The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
Getting to Nagasaki From Fukuoka to Nagasaki “Two bus tickets to Nagasaki, please. Via Hakata.” The ticketing officer at Fukuoka Airport looked at us in bewilderment. Then, he tried his best to explain in English that it was a bad idea. Upon his advice, we …
About Mount Inasa The night view of Mount Inasa (稲佐山, Inasayama) is said to be one of Japan’s three best night views. The other two belong to night views from Mount Hakodate, and of Mount Rokko and Mount Maya. The former has a panoramic view …
Glover Garden (グラバー園, Glover-en) is located on the hill where Western merchants settled down after the end of Japanese government’s Seclusion Policy in 1853. It is a large sprawling garden which houses the Former Glover Residence and other relocated properties.
These other historical buildings formerly dotted around Nagasaki City and were then relocated to this garden. Some of these include residences of famous Westerners such as the Ringer, Walker and Alt.
Next to Glover Garden (Gate One), you will find the supposedly oldest church in Japan, Oura Church (大浦天主堂, Ōura Tenshudō). The church was also the first Western type building in Japan declared as a national treasure.
This Catholic church was built in 1864 to serve the growing community of foreign merchants in Nagasaki city then. It is also dedicated to the 26 Catholics executed in the city in 1597. You can visit the ‘Site of the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan‘ in Nagasaki.
Oura church was under construction when we were, hence we didn’t get a chance to visit. Do note that admission fee also includes entry into the museum about the history of Christianity in Japan.
Admission Details
Glover Garden and Oura Church are next to each other, and it’s about 5 minutes walk from Ouratenshudo-shita Station. However, it seems like eternity before we found Glover Garden. The directional signage was not clear and the whole place seemed like a maze to us.
We walked through slopes of shops and weren’t sure if we were heading the right way! The climb up was real tiring for me. Good thing we wore good walking shoes, otherwise my feet would ache even faster.
It was a pity we arrived late in the day, about 3:45PM. The streets were already relatively quiet and a few shops seem to be closing for the day. By the time we were done with Glover Garden, the sky was dark and all the shops closed.
The shops look really interesting! I wished we had more time to explore. Along our way to the Glover Garden vicinity, we passed by this retro shop. I took a photo of it and the fierce uncle owner barked at me. Spot him in the photo below!
I would suggest half a day for Glover Garden and Oura Church. Buffer in some time for you to find your way. We were quite lost and didn’t even know we have arrived at Glover Garden. The ticketing office is not visible. We simply came across a tablet of stone with Japanese engraving and guessed it to be Glover Garden. However, I didn’t want to risk climbing another slope only to find out it’s not. Hence, I sent hubby ahead to recce first.
And…we finally reached! Good thing we ended up at the more common entrance, Gate No. 1 (near to Oura Church). The other gate is found at the other side of Glover Garden. Before I could pop the champagne, there were more steep slopes and steps to conquer after the ticketing office.
Oh and start the day early! In this way, you will have more time to shop around the area and avoid the cold evening weather. Being at high altitude, the strong wind made us tremble more in the winter night. Even my hubby who has a high threshold of cold, found it cold. See the frozen baby below.
The main attraction of Glover Garden is the Former Glover Residence. It is a UNESCO World Heritage under ‘Sites of Japan’s Meiji Restoration: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining’.
This residence used to belong to Thomas Blake Glover and is now the oldest wooden Western-style residence in Japan. Mr Glover was a Scottish merchant and is considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern Japan, contributing to the industrialisation of Japan in shipbuilding, coal mining, and other areas.
*Former Glover Residence will undergo maintenance during most of 2020 and visitors will not be able to enter the Residence. A temporary observation deck will be constructed. Preservation was not done since the 1968, so it’s a chance to see this important work first hand.
We headed straight up to the top of Glover Garden, where the Glover residence is located before making our way down. Thank goodness that there is a travelator for us to go all the way up.
