Nagasaki touristing

Went around with Carl today. Well, we went with Oren to the atomic bomb site, but already split off because I wanted to go take a photo in front of Big N stadium first :) So we found Oren again, saw the epicenter of where the bomb went off (between a prison and a cathedral), went to the bomb memorial museum place, etc. It is, of course, depressing, though I think Hiroshima's actually hit me harder at the time. I felt guilty that I know 8:15 for Hiroshima but didn't know 11:02 for Nagasaki.

After that we went to Dejima. Well, Carl and I got lunch and Oren split off. We went to a cafe on the Dejima Wharf (it had miso katsu!) and then we went around the garden/park on the pier. Headed to the actual Dejima reconstruction after that -- it's pretty interesting, they are working on reconstructing the entire island, so you could see these buildings with such a strange combination of Japanese and early Dutch architecture/furnishings, and learn about the time period. I suppose that it must have been pretty weird to LITERALLY be the only gaijin in the country.

So we took our time and looked around ALL the buildings and ended up being there until it closed at 7pm. Then it ALSO turned out that our hotel is literally like, a block and a half from the other end of the Dejima area. So the all-day trolley pass was a mistake for me and Carl (though not for Oren, who went all over the place).

We got dinner at a place in Chinatown, since we're staying right by it. Oren got champon, Carl and I split some chahan and mapo tofu. It was pretty good. We got taiyaki after that.

And then we came back to the hotel.

It was a much longer day than that, and I took a lot of pictures and made Carl take a lot of pictures with me in them, but my brain is kind of failing me right now and I should sleep rather than posting them. I was trying to work on my Sasebo baseball post but just cropping photos took forever, of course.

I watched a little bit of Koshien before dinner and all of my predictions came true except I thought Chiben would find some way to win, and they didn't. So tomorrow starts the Best 8, which is just going to be painful. Meiho (Imamiya <3) and Hanamaki (Kikuchi-kun) play tomorrow, as do Nihon Bunri and Rissho whatever from Shimane (actually, I care little about that latter match even though I saw Bunri play in person). Then Saturday you have Teikyo (my local team) vs. Gifu Shogyo (Jeff's local team) so that's going to suck no matter who wins... and Miyakonojo Shogyo vs. Chukyo. My vague guess is that the best 4 will be Hanamaki, Bunri, Teikyo, Chukyo, but I honestly don't really know what'll happen. It'd be nice if Meiho beat Hanamaki to be honest.

A dork is me

In Fukuoka. At my hotel -- it turns out that if you become a "member" for 500 yen you can check in early, so I did that at like 1pm, as Carl and Oren were going off to Dazaifu for the day and I have no plan until the Fighters-Hawks game at the Yahoo Dome tonight.

I think it's a good deal -- 500 yen and I get to hang out in an airconditioned room for 2 more hours, watch Koshien on TV, have internet on my laptop and everything. Much better than wasting 2 hours in a Starbucks or wherever and probly spending the same amount on a drink there anyway.

Yes, I'm in Fukuoka and just sitting in a hotel for the afternoon. Honestly -- I could go out, but where the hell would I go, besides maybe to Hawks Town? I don't really want to spend a lot of money, and it's 33 degrees out there (like 92 F).