I did not expect to take over a month to publish my next Japan Adventure post
😱 I'd like to record my thoughts about this first-in-my-lifetime experience
before my memories start to fade, so here's hoping I can power through the
rest of my adventure quickly!
Last time
we departed Kagoshima and headed toward Nagasaki. It was close enough that we
didn't need a day at sea to reach it, so I got to enjoy my second-ever docking
event right away, which was a procedure I never tired of the entire trip
🥰
Saturday 18 March 2023 - Nagasaki
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The view of Nagasaki growing ever closer was breathtaking.
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We passed this little island on the way to the port and I thought it was
so unique! Indeed, I never saw another quite like it on this trip. Doing
a little research today, I've found its name to be
Takabokojima, which means Tall Spearhead Island 🗡️
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We could hear the welcome performance before we could see it...
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...an epic taiko drumming show!!! 🥁🥁🥁
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Something as simple as a banner made us feel not just welcomed but
wanted 🥰
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Our excursion this time took us to Arita, in Saga prefecture, a town
famous for its ceramics. We started with a walking tour of one of the
ceramics streets, which was almost all ceramics shops 😯 This was also
basically the only day I got to enjoy using my umbrella!
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This graveyard was interesting because the walls surrounding it are made
from old kilns!
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Here our tour group is entering
Fukagawa Seiji, the seeming largest and most prestigious ceramics shop in the area.
They have made banquet ware for the Imperial family!
My visit here
is one of my fondest memories from this entire trip...
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...because they sold VOC-style ware and I was able to talk to the
proprietor, in Japanese, about why this was so exciting to me! (VOC =
Dutch East India Trading Company) I bought this VOC cake plate, one of
the spendiest souvenirs of my trip, but totally worth it!
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I think the proprietor resonated with my excitement because he
disappeared after having an employee show me the VOC section, and then
reappeared later to give me these learning materials for free! You see,
my excitement came from the early modern period art history classes I
took as part of my illustration degree. I'm looking forward to sharing
this story with my professor!
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On top of all that, my visit to Fukagawa Seiji also ended up being my first
experience acting as a translator! One of my fellow tourists was trying to ask
the shop's proprietor about the difference between two plates he had shown
everyone. She wanted to know if the yellow, opaque one was cheaper than the
white, transluscent one. Turned out, the yellow one wasn't cheaper because it
wasn't for sale at all. It was the result of a mistake! I have to admit I was
extremely proud of myself for being able to help facilitate communication
between these two people 😁
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After our walking tour, we took a short drive to another fine ceramics
shop,
Genemongama,
which was situated next to a museum and a lovely garden~
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My husband, Sean, took this beautiful photo of the garden pond 🐟
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On the bus ride back home (🛳️) our tour guide made things fun by running
a game of bingo after teaching everyone numbers in Japanese. Afterwards,
she gave us all handmade bookmarks featuring classic Japanese imagery
💖
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This view of Nagasaki as we crossed a bridge was magnificent ✨
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This is the most awesome advertisement for a museum!
We didn't get
to go but it's definitely on my list for next time! 🦖
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At departure time, the students of Yamazato Junior High offered us a
farewell performance 🥰
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The band played us several songs, including one from
My Neighbor Totoro!
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Once again, I was so moved by this generous farewell that I felt
bittersweet about leaving!!!
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Sean and I got some nice selfies with twilight Nagasaki before we left
🌆
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Our ship, the Silver Muse, looks lovely at this time of night, too~
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A view of us with the pool and attached restaurants. Dreamy!
We
never ended up getting in the pool, though...my only regret!
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After this, the ship departed while we enjoyed dinner and dessert, and then we
went to bed! Our next stop? A brand new country for both of us: Korea 🇰🇷 I'll
be writing about our stay there next time, including our first brave foray
into a port city UNGUIDED Σ(っ °Д °;)っ Spoiler alert: It was awesome! Please
look forward to it 😄 Until then, thank you for reading and please stay happy,
healthy, and safe!
P.S. Here's a bonus photo of my VOC cake plate in its new home! Writing this
post inspired me to finally set it out for display. It's on my bookshelf
behind my PC workstation (where I am typing this very moment!) so that I can
gaze at it every day while I work 😍 Appropriately, it's on the same shelf as
my art history books~
