Japan 日本 – Roving Sun

December 23, 2025August 21, 2026

Back to Tokyo’s Marunouchi Bright Holiday

After a final breakfast at the 長崎マリオット Nagasaki Marriott, we flew on ANA back to Tokyo and checked in to the メルキュール東京羽田エアポート Mercure Tokyo Haneda Airport. After a very late sukiyaki lunch, we visited 東京ミッドタウン日比谷 Tokyo Midtown Hibiya to check out the winter illuminations there. We then walked north to the 丸の内 Marunouchi district for the annual Marunouchi Bright Holiday winter illumination event where we managed to actually visit all the venues!

December 22, 2025August 20, 2026

Shimabara Castle and Town

Our last full day in Kyushu! After breakfast at the 長崎マリオット Nagasaki Marriott, we took the train over to 島原 Shimabara and visited 島原城 Shimabara Castle. After lunch, we visited the town’s historic 武家屋敷 samurai residences and its streets lined with natural spring water canals, which is a bit of an odd description! After a snack at the over 100 year old 銀水 Ginsui, we returned to Nagasaki for dinner.

December 21, 2025August 18, 2026

Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Historical Sites

After breakfast at the 長崎マリオット Nagasaki Marriott, we headed north to visit the 平和公園 Peace Park and 浦上天主堂 Urakami Cathedral before lunch. After, we visited the atomic bomb hypocenter and the adjacent 原爆資料館 Atomic Bomb Museum and the 国立長崎原爆死没者追悼平和祈念館 Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. In the early evening, we returned to Nagasaki Station for dinner.

December 20, 2025August 17, 2026

Western Influences on Nagasaki

After breakfast at the 長崎マリオット Nagasaki Marriott, we first visited 出島 Dejima, an artificial island that served as a Portuguese and then Dutch trading post and was the only port open in Japan for Westerners. We next visited グラバー園 Glover Garden, which contains former Western residences. Finally, we walked through the オランダ坂 Dutch Slope and 長崎水辺の森公園 Nagasaki Seaside Park before having Yakiniku for dinner at the edge of Chinatown.

December 19, 2025August 16, 2026

Nagasaki and Super Mario

After waking up at the ザブラッサム熊本 The Blossom Kumamoto, we checked out and headed over to 長崎 Nagasaki by a combination of Shinkansen and conventional rail. We left our bags at the 長崎マリオット Nagasaki Marriott and visited the 山王神社 Sanno-jinja and its one legged torii, having lost the other leg during the atomic bombing. After, we took the 長崎ロープウェイ Nagasaki Ropeway up to the top of 稲佐山 Inasa-yama for a fantastic view of the city. Next, we took a quick look at the 眼鏡橋 Spectacles Bridge before having a sushi dinner and checking in at the Marriott. Our room ended up being fantastic! In the evening, we took the Shinkansen over to 武雄温泉 Takeo Onsen to ride on the Super Mario train which was operating as the Midori.