Shitsu Village, a world heritage site in Sotome, Nagasaki

After visiting Ono Church, we headed to the nearest spot, Shitsu Village (出津集落 -shuraku). Like Ono, this is one of the World Heritage site which is newly added in Japan, designated as "Hidden Christian sites in the Nagasaki region".

Luckily the rain🌧 stopped, so we were able to walk around there.

First we went to Shitsu Catholic Church⛪. In 1879, Father Marc Marie de Rotz, a French missionary who was the first priest of the catholic church. At that time, there were many Kakure Kirishitan living in the Sotome town, especially in the areas of Shitsu and Kurosaki. He is dedicated to his mission work in the town. He threw away his private property and built this church in 1882.

The statue of Father de Rotz standing behind the church. There is a statue of Virgin Mary too.

After that we went down the narrow road to the Father de Rotz Memorial Museum.

A restored house🏠 called the Former Shitsu Aid Center next to the museum.

Ono Church, a world heritage site in Sotome, Nagasaki

In the afternoon of January 18, we went to Ono Church⛪, a Roman catholic church built on a hill in the former Sotome town, now merged with Nagasaki city. This church is a unique construction method built in 1893 by Father Marc Marie de Rotz, a French missionary. It is made by crushing stones nearby and kneading red clay and lime instead of cement. At that time, there were 26 households in this area and they believed in Christianity. However, now that the number of believers is reduced to nine, thus there is no difficulties faced by them.

The weather forecast says it will be rain in the afternoon. It was a clear sky in the morning but rain started to fall. Suddenly it began to rain☔ heavily.

We came here at 2 o'clock. There is stairs in front of parking. From here, we took a walk up to the church.

When we went up the stairs, we finally met the small church made of stones.

The statue of Virgin Mary. She loves you very much.

Visiting Nakaoyama, the Village of Secret Kilns

On January 18, we had decided to take a drive🚗 to see churches⛪ in Nagasaki. As usual, we bought some Rat🐀 Chinese new year goods at Min-min boutique shop in Nagasaki Chinatown.

Before going to Nagasaki, we went to Hasami ceramic village in the Nakaogo district of Hasami town. It is said to have started the pottery industry around the middle of 16th century. There are currently about 20 potters and trading companies working together and producing porcelain for everyday dinnerware.

A view of the ceramic village from an observatory. To protect the landscape, there are many chimneys that are no longer in use.

After walking around there, we decided to buy new dishes🧫 at Koshungama (光春窯) kiln.

The galley shop. They sold us at cheaper prices about ¥3400 per unit.

Vietnam Airlines increase daily flights to Ho Chi Minh

According to Traicy, a Japanese travel media, reported yesterday that Vietnam Airlines will increase flights to Ho Chi Minh to seven days a week on July 1. The airline announced that it will be operated 5 flights per week on March 29 when the summer timetable starts. This will be connected between the Fukuoka - Hanoi route which operates one flight daily.

Currently there is only direct flights between Fukuoka and Vietnam operated by Vietnam Airlines. VietJet Air, one of low cost airlines in this country, will be launching a service between Fukuoka and Hanoi this summer.

Shenzhen Airlines to launch Fukuoka - Shenzhen route

Shenzhen Airlines will begin operating a scheduled service to Fukuoka on 30 March. Shenzhen Airlines is the first airline to offer direct flights between Fukuoka and Shenzhen.

Vietnam Airlines increase flights to Ho Chi Minh

According to Nishinippon Shinbum, a local news paper in Fukuoka Prefecture, reported on October 3 of last year that Vietnam Airlines will increase flights to Ho Chi Minh up to six times per week on February 7. This route is currently operated 5 flights a week.

As of the end of December 2017, the number of Vietnamese residents in Fukuoka Prefecture has increased about 20 times compered to 2008, and at the same time inbound demand has expanded, Vietnam is the number one candidate country for Kyushu companies to consider expanding markets overseas. And the number of high/secondary school students visiting Vietnam on school excursions has nearly tripled to 2,986 in the past five years. Currently there is an increased demand for air travel between two places, therefore they will add more flights in the future.

Thinking about international flights at Fukuoka Airport in 2020

A Happy New Year to everyone.

Today I would like to think about international flights from Fukuoka this year.

As we already know, the number of tourists from Korea drastically decreased since last September because of a political conflict between two countries. Before that they spent a lot of money in Fukuoka and some cities of Japan such as Tokyo and Osaka. According to one Japanese blog, they paid 93.9 billion yen (approximately $864 billion as of December 31, 2019) in Fukuoka per year!

So far most number of international flights at Fukuoka Airport is from Korea. They have up until now 28 flights a day. The majority of them are low-cost carriers, accounting for 90% of the total.

But on the other hand, there are not so many flights to other Asian countries. China, for example, has only seven flights per day. Most of them are to/from Shanghai. There is no direct flight to Beijing, we have to go through either Dalian or Qingdao. Surprisingly, the most amount of consumption per flight is from Hong Kong that is spending ¥14.63 billion in 2018. Although the number of tourists from the country is smaller than Korea, but they spend a lot of money during holidays. However there are only five flights flying from Fukuoka. If there is still time, the Fukuoka Airport company request to increase in number of flights to Hong Kong per day if it is possible.

As political uncertainty continues to grow in Hong Kong, it is necessary to allocate time for Southeast Asia that of Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Indonesia and Malaysia. The Fukuoka Prefectural Government wants to increase the number of travelers from these countries. I think it is worth considering.