Seeing the ume plum blossom in Dazaifu Tenmangu

Yesterday I went to see the ume (梅) blossom festival in Dazaifu Tenmangu, a Shinto shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka. This year, plum trees blooming about a month earlier than usual. The shrine's ume trees are in full bloom. I've very enjoyed the blossom festival.

I bought a pretty pig piggy bank at Nagasaki Chinatown

In the evening, we went to Nagasaki Chinatown. As usual, we bought some "Pig" Chinese New year goods at Min-min boutique shop there.

We came here around 5 o'clock. When we went into the shop, the manager was there. We met her again for a long time, since four years ago. She recommended me many Chinese zodiac toys. I really want to buy a gold pig piggy bank for saving my money. Luckily I found that one. It looks pretty good on me so I bought it.

Oura Cathedral, a world heritage site in Nagasaki

Before visiting the Gunkanjima Digital Museum, I went to the nearest spot, Oura Tenshudo (大浦天主堂), a Roman catholic church built on a hill. It is one of the World Heritage site which is newly added in Japan, designated as "Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region".

I came here at the half past three. When I look around I saw lots of Chinese tourists getting off from the cruise ship called Costa. Now they're going on a cruise to several cities in the Kyushu Island such as Nagasaki, Fukuoka etc.

Just looking at it from the outside is very beautiful, and I thought that I don't need to go inside until I have to pay the entrance fee of 1,000 yen. I only took picture and headed out to the museum.

Visiting Gunkanjima Digital Museum, Nagasaki

In the afternoon, we had decided to go to the Gunkanjima Digital Museum (軍艦島デジタルミュージアム) in the heart of Nagasaki city. This is a bit unusual museum that shows the history of the Hashima Island coal mine by using video.

Even through some evaluation sites such as TripAdvisor is highly rated as four stars, I think that it is not well known to the public. Therefore there are quite a few customers so it's the best recommended spot where you can see at your own pace. 

The museum is located in the Minamiyamate area close to the Oura Cathedral and Glover Garden. If you're from the cathedral, it is easy to go there. Just go down the Glover-dori main street and turn left then right.

When we go inside, all the staff are welcomed to visit us. The cost for entrance is very expensive, 1,800 yen per person for adults. But it worth to visit. In the museum, you can enjoy a virtual tour of the entire Battleship Island with virtual reality glasses. You also will be interested to know about history of the Island of Battleship by using projection mapping.

A reproduction living room of apartment at that time when the coal mining was most popular in the 1960s. They have everything they want; Stereo records, TVs, vacuum cleaner, sewing machine and so on. At that time, these appliances were too expensive to buy for household.