This post will be edited after I go out for dinner, but it’s about 3:30pm and I’m back in the hotel relaxing for a bit. Hey, it’s my vacation, I can do what I want.

Nagasaki is much better without sciatica. I’ve been here twice before, once with my mom and sister about 20 years ago (man I’m old) and once a few years ago, right before the big shopping mall opened back up. I think it was the year the Japanese COVID travel restrictrions lifted but now I’m questioning myself. In any case, I got sciatica on the trip and Nagasaki has a lot of small steep hills and stairs and going up those was incredibly painful.

Breakfast was in the hotel and I remember it being better. Then again, it was right after the COVID shutdown and I think there wasn’t a buffet. I also remember it being way more crowded since there weren’t as many options back then. Either way, it was really good and honestly I wasn’t hungry when I had lunch (more on that later).

They even had a couple of desserts but I just took a picture because I was full.

I actually put in my contacts today and then I couldn’t find my reading glasses. Off I went to CanDo, the 100 yen shop, and the ladies laughed at me because they wore reading glasses too and have done the exact same thing. I’ve noticed that fewer Japanese people wear glasses so I’m guessing they’re all wearing contacts too.

After that I went to the information counter and, as usual, they were surprised that I wanted to walk around instead of taking transit. The first thing I did, of course, was get lost. I did find this great view of the harbor.

It was actually not far from the back of the train station.

After that I wanted to find the mall we ate at during my first trip to Nagasaki. Like I said, it was a long time ago and there was nothing at the train station back then. Now there’s a giant complex of stores.

I was expecting a run-down department store like I’ve been to in a lot of northern Japanese towns, but it was all renewed quite recently. Very clean and nice and much further from the station than I remember. It was pouring rain back then.

Then it was off to walk to Chinatown (or more literally translated China Street). On the way I was going to a shopping arcade to check out the chawanmushi shop where I think they invented the dish. In any case my sister wouldn’t stop telling me to go there and so I did. Turns out I was there on my first trip to Nagasaki!

I was still full from breakfast so I got the basic set.

Ha. Here it is with the lids off. It was very tasty and I’m saying that as someone who wasn’t even hungry at the time.

Then it was off to Chinatown. I gave you the literal translation earlier because Chinatown is two blocks long, in an ell. It’s tiny. I was hoping to try some street food but it was mosly pork buns and Nagasaki pork buns and you can get those at the station. Plus I was stuffed from the chawanmushi.

By that time it was only about 12:30pm and I had run out of things on my short list. I decided to visit the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture which was also quite new. On the way I saw this restaurant that was full of businessmen and took a picture mainly for my sister who hates onions. Every dish seemed to have a ton of spring onions in it. (The joke probably isn’t worth it, but you’re not paying for these pictures so whatever.)

Near the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture was the Santo Domingo Church Museum which was free but I really couldn’t be bothered to look at it. The NMHC (I’m not typing it all out again) was interesting, half being history and the other half being a reproduction of government offices.

The reproduction required you to remove your shoes and had tatami rooms you could walk into.

That’s it for except for dinner. I’ll add that later (the half-dozen people who read this probably won’t notice because you’re in Portland and it’s after midnight and you should all all be asleep.)

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