My friends and I are English teachers in the city of Nagasaki. We’ve been living in Nagasaki since August, and have enjoyed exploring the many sights the city has to offer. However, over the long weekend at the end of October, we decided to leave the city and explore the nearby hot spring town of Unzen.

Saturday - Unzen

We took the short bus ride to Unzen , which took around 90 minutes. When we arrived, we walked to the hot spring fields, which are also known as “hells”. These are small pools bubbling with milky, sulphurous water. As you wander through Unzen’s many hells, you are surrounded by warm steam which smells faintly of eggs.

If you enjoy eggs, you can eat very special eggs in Unzen. These have been cooked in the steam from the hot springs and so have a unique, delicious flavour. We sat in the town’s souvenir shop where we had fun sprinkling our eggs with various different salts – including chilli, garlic and tea flavours.

Afterwards, we retired to the Ryokan where we would be staying. It was our first time staying in a Ryokan – the experience is very different to staying in hotels in our home country of Britain! We enjoyed putting on the yukata, and relaxing in the many onsens in the hotel. In the evening, we ate a delicious multi-course meal showcasing the best of Japanese cuisine - including a variety of starters, sashimi, nabe, champon and fresh melon and cake for desert.

We went for a walk after our meal – the steam from the hells continued to rise in the darkness and made the streets of Unzen look very eerie. This was particularly fitting given that this was the day after Halloween!

Sunday – Shimabara

On Sunday, after enjoying a traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, miso soup and fish, we took the bus from Unzen to Shimabara.

Our impression of Shimabara was that it was very peaceful. In a way, it is similar to our city of Nagasaki, as both have long shopping arcades.

We wandered along the streets with tiny canals running through them full of beautiful, inquisitive carp. We chanced upon a small house with a beautiful public garden, where the kind owner invited us in to drink green tea and look at the beautiful carp.

Then we visited the Statue of Buddha Entering Nirvana in Kotoji Temple - at 8.6m long the statue is apparently the longest reclining Buddha in the country. Finally, we walked around the castle which looked very imposing with the sun setting behind it. Again, it fit in very well with the spooky Halloween feel of the weekend!

We returned to our ryokan in Unzen for our final night, and enjoyed relaxing on the tatami in our hotel room and visiting the wonderful outside onsen in the moonlight.

Monday – Obama

On Monday we travelled back to Nagasaki, but stopped off in the small town of Obama on the way. We took off our shoes, rolled up our trousers to use the many footbaths that are located along the sea front. It was very relaxing, particularly with the beautiful view to enjoy
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We also bought some broccoli, mushrooms and chicken from a local stall which a kind member of staff cooked for us in the steam rising from the town’s hot springs. The steamed food was delicious! We noticed that many families had bought their own food to steam, including frankfurters, eggs, vegetables and so on. We decided that we would do this next time we visited Obama.

All in all, we had a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend in this peaceful part of Nagasaki. When my family visit me from Britain, I’m looking forward to taking them to experience Unzen!