Glover Residence is situated at the peak, overlooking Nagasaki Harbour. Climb up to level two of the house to have a good view. Otherwise, head to the lookout area to enjoy the stunning view of Nagasaki City.
The warmly lit residence and its surroundings gives off a romantic atmosphere in the cooling weather. Did Mr Glover always had the time to take a peaceful walk around the garden? To enjoy the night ambience after dinner in the residence?
This beautiful part of Glover Garden resembles the set in Puccini’s opera, and thus known as the “Madame Butterfly” house. Walk around and spot the statues of Puccini (the composer) and Miura Tamaki (actress) of the opera.
After enjoying the extraordinary view, walk along cobbled walking trails and head down to explore mansions owned by other Western merchants. Have a look at the well-preserved rooms, and witness the lifestyle of the wealthy inhabitants.
There are also other buildings to look at, such as former Mitsubishi No.2 Dock House and Gatehouse of a former school. Many of these mansions and buildings were relocated from other parts of Nagasaki.
In addition to the historic buildings, you can also rest at a cafe or shop in a souvenir shop located within the garden grounds. You will also notice that Glover garden is lush with flowers and greenery, with beautiful wall fountains of trickling water.
Even though we had to brave the cold as the sky turned dark, we got to see the lighted up Glover Garden. Beautifully illuminated. We even caught a light illumination show where lights wrapping around the trees danced to the music. Watched a snippet of it in the video below. :)
With a baby, there are more considerations in choosing a place to eat. Food can be good, but the baby doesn’t have the patience for very long queues. And a cramped restaurant meant space was hard to come by for a baby chair. Nevertheless, it …
An elderly man sat diagonally opposite of me. Two girls in uniform stood near the door of the tram. They were talking in low voices in their beautiful Japanese language, without any cares in the world. I looked at my hubby opposite of me and …
You would have picked up bits and pieces of our Kyushu road trip experience in my previous articles: ‘Overview Northern Kyushu Itinerary‘, ‘Travelling with an infant‘, and ‘Fukuoka Airport to Nagasaki‘.
We took a highway bus from Fukuoka airport to Nagasaki and travelled around Nagasaki on foot, bus, and tram. Thereafter, we picked up the rental car and officially started our road trip from Nagasaki. With hubby behind the wheel, we drove from Nagasaki to Kumamoto, Mount Aso, Kurokawa, Yufuin and lastly to Fukuoka. We travelled from 21 February to 1 March 2018 (during winter).
This post is divided into 3 major parts:
Friends and online forums highly recommend ToCoo! website to compare rates across car rental companies and reserve the car online. Best part, the website is available in English: www2.tocoo.jp/en.
When choosing a car rental company, it is important to consider the pick-up and drop-off locations. And if you are travelling with a child, a baby car seat is another important consideration as it is required under Japanese law.
ToCoo! also has useful information, such as how to drive in Japan, and step-by-step instructions on how to pick up a car and return it.
ToCoo! also provides other paid services like roadside support (TAS, TWS), ETC card rental, Wi-Fi router rental, etc.
Our Rental Package
After shortlisting, we rented a car from Budget Rent-A-Car. We picked the car up at Nagasaki and returned it in Fukuoka. The pickup and drop-off locations are both relatively near where we were staying.
The car we rented is a Standard / Mid-sized car (Non-smoking) with a baby car seat. At the time of booking, ToCoo! gave us examples of the models we might be getting, like Corolla. However, the model cannot be specified until pickup.
Other than renting a car through ToCoo!, we bought a package from ToCoo! which includes roadside support, ETC card and Wi-Fi router. The ETC card is like Singapore’s cash card for ERP charges. With an ETC card, you can save up to 50% on toll fees, and it can be used on any highway in Japan, on any rental car with an ETC device. ToCoo! mailed the ETC card and Wi-Fi router to our hotel. You can also choose to pick them up from the airport.
