Visit Nagasaki!

I think I’ve found a new favourite city in Japan. Sapporo’s snow festival was great, Kyoto is beautiful, Tokyo is exciting and Yokohama has my favourite baseball team.

But Nagasaki seemed like a great place to live. There’s great food (though this is true of just about every city in Japan) - try the Saraudon for dinner in Chinatown after spending the day strolling round the city and taking in the sights at one of the many scenic spots. Check out Glover Garden, where some of the first western merchants to Japan built their mansions, or maybe watch the sunset from the top of Mt. Inasa (you can get a ropeway up there - if you go around sunset, stay around until it starts to get dark and you can see the lights, like jewels, around the harbour). 

Nagasaki has quite a strong European influence - a friend of mine I was travelling with from New Orleans said one street reminded him of the townhouses in the French Quarter - which makes it an interesting place to just stroll around, and it is just small enough to get around on by foot, though there are quite a few hills involved, which itself makes it a more interesting and attractive city. And if you’re travelling on a budget, try the Nagasaki Hostel Akari - the rooms are basic, but the people that run it are very friendly, and it is in a nice area along the Nakashima river where all the stone bridges are.

So go visit Nagasaki - it’s lovely!