After leaving the Dejima Dutch Settlement I followed the signs to Chinatown that were closeby. It was easy to find and starts with a large chinese style gateway and hanging lanterns. Chinatown wasnt that big and went down from the north gate to the south gate. In the middle it intersected with another street leading to an east gate and west gate. Nearby was an old chinese settlement I also wanted to explore. It was about a 5 min walk away in a city neighbourhood...

After leaving my backpack at the hotel I took the tram back two stops to the Dejima Dutch Settlement. This is a collection of Dutch homes where the Europeans were restricted to. Entrance fee was 500Y ($6.25) and had a remarkable European feel to the homes. The houses were arranged along both sides in a street along the canal. They were two storey wood frame houses with a Dutch feel. The first house I went into was the Governers Mansion. This had elaborate rooms o...

My Hotel stay in Nagasaki was going to be at another Chisun Hotel. I had stayed in a Chisun hotel in Kumamoto which was a compact room so I was expecting the same. Pleasantly I was surprised to have a bigger room with some unique features. The hotel was easy to reach one tram stop south of Nagasaki station. When I went up to the room which was on the 8th floor it was modern and quite spacious compared to last nights Chisun hotel. Not only was there room to walk ...

After pulling in at Nagasaki Station I first went to the tourist info desk to get my bearing and get a tram pass. The pass was 500Y ($6.25), cheaper than the Hiroshima one which was 600Y and I'd be getting more use out of the Nagasaki one. They also told me the Peace Park was a 15 min tram ride north. I thought you could walk from the station but you would have to take some form of transit to get there. As in other cities there were 1930s style trams. There were ...

This morning I left the hotel early at 7.50 to travel to Nagasaki and spend a full day exploring. The storm had completely cleared and it was clear blue skies. It took about 25 mins to walk to the station and I found out the train will take 2.5hrs due to a change over. The way Kyushu Island is shaped there is no direct train to Nagasaki from Kumamoto. The simplist way was to take the bullet train north to Fukuoka. However, to then get off at Shin-Tosu and switch...