Total Rental Fees
1) Fees from Budget Rent a Car: 33,716 yen* (S$414)
*Amount payable at the outlet when you pick up the vehicle.
2) Fees from ToCoo! package: 6,264 yen (S$77)
**Mandatory
Note: A cancellation fee will be charged on your credit card, including no-shows
3) Important: Holding charge by ToCoo! for toll fees
The holding charge will first be held on the credit card, and the unused amount will be released.
4) TOTAL ACTUAL PAID: 49,456 yen (S$608)
Where are we? Our hearts pounded fast with this question. We were driving up a meandering road lined with tall trees, and the narrow road had space for only one car. What if there’s an oncoming car? Then again, this path looked like a road less travelled. There was no car and no person in sight. Tall shadows loomed as little light filtered through the pockets of the canopy.
“Is it this way?” my hubby asked.
I studied the GPS map again, “Hmm,” and answered quite uncertainly, “Yup, it seems to be the way.”
We drove forward on tenterhooks. Casting a quick glance at the baby in the car, I prayed hard in my heart that nothing bad would befall us. Soon, we emerged into an opening, “I think it’s over there,” I said and pointed to a land with barren trees. Where was the supposedly bustling Yume Tachibana Plum Blossom Viewing Festival? Is the season over? Or are we at the wrong place? There was no one around for us to ask, no spread of plum flowers to enjoy.
Heading into the middle of nowhere, and after circling a bit in the rocky terrain, we concluded that the season had passed, and the flowers withered. Since we had nothing to do, and we had made a detour to reach here, we decided to make the best out of the situation. Baby was sleeping, and so we sneaked out of the car. Stepping out into the cold, we stretched our legs, breathed in the fresh air, and had a few precious minutes of couple time!
Driving out of that unknown land was as challenging as driving in, but hubby aced it! :)
“Eh, eh, eh…” Baby E woke up from her slumber and fidgeted in her car seat. It was a miracle she was sleeping in the car seat. Usually, she would latch to sleep and have me carry her while she slept, waking up when I transferred her to the car seat.
Anyway, it’s now time for me to entertain her with play and feed her with snacks! With a baby on board, I couldn’t be a passive passenger. If the moving scenery was not entertaining enough, I would be busy trying to keep down her crankiness and cries, and not disturb hubby from driving. The good thing was, at least if she’s out of control, she only disturbed us and not other people.
Travelling by bus around Kyushu seems relatively easy because of the well-developed bus system with the “Unlimited Bus Ticket in Kyushu”. However, throw a baby in the mix, and the car is definitely our first choice. It’s more convenient than the bus or train. No rush for timings. No lugging pieces of luggage up and down the bus or train.
“We passed by a big Don Donki earlier on,” my hubby said, “Let’s go there? I want to get an ice-cold drink.” Even though it’s winter, the day was hot, moreover, we were in the car the whole time.
“Ohh, I didn’t see it. Okay, let’s go!” The Don Don Donki (“Donki”) store opened in Singapore just a few weeks before our Japan trip. With no time to visit, this was a good chance for me to see what the big hoo-ha is about Donki.
We “dumped” all the stuff we didn’t need in the car and carried the few necessary items. In any case, we could simply head out to get the items we forgot to bring along. It’s awesome to finally travel light to shop because it was so cumbersome to carry so many bags in thick clothing. As we got ready at the carpark, the scene was strikingly familiar. I felt like I was in the US doing a road trip.
As we stepped into Donki, the smell of sweet potatoes wafted towards us. Reminder to self: Get the sweet potato before we leave. “Wah!” I exclaimed quietly, “It’s huge.” However, we had something more important to do first. We cut through the shop and went straight to finding a diaper changing room, and sincerely hoped they had. Baby E needed a diaper change.
Meandering through the empty aisles filled with all kinds of goods, from apparel to food to beauty products, we finally found the room deep in the shop. It’s Japan’s typical well-equipped toilet for wheelchair access and a diaper-changing area. Look out for the automated diaper bin in some of these toilets – slot the used diaper slightly at the machine opening, and it will suck the diaper in to be wrapped in plastic.
