pictures!

the back side of the tori shinto entrance on new years.  it was an amazing place to be and sooo busy.  

so here is the busy scene that was witnessed on the stairs leading up to the entrance gate.

this was the first buddhist temple that we visited after midnight.  it was much quieter and mellow than the rest of the stops that evening.  very zen.

this is the entrance up to the main gates of the shinto shrine where we threw money and clapped and bowed.  a super hoppin spot and the vendors were there in droves.  it was pretty entertaining.

and here i am ringing the bell at first buddhist temple.  the temple was high above the city and sported an amazing view.

this is spectacles bridge.  the most famous bridge in nagasaki and it is waaaay old and has been rebuilt a few times due to destructive flooding.  right outside and down the street from the hostel where i stay when i'm in town.

this is some signage outside a yakitori restaurant in chinatown district.  these are a fine example of the sort of english that can be seen everywhere in this country.  never fails to bring a good laugh.  nothing like a nice scorch bird.  mmmmm...

some really sweet looking old guys playing chess in the park.  spent plenty of time watching them and shooting the birds and kids that were playing there.  a lovely new year's day in nagasaki.

 the gate of the park entrance.  hey, it's a city park, why not go a little fancy?!

this little girl chased the pigeons for a good hour.  she was sooo excited every time they would gather and she could bum rush them.  i had a blast watching her.

 

here is the park entrance gate from my perch on the other side of the park.  the gates to enter the chinatown district are right behind them.

and here i am.  wearing the lovely house clothes provided by the hotel in ioujima.  people wore these to dinner, to the onsen, to ping pong and to breakfast.  i just wore them in the room, maybe next time i'll suck it up and wear them outside.

just a bit of the buffet spread that was encountered at dinner.  soooo overwhelming and more fresh fish then i have EVER seen in my life.  it was really a wonderful way to start vacation.

and to top it all off...grey jello!  that's right folks.  there are just too many things to even mention that happen here that are so far out of the spectrum of what i am used to.  this is just a fine example.  no i did not try it.  what flavor do you suppose grey is?!  i didn't really want to find out that much and thought that i probably wouldn't be able to identify it anyhow.  i will mention here that grey is the color of most chewing gum here.  it is mint flavor.  yum, grey food!