Chanpon, ちゃんぽん

 

Chanpon is a Japanese cuisine created in Nagasaki.

It was invented to provide a cheap and nutritious meal by the Chinese chef at Shikairo

restaurant in 1899 originally for Chinese students visiting Japan at that time, which is

a noodle dish made with chicken bone and pork bone soup and plenty of seafood and

vegetables from Nagasaki.

 

Now, it is one of the popular Japanes cuisine which you can eat any place in Japan.

 

Unzen jigoku Martyrdom, 雲仙地獄殉教

 

When Matsukura Shigemasa became the new federal lord of Shimabara in 1616,

many people were Christians. Initially, he acquiesced in Christianity, because

he needed people’s cooperation to build Shimabara Castle.

However, this situation was known to Tokugawa Shogunate, and he strongly

commanded Christians in Shimabara to convert.

 

From 1627, Christians who did not convert were persecuted using the boiling water

of Unzen jigoku.

Many Christians were taken to this Unzen jigoku and martyred.

Unzen Church is dedicated to Father Antonio Ishida, a martyr of Unzen Hell, and

martyrdom festival is held every May.

 

Unzen jigoku is a tourist spot in Unzen.

Jigoku, means Hell, is the number one attraction of Unzen with a peculiar smell of sulfur

emitted from the springs, and boiled hot water and white smoke rising from the ground

over a wide area. This is a striking reminder that Unzen Volcano is still very much alive.

 

Sushi, 寿司

 

Sushi is a popular Japanese dish consisting mainly of seafood on top of vinegared rice.

Sushi has a wide variety of toppings, and you can enjoy sushi according to the season.

 

The freshness of the ingredients is especially important for sushi.

The sushi restaurant is generally counter-style, with the sushi toppings displayed in a

refrigerated showcase on the counter, and the sushi chefs making the sushi according

to customer orders.

 

Atomic bomb in Nagasaki in 1945

 

Disastrous War must not be repeated.

The plutonium atomic bomb exploded about 500m over the central monument

at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945. 
The most part of Nagasaki was destroyed, and a tremendous number of lives were lost.  

And about 70,000 of Nagasaki’s 240,000 residents died instantly, and up to 60,000 were injured.

The radius of total destruction was about 1.6km, followed by fires across the northern portion of the 

city to 3.2km south of the bomb.

The total number of residents died may have been as many as 80,000, including those who died

from radiation poisoning in the following months. Even now, many atomic bomb survivors are

suffering. The list of names of the atomic bomb victim who died up to now is stored in the monument.

 

Genna great Martyrdom in 1622, 元和の大殉教

 

25 years after the martyrdom of the 26 Saints, the blood of Christians was shed

once again at Nishizaka in Nagasaki.

 

55 Christians were martyred who were arrested at Suzuta Prison in Omura and

Kurusu Prison in Nagasaki.

These included Italian missionary Carlo Spinola and Portuguese missionary

Domingos Jorge.

 

Rokubei, 六兵衛

 

Rokubei is a local cuisine in Shimabara.

In 1792, Shimabara Disaster was occurred that Mt. Mayuyama exploded and caused

major damage due to landslides entire area of Shimabara.

After that, the Shimabara Peninsula experienced a food crisis, and sweet potatoes

became the staple food.

 

Rokubei is a noodle dish using sweet potatoes invented by farmer Rokubei.

The sweet potatoes were powdered, yams were added, and kneaded in boiling

water to make udon-like noodles.

Ban on Christianity in 1614

 

The number of Christians in Japan continued to increase, and reaching 300,000 in 1614.

Fearing the ever-increasing number of Christian rebellions, Tokugawa Shogunate finally

issued a ban on Christianity in Nagasaki in 1612, and two years later in 1614 throughout

the country in Japan.

 

After that, the history of martyrdom began in various places.

・in 1617, 4 missionaries were martyred in Omura

・in 1622, Genna great martyrdom (55 Christians) at Nishizaka

・in 1622-24, Ikutsuki and Nakae-no-shima island martyrdom

・from 1627, Unzen jigoku martyrdom

・1633, Nakaura Julian martyred in Nishizaka

・in 1637, Shimabara Rebellion

・in 1644, Konishi Manjo martyrdom, Domestic priests become absent

・in 1657, Persecution of Christians in Omura

・in 1790, Persecution of Christians in Urakami

・in 1839, Persecution of Christians in Urakami

・in 1856, Persecution of Christians in Urakami

 

Hatsu-moude, 初詣

 

Hatsu-moude is one of Japanese custom that first visit of the year to Shrines

or/and Temples.

Literal meaning of Hatsu is first and moude is pray.

Most Japanese people visit Shrines and/or Temples at the beginning of the year

to pray for happiness for the year.

What they pray are variety such as safety and health of family, business prosperity,

traffic safety, a good harvest in agriculture, a big catch in the fishing industry,

prevention of natural disasters, etc.

Nagasaki was a small Rome

 

Todos os Santos Church, the first church in Nagasaki, was built in 1569.

Federal lord Omura and the Jesuits made an agreement to make Nagasaki

a port for trade with Nanban. (Portugal and Spain) in 1570.

Nagasaki Port was opened and the first Portuguese ship arrived in 1571.

And development of the town of cape was started as Christian town in 1571

and the small Church of San Paulo was constructed at the tip of cape.

 

After that following Churches were constructed.

Misericordia Headquarters Church in 1583

Santa Maria Church in 1600

Santa Clara Church in 1603

Santiago Church in 1604

San Juan Petista Church in 1605

San Antonio Church in 1606

San Pedro Church in 1607

San Francisco Church in 1611

San Agustin Church in 1612

For 45 years after the first church was built, Nagasaki developed as a Christian town,

and by 1614, most of the 25,000 people were Christians.

 

It was as if Nagasaki was a small Rome.

 

However, due to the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Ban on Christianity in 1614, most of the

church buildings were destroyed within 15 days from November 3rd.

 

Variety of local cuisines in Aso and Kumamoto

 

Dago-jiru, Takana-meshi and Basashi

 

Dago-jiru Soup cuisine used dumpling (dago) made by rolling flour, and also a lot of ingredients are included such as vegetables and meat.

Takana-meshi (rice) Made by frying Takana (Cruciferous leafy vegetables) chopped in oil and mixing it thoroughly with freshly cooked rice

Basashi Kumamoto’s local dish of thinly sliced horse meat