After our toilet break, we took our own sweet time to shop around the wide array of goods. I even think some of the items are cheaper than the Donki in major cities like Kumamoto and Fukuoka. And before we checked out, we had to get the sweet potato!
In Singapore, people get into the long queue just to get this. And so we got ourselves two piping hot sweet potatoes. There was no queue, and in fact, there was a pile of ignored sweet potatoes. Being so forgotten, I wondered if this was different from the one in Singapore? Guess not! Because it tasted delicious and Baby E loves it too!
“I think we can have our lunch here,” I spotted the unique standalone building of Ringer Hut, a short walking distance away from Don Donki. The place looked relatively crowded on the outside, and hence I assumed it should be quite popular. It looked like those fast food outlets found along US highways’ exits. “Let me Google if it’s an eatery.”
“Sure! Looks good,” my easy-going hubby replied.
“Oh, it sells Champon!” God heard my prayer. I wanted to try the Nagasaki champon dish while we were in Nagasaki, but for various reasons, we didn’t manage to have it. So now we passed by one unassuming eatery that specialises in Nagasaki dishes, Champon and Sara udon, and we made an unplanned stop to dig in! Ringer Hut is actually a worldwide chain restaurant, and can be found in places such as Bangkok, Taiwan and Hawaii.
The dishes came, and at first look, I was disappointed. There were too many vegetables for my liking. One mouth, and I knew this dish wasn’t for me. I tried to finish half a bowl and passed it to hubby. Moreover, being a fast food outlet with no frills, there’s no baby chair. So we had to take turns to carry Baby E while feeding her. The eatery was a bit warm too. The whole experience didn’t turn out to be good for me. At least the Gyoza side dish tasted not bad and…
I could say I’ve tried Nagasaki Champon!
Hope you enjoy this snippet of our experience! Now on to practical advice about driving in Japan.
There are 3 kinds of petrol in Japan: Regular, Premium, and Diesel. Find out the right fuel to use from the car rental company, because the wrong one might give problems to your car.
The pumping station is self-service, including payment. However, it’s all in Japanese, and hence we got the petrol attendant to help us out. We paid 4,650yen (S$57) the first time and 1,048yen (S$13) to top up just before we returned the car.
Rates
We had valet parking at our Kurokawa ryokan, and so we only had to settle the parking during our Kumamoto stay. There are numerous public paid car parks around our accommodation, and our Kumamoto Airbnb host gave us information on the two nearest car parks, which were also known as “タイムズ, Times Parking Lot.
The carpark we ended up in was using flap-lock parking. It’s one of the different types of parking in Japan. We had no idea how it worked, and there was no parking attendant. We finally figured out from other drivers, but not before wasting a coin because of language miscommunication. So familiarise yourself with such parking because you don’t want to be at a loss like us.
This is a good article about flap-lock parking, www.timescar-rental.com/beginner/stop.html. Or you can watch this instructional video:
There’s something else to consider when choosing the right carpark. Different carparks have different rates and methods of charging. For example, these are the rates for the two carparks nearest to our Kumamoto Airbnb:
In our case, we parked overnight and didn’t use it during the day, or for that matter, didn’t use it for our entire Kumamoto stay. That’s because the places we were headed to are all within walking distance. Hence, we went for the second option. If we had used it during the day, probably the first choice would be better.
So choose the right carpark. You can calculate the rates for the different carparks at the “Times Info” website (times-info.net), but you will have to translate the page. Otherwise, look out for the big pricing boards, which are usually at the carpark entrance.
That’s all I got to share. Have a fun road trip, make detours and find surprises, and enjoy the scenery. Chase after the sunset.
Before you go, you might want to look at my Overview Itinerary of Northern Kyushu, Japan (Winter/Spring 2018) or check out my other posts on Japan. Leave your comments or questions below. Love to hear from you. :)
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