pick up the fish. The trick is that they are really slippery and slimy, so they’re very difficult to grab. Plus, they don’t really like to be held, so they try to swim away. Mary was the first to pick one up, and like five-year-olds, the rest of us saw and said, “I WANT TO DO THAT!” After several attempts, I finally snatched one and pulled it up, screaming at Ian the whole time to hurry up and take the picture before it slipped away (below, left). I think it’s funny how the fish and I basically have the same facial expression.
We grabbed lunch after that and then headed to the buried houses. Like I said before, when Unzen erupted in the 90s, it destroyed some towns, including anything and everything in the way. Scientists have excavated some of the buried houses and turned it into an open air museum. Some of the houses are outside, so as you’re walking along the sidewalk, you’ll step right next to a house roof (below, left). There were also houses that were halfway buried (below, right). In these, we could see posters still hung on the wall and tattered curtains fluttering in the breeze. Remember that not many people died in the blast, so chances are that the original owners of these houses are probably still alive. How weird would it be to know that your home is actually a museum now? 
That was the last stop on our whirlwind tour of Shimabara City. Next we were off to the other side of the peninsula and then straight on to Nagasaki. Mary, Hiro, and Ian rode in the first car, and Melissa, Justine, and I were in the second. Mary told us that Hiro wanted to stop at one of the onsen on the other side of the peninsula. I drove this leg of the trip, and even though it was a gorgeous drive across Unzen, the road was curvy, twisted, and difficult to navigate. We kept seeing signs for the town of Obama and secretly hoped that we would stop there just so that we could say that we’ve been to Obama! (Obama in Japanese means “little seashore”.) As luck would have it that’s where the onsen was! HURRAY! Obama is apparently known for its onsens. Since it is so close to Unzen, it has a surplus of scaling hot water just below the surface, and as we walked through town, we saw steam rising up through vents along the sidewalks. I jokingly stood on one and said that I was getting a free onsen. However, I stood on it for too long, and the steam actually burned my foot! 
Hiro and Justine were the only two to actually go in the onsen, and the rest of us spent the time strolling along the boardwalk and watching the sun set. One of my favorite things about Obama was the Obama statue. Yes, I’m talking about President Obama. While the town had its name long before our president came into power, that doesn’t stop the Japanese from LOVING our president and even giving him a statue in that town. Japan tries so hard sometimes, but it’s still pretty backward when it comes to issues of race. Case in point: we could tell that the statue was originally white and had been given a black face because the hands were still white. Good try, Japan!
It was another hour to Nagasaki. Technically we were homeless that night. Since it was Golden Week, and everyone and their mother was traveling, I couldn’t find a hostel to book. We packed pillows and a blanket or two and just said that we’d either find a cheap love hotel to cram into or sleep in the car. I thought that all of us were okay with this option, but Hiro had found a love hotel for us. The only downside was that it was $100 a night! I was so upset about this! Hiro and Mary were able to split the price of their room, Melissa and Justine could as well, but Ian and I couldn’t do that since our money comes from the same account. I was so frustrated and angry about paying so much for one night! Ian and I have to be careful about our money as is, and to throw away $100 on housing for one night was ridiculous in my book!!
I think I’m going to break this Nagasaki blog into two. I still have another full day of activities to write about, so this seems like an appropriate time to stop.
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