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IHG ANA HOTELS in Japan. Check it out.
Here,we introduce hot sightseeing spots and cultural information from the areas
close to IHG ANA HOTELS in Japan. Check it out! |
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With trundling trams and a sunny
disposition, Nagasaki has an international atmosphere derived from its rich and
colourful history of contact with the outside world. Throughout the more than
200 years of isolation, finally ending in 1859, it was the only port open to foreign
contact and even then, only to the Dutch and the Chinese. Many of the most interesting
features of this enjoyable and easy-going city are signs of the foreign influence
that have shaped it over the years.
Of course, Nagasaki is best known internationally for its tragic fate as the target
of the second atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan in August 1945. Visitors to the
city should all pay a pilgrimage to the Peace Park and the tremendously affecting
Atomic Bomb Museum, all the more harrowing for being so objectively presented.
In the south of the city, Glover Park is a beautifully landscaped garden featuring
a cluster of Meiji-era buildings. These were the homes of some of the first foreign
residents to settle in Nagasaki in the 19th century. Among them is the oldest
Western-style building in Japan, Glover Mansion, romanticised as the home of Puccini's
tragic heroine, Madame Butterfly.
Chinese influence has also left its mark on Nagasaki, not least in the bustling
Chinatown but also in some exotic temples. Built in 1646, Sofuku-ji temple is
the city's oldest surviving building, distinctive with its colourful, Ming-style
architecture. Its gate is said to be built in the image of the legendary Chinese
underwater paradise. Another famous sight in the temple district is Kofuku-ji
temple, founded by a Chinese Zen priest in 1623 and still visited by many Chinese
pilgrims today. It was also a Chinese Zen priest who gave Nagasaki its most photographed
sight, the Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge), so called because its two stone arches
reflected in the river look just like a pair of glasses. China actually owns the
land upon which the lavish, yellow-roofed Koshi-byo Confucian Temple is built.
Up 2s?77 stone steps to the north however, beats the heart of Japanese tradition
in cosmopolitan Nagasaki. Suwa Jinja shrine was originally established to promote
Shinto when the Christian faith was getting too popular for the taste of the Shogun.
This scenic and highly popular shrine is where all the different local dances
are showcased before being performed in the streets during the famous Nagasaki
Kunchi festival. |
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