Nagasaki part 2: Light after darkness. Visiting the Nagasaki Lantern Festival.
Experience-based tips for getting around, eating & exploring in a limited time.
Also read Nagasaki Part 1.
originally posted in 2017
The Nagasaki lantern festival background
With long historical links to China, the annual Nagasaki Lantern Festival originates from the Chinese New Year celebrations in the Shinchi Chinatown area of the city. Now a 15 day festival held in January/February, the areas surrounding Shinchi are decorated with many lanterns, with various performances and parades taking place over the duration of the festival. A timetable of events for the fortnight is published in a number of languages and can be seen online in addition to being available from tourist offices in the city.
Getting around Nagasaki
On arrival at Nagasaki Station, we visited the tourist office situated within the concourse to grab some maps, the Lantern Festival timetable of events (available in English on request) and to buy day tickets for the tram lines. At 500 yen for unlimited journeys on this useful and efficient network, these are good value if you are likely to take more than four journeys around the city (the flat rate for a single journey is 120 yen) but you can use an IC card, such as Icoca or Suica etc as an alternative. Useful information can be found on the Nagasaki Tourism Website and Nagasaki Official Visitor Guide website.
Like most major train stations in Japan, Nagasaki has a shopping mall attached. Armed with maps and information, we headed to its food court to find some much needed caffeine and formulate our plan of action. It was quieter and more relaxed than the coffee shops dotted around the main station concourse.
Studying maps and timetables, it wasn’t long before a conversation struck up with our table neighbour, and we were sharing our respective plans for the day. The gentleman from Nagoya described himself as a Japanese tourist and was visiting for a few days; he seemed quite surprised that we were visiting Kyushu too. When we told him we had visited his home town the last time we were in Japan he seemed even more taken aback.
We said our goodbyes and moved on to the Peace Park. The tram was easy to use by simply showing the day pass to the driver when getting off. The trams do not pause at all stops but only when requested by pressing a button once the next stop is announced. I’m not sure that there were English announcements of the stops on that particular route/tram, so it could be useful to keep a route map to hand (or use Google Maps if you have connectivity) and count off the stops as you pass if you don’t understand Japanese.
The Mount Inasa ropeway - bad weather & avoiding disappointment
After visiting the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum (see Visiting Nagasaki - Part 1), our next target was the ropeway to see the views from the summit of Mount Inasa. As we started to walk from the Takaramachi tram stop towards the ropeway station (a walk of around 5 - 10 minutes) we decided that the weather was too bad and if the ropeway was actually open, we wouldn't be able to see anything from the top anyhow. With little time and lots to do we decided to skip and push on.
Food on the run
It was lunchtime but we weren’t very hungry, having had an ekiben on the train (our only one of this entire visit to Japan) so we headed for a nearby Family Mart convenience store for a coffee and an onigiri (rice ball) to keep us going and an opportunity to revisit our maps and itinerary.
Top tip:
Japanese convenience stores (or Konbini) can be found almost everywhere. Some have seated areas to use once you’ve purchased a drink or food. The stores sell a huge range of drinks and hot and cold food (amongst many other things). Coffee is cheap compared to other outlets. If you need a quick drink, snack or light meal, these can be a cheaper and more convenient option than a restaurant. Additionally, they can often have access to WiFi if you have no SIM connectivity.
Temples and dragons
We headed back to the tram stop and onto the riverside area near to the Kofuku-ji Chinese Temple, where we could view the incredible lanterns and wander around the interesting shopping alleys before heading to the temple for the festival dragon dance - a traditional rain making ritual, no wonder the weather was so bad!
We knew we wouldn’t be able to fit an awful lot more into the day, as we couldn’t stay too late due to having to travel back to Fukuoka to get packed and arrange to send the luggage onward for an early domestic flight the next day. However, we wanted to explore a little more, to see the parade and experience more of the festival/lantern area.
Festival atmosphere and food
This led us to the Hamanomachi shotengai, where we were rewarded with an incredible festival atmosphere. What I really like about the festival events I have visited in Japan is that, while they can be very busy, they are well organised and have a very relaxed atmosphere. It is easy to move around and enjoy, rather than being pushed and jostled around, making for a very enjoyable experience.
As at any Japanese festival, the shotengai (shopping arcade) was lined with vendors selling all types of food. As always, we looked for the long queues that usually indicate something special is on offer and it wasn’t long before we were partaking in custard cream filled taiyaki (fish-shaped cake filled usually with adzuki red bean paste).
I’m not a huge fan of red bean paste, it’s a bit of an acquired taste I think, but it is difficult to avoid in Japan as it is immensely popular. I always give it a try in the hope that I’ll start liking it at some point - a bit like I do with Marmite here at home - but as of yet, to no avail. Custard cream is great option as an alternative though and these taiyaki certainly went down well. They were also incredibly filling, so we were no longer in need of a dinner, opting to buy something for the train journey home.
Time was moving on rapidly towards our departure; we had reserved seats in advance for our return train to Fukuoka due to festivities and the chance of it being busy. Our final destination was another dance and musical performance in the Shinchi area. It struck me how many people were involved with the festival, what an incredible feat of organisation it must be and what an important part of the community it is.
Our final festival food treat was a tray of freshly cooked Sheng Jian Bao (pan fried pork soup dumplings). These delicious dumplings explode with scalding hot broth if you bite into them without draining the liquid first. We experienced these first at Yokohama Chinatown on our last visit and had been given a heads up on how to eat them before visiting then, so were well prepared this time. Pierce with a chopstick, let it cool, suck the delicious broth out and then eat. Easier said than done because the little critters become a bit slippery once they are pierced, making for much hilarity with even fairly good chopstick skills. It’s worth persevering though because they are really tasty.
Moving on
Time to move on. It was starting to get dark and the lanterns were lit. Typically, with time running out, we managed to take a wrong turn and get lost - online maps are fantastic until you find yourself in a very enclosed area of tall or densely packed buildings, when GPS has a tendency to go awry. However, once we had located a tram stop, our final journey took us back to the train station, winding in part along the river with a stunning view of the lanterns we had seen earlier in the day.
Light after darkness
We regretted not being able to stay longer into the night to see the full effect but the togetherness and joy of people, the vibrant colour and the light was a memorable and fitting end to the day and our time in Kyushu. We were heading on to Kochi in Shikoku early the next morning.
