Punting on Yanagawa
(Yanagawa Funakudari)

Divided into 10 people each, we got on a small and narrow boat called "donko-bune", and sat down symmetrically, not making the boat leaned. It was warm under the long table because of "kotatsu" (a heating device) there.

The boatman with a rod at the stern gave us a punt tour of the waterway in Yanagawa raminated across the city like a mesh, mainly around the old castle's moat. The total time was 45 minutes.

The origin of the waterway is roughly as follows.

The views along the moat were elegant, with weeping willows on both sides. Especially shaddocks in a row of houses were unforgettable.
It was a bit thrilling to go through under low bridges and covering branches.

The wide and narrow waterways' network is said to span a total length of about 470 km forming a unique landscape of the water district called "Suigo".
The boatman says, "This atmospheric beauty inspired a great poet Kitahara Hakushu born and raised in Yanagawa, and the landscape has been adored by many later writers and artists following Hakushu."

This precious historic heritage was formed in the course of people living together with water. Preventing inland flood by temporarily storing rain water during stormy seasons and supplying water for agricultural use or in case of fire fighting, the waterways are deeply connected to people's daily life in Yanagawa to this day.

Nagasaki City

We are going to visit Oura Catholic Church and Glover Garden here limiting only in the area of Minami-yamate. The guide says this area is exotic with European flavor and the China Town.

Though it is over 1:00 p.m., sightseeing is put before lunch.
We entered "The Former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Nagasaki Branch Museum" next to the parking lot.

According to the pamphlet of the museum,

Our couple went up to the 3rd floor and looked around with the tour members. I am sorry I did not have special impression.

Then free time to everybody until 4:30 p.m.
Instead of going to China Town, we hit the chao nearby at the "wakaran-style" restaurant "Shikairo".

"WA-KA-RAN" means the dish with Japanese (WA), Chinese (KA) and Dutch (RAN) coexisting.
Shikairo was so crowded that we had to wait for 30 minutes.
We ordered champon and soboro-sara-udon of the restaurant's pride, and shared them, nodding and saying, "This is the taste of Nagasaki". Soboro-sara-udon was superb and eaten out firstly.

I have to ask for help to Wikipedia here, too.

We entered it and looked around based on the above understanding, but its inside seemed plain and small-scale compared with the cathedrals in Europe.
Therefore or not, I could not feel the deep flavor inside, admitting my inexperience.
No photograph in the church.

Wikipedia explains how its construction was realized as follows. Just for the reference of myself.

Glover Garden was just near Oura Catholic Church.
It is located on a hill. The slope is steep and long. So, the escalator was really helpful. I thanked it, feeling suspicious about whether it was here when I visited last time in 2000.

Glover Garden is a park built for Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed to the modernization of Japan in shipbuilding, coal mining, and other fields. In it stands the Glover Residence, the oldest Western style house surviving in Japan and Nagasaki's foremost tourist attraction.

It is located on the Minami-yamate hillside overlooking Nagasaki harbor. It was built by Koyama Hidenoshin and completed in 1863.
The plan for the house, which is still preserved, is unsigned. It is interesting to note that the plan uses "feet" instead of Japanese measurements. The basic construction of the house is Japanese, despite its foreign elements. It consists of traditional Japanese roof supports and post-and-beam frames set down on boulders.
It has been designated as an Important Cultural Asset.

As the house and its surroundings are reminiscent of Puccini's opera, it is also known as the "Madame Butterfly House." Statues of Puccini and diva Miura Tamaki, famed for her role as Cio-Cio-san (蝶々さん), stand in the park near the house.
This house was also the venue of Glover's meetings with rebel samurai particularly from the Choshu and Satsuma domains.

The Glover Residence is noted for its blend of Western and Japanese elements and is an example of treaty port building. This type of architecture closely resembles one-story bungalows used by foreigners in Hong Kong or Shanghai and imported to Japan by British traders. Rather than following contemporary Victorian styles, this type of building more closely reflects the Georgian aesthetic popular in Britain during the previous generation.

The stone-floored verandas, latticed arches, and French windows are several of the distinctive foreign elements included in the residence, while Japanese influence can be seen in the tile roof with its demon-headed tiles intended to ward off evil. The roof was modified by adding unmistakably British chimneys.

The park also includes Ringer House (built in 1865 for Frederick Ringer) and Alt House (built for William Alt). The correct treatment of the Tuscan pillars and pediment at the Alt House suggest that this building was designed by a Western architect. The pediment is often conspicuously incorporated into Masonic temples, and might have been employed here in the same manner as a Masonic symbol.

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To be honest, I have a previous memory in 2000 of only Old Glover House here.
This time, as Old Mitsubishi 2nd Dock house on the hilltop at the starting point, we saw the sights of various houses of European style, like Ringer, Alt, ....., while going down the slope.

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Just as we were leaving, we found the hall of Nagasaki traditional performing art and entered it.
Many performances of "Nagasaki Okunchi" were displayed all around the hall.

This is just for my reference, too, by the help of Wikipedia.

The slopes are said to have been terraced fields until Edo Period.
During late Edo Period and early Meiji Period, the houses of foreign people were built from the hilltop matched with the terraced hillsides, which was the beginning of "The Town of Slopes".
The slope town is reflected in the daily life of the citizens. The number of motorbikes in Nagasaki is about 260 thousand, while its population is 450 thousand. They say there are very few bicycles here.

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Maybe a fifth wheel,
Nagasaki "batten." Edo "berabo." Kobe Hyogo's "nanzoiya." Kyo "dosue".
They are comical dialects we play around with now, too.