Greetings from Japan!

      Our day did not begin in the traditional way of getting out of bed due to us arriving in Nagasaki shortly after midnight. Despite everyone being tired from a long day of travel, we all enjoyed the irony in leaving China for Japan and then having our hotel be in China town.

      After some much needed sleep we were on our way to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Museum. One of the first rooms we encountered in the museum was the memorial hall. Illuminated by rows of pillars, a stack of books containing the names of Nagasaki’s atomic bomb victims stretched from the floor to the ceiling. From there a spiral path led us down to the museum as dates on the walls counted backwards to 1945 and we ended facing a damaged clock that had frozen at 11:02 am when the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped. Artifacts like this were displayed throughout the museum along with graphic images and heartbreaking personal accounts. The pursuit of peace and making Nagasaki the last victim of an atomic bomb was clearly displayed through our experience inside and continued outside as we saw statues in the peace park. For myself, the most impactful moment of today was standing at the hypocenter of the bomb and looking up into the sky. No matter how well written a textbook or biography may be, nothing compares to being where this mass atrocity occurred and witnessing Nagasaki’s unwavering demand for peace. 

 day continued to be a very emotionally taxing as we also went to the Twenty-Six Martyrs museum, the Hidden Christians museum, and a cathedral that also talked about the Hidden Christians. Luckily, prior to traveling to these places we had time to refuel and a small group of us enjoyed some of the best Indian curry that we have ever had. The museums that we visited during the second part of our day continued the theme of mass atrocity, but now it was the Japanese government killing it’s own people. We learned about the history and culture of the Christian faith in Japan and how Christians became “hidden Christians” when the government banned the religion in 1614. It was shocking to find out that citizens were forced to register at Buddhist temples, but the hidden Christians didn’t let this stop their worship and disguised images of Jesus and Mary to appear as Buddhist relics. 

      Today was a very influential first day in Japan and the memorials that we witnessed truly put life into perspective. We are already loving our time here and it is so interesting getting to experience our third culture in East Asia. If the rest of our days in Japan are as busy as today we are going to be sleeping the entire way back to Hong Kong!