Trip to Nagasaki (2) - Lantern Festival

In Japan, there are three major Chinatowns, and Shinchi Chinatown in Nagasaki is the oldest. Nagasaki Lantern Festival is originated from celebration of Chinese New Year. After leaving Dejima, we got on the tram to go to Hamano-machi Arcade. But the arcade was crowded with people, and we found it difficult to eat at a restaurant we thought of. We went to the Chinatown and managed to find something to eat. It was hottoek filled with fried vegetables sold on the main street. 

As it was cold, it was nice to have hot hottoek. I thought it was a Korean food, but I learned later that it originated from Chinese merchants who immigrated to Korea.

The first attraction we saw was dragon dance. It originated from China and was originally performed to pray for rain. In the 18th century, people in Nagasaki learned this dance from residents of the Chinese settlement and began to perform it in Nagasaki Kunchi, a festival of Suwa Shrine. It is a very famous performance art in Nagasaki, and my mother had seen it once on TV. But it was worthy to see it on the spot! Four long dragons were moving dynamically with support of teams of people. I heard powerful sounds of musical instruments such as a gong and drum. 

At the end of a concert, the audience often shout “Encore.” For the dragon dance in Nagasaki, they shout “Mottekoi.” The hostess of the attractions taught us this word, and we repeated it several times. After the performance here, the dragon dance was continued on the street.

There was a pause of 30 minutes, so we walked around for a while. At the entrance of Minato Park where attractions were held, there were many colorful lanterns, creating a splendid atmosphere.

For Japanese people, 2019 is year of the Wild Boar. In China and many other countries, it is year of the Pig.

I saw also a typical Chinese character "福 (fortune)" for New Year's celebration.

The next performance was lion dance. Though we have lion dance also in Japan, it was Chinese lion dance. The lions were more colorful and prettier than Japanese ones.

After watching it for a while, we left the park. As we walked, we saw lanterns reflected on the surface on water. It was a dreamlike view.

We took the tram to Oura Cathedral. Before we returned to the hotel, we dropped in Confucian Shrine. It is a magnificent shrine built in 1893 by the Qing government and people of Chinese heritage in Japan. In front of the main building, there are stone statues of the 72 sages standing in a line on both sides. They were spectacular especially at night. Also In this shrine, we could see beautiful lanterns and get some food. I had corn soup to warm me up. They had a concert that attracted much audience.

Finally, we returned to the hotel, but we had still one place to go. Before we went to see Dejima and the lantern festival, we reserved a free bus ride and bought ropeway tickets at the front desk to go to the summit of Inasayama. It is a mountain with a height of 333m and located near the center of the city. The night view from there is one of the must-see views in Nagasaki. 

At 20:38, we got on the bus. It was convenient because the bus picked up passengers in front of major hotels in Nagasaki. Though it was the last bus of the day, there were still many passengers. It took less than 20 minutes to get to Inasayama from the hotel ANA Crowne Plaza and only 5 minutes to get to the summit by ropeway.It was cold, but air was clear. The night view was very beautiful with lights of countless buildings and the dark sea. 

We returned to the hotel around 22:40. Our long day was over.