Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium: Nagasaki City

The Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium is a place that I have always wanted to visit but for some reason that I am unable to explain it never really came up on my itinerary.  That was until my kids (I have 2) kept pestering me to go until I couldn't take their constant pleading anymore and we jumped into the car and sped to the entrance.

The Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium's main feature is its penguins of course . The aquarium keeps eight species of penguins, including lovable Little Penguins but its highlight being the King Penguin, which can grow to nearly 1 metre in height.   It's pretty funny to see one's youngest stand beside one of these King Penguins and to be challenged by its height and weight I am presume as well!

Another highlight of the Aquarium is to see the penguins in their natural setting swimming freely in Tachibana Bay whereby an area has been isolated by using nets and the penguins are released into this part of the ocean to be observed by visitors. You can watch them behave naturally swimming in the water at high speed to catch feed thrown by the staff, which is a scene rarely observed elsewhere in the Aquarium world.  The cute little guys will come right up to you, waddle past and even take food from your hand.  The is about as close as I have ever come to a real Penguin so yes it was an experience to remember and cherish with my children.

I will be back I am sure!

Check out the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium on the map below:

 

Please click on the pictures below to enlarge.

Even my kids wants to be Aquarium keepers now

Real King Penguins

In their natural environment

Lots to see and do

Cute lil fella

Feeding the Penguins

Lots of space right on the sea

The Entrance

Miguel Chijiwa Statue : Chijiwa, Nagasaki Prefecture

Miguel Chijiwa`s Statue is displayed in Chijiwa Town, Nagasaki.  He was born in 1569? and died January 23, 1633.  He was a member of the Japanese delegation to European Christendom which