Capturing the perfect moment: Sunset & Night view on Mt. Inasa in Nagasaki

People gathered at the top of Mt. Inasa in Nagasaki to take in
one of the top three night views in the world. 

So, we have arrived in Nagasaki; our final destination for the Dinosaur Zoo tour. I have been here before when I first visited Japan (about 15 years ago), and aside from remembering that it really reminded me of Hong Kong, I can't even recall what had brought me here or how I managed to get here. Just that I was here at some point.

In any event, being there were two things that I really really wanted to do: 1) was visit , the abandoned Island fortress where they filmed the end of 007: Skyfall. The other thing was to see Nagasaki's mountain top night view, which is in the top 3 in the world, (alongside Hong Kong and Monaco).

Tried to make the trip out to Gunkan during the day, but unfortunately the weather was quite disagreeable, continually oscillating between blue skies and downpour. For reasons unbeknownst to us, our boat actually left 5 min early, and we missed it... but then we found out that there were two other tours that tried to go, but couldn't actually land on the island. As such, alongside the folks I was going with, we decided that it wouldn't be worth the 4500yen ($45) it would cost to "try", and we decided to let it go.

When I visited Nagasaki about 15 years ago, all I remembered
was that it reminded me a lot of Hong Kong. 

As for the night view, the weather was still a bit unpredictable, but it seemed to be holding, so I thought it was better to try than not, so I went off on my own. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I made it there while there was still plenty of daylight, so I got to see it during the day, take in the sunset from the top, and then see it at night. The weather was simply perfect, and I can't even begin to describe the sunset. The pictures just don't even remotely do it justice. The fact that I was there alone actually made it all the better because there was no one to talk to, and nothing to distrct from the moment. There were other people up there, but they weren't talking to me, so I could just put on my headphones, listen to my music of choice and fully, quietly and peacefully completely embrace the moment. On my facebook page not too long ago, I posted a TED talk about the difference between joy and happiness. For myself, this moment represented perfect joy.

The view did look like the more remote areas of Hong Kong, and it reminded me of when I used to live there, climb a different mountain every weekend, and sit at the top reading books by myself all day.

It also reminded me of this time when I was sailing around the world on Peaceboat we were in really rough waters. About half of the ship's 1000 passengers (myself included) where absolutely sick as dogs, and just laying all over the floor trying not to vomit. One of my friends (at this point, I don't even remember who), suggested that we go up to the top deck to film something, but I was so damn sick, I didn't want to move. Nor did I wanna get soaked. Finally, as watching the waves does actually alleviate seasickness I decided to heed his words, and the two of us went up to the top deck while everyone else stayed below. When we came out the door, the storm had stopped, and the world's most epic cumulus cloud ocean sunset was unveiling itself. What's more, unbeknownst to everyone else, we were in the middle of a Dolphin Superpod. There had to be at least 1,000 of them. Jumping, flipping, twisting and playing as far as the eye can see. There were even a few sea turtles swimming alongside the ship. Nothing in life has ever beat that, but this sunset was an easy #2. As my Taekwondo teacher from Korea used to say, even when the olds aren't in your favor, or it may not make sense to anyone else, "Trying is important."

A small slice of Nagasaki's epic and hyper-panoramic night view. 

The night from the the top of Mt. Inasa in Nagasaki is considered
one of the best in the world. 

The equally epic gate to the Nagasaki ropeway. The ropeway actually starts
at the back of a temple.

Kobe: Wealth, Gangsters, and Breathtaking Cityscapes

While the past 2 months of touring with Dinosaur Zoo has given a chance to see a lot of Japan's countryside and cityscapes, in terms of the latter, easily the most striking stop has been Kobe. While working for Peaceboat, a Japanese NGO that sails people around the world about a decade ago, I had a brief stop in the Kobe's port, but I wasn't there anywhere long enough to make an impression of the city either way. As such, I welcomed this chance to see the city again, and quite frankly I was blown away.

Living in Tokyo, which according to Finance Online, is currently the wealthiest city in the world, I'm not a stranger to seeing clean streets, amazing architecture and constant supercars. All that being said however, when you get into Tokyo's back streets, and away from it's shiny main streets, you still see grime. There is still graffiti, crows digging through garbage, and cockroaches scurrying in it's hyper-narrow back alleys. While carefully tucked away and generally out of sight, all of the city's major areas have back streets and a grimy underbelly that is there if you look closely.

When I was in Kobe, however, I didn't see any of that. Major or minor, every street was pristinely clean. Granted, I did only have two days there, but try as I might, I couldn't even find Graffiti. Talking to our tour manager George, he told me that Kobe is actually known for that. (Coincidentally, it's also known for having beef so good that Kobe Bryant's father named him after it.) In general, Japanese people take an incredible amount of pride in outward appearance, and pretty much anywhere in the country you won't find trash on the street, or so much as a spot of rust on a car... but Kobe seemed to take it to another level. As one of the country's older port cities, it is also known for cosmopolitanism, and fashion, and the Japanese themselves say "If you can't go to Paris, you go to Kobe." 

Oxymoronically however, one of the other interesting things about the city is that despite how clean it is, it also harbors the country's largest Yakuza organization, Yamaguchi-Gumi, which is one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. With over 20,000 members, and activities stretching to other areas of Asia and even in the US, the Yamaguchi-Gumi makes billions of dollars per year and has a higher income than a lot of small countries. That could explain some of the wealth.

Even the theatre we performed in, the biggest (and nicest so far) illustrated the wealth and the class of this city. 

Recently, as there has been a splintering in the Yamaguchi-Gumi, many have feared that this would lead to violence in the city, but if there was any, the city certainly didn't show any scars from it. Would love to come back here and explore this place again sometime. Maybe next time I can find some graffiti.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaguchi-gumi
https://financesonline.com/10-wealthiest-cities-in-the-world-its-not-new-york-or-london-at-the-top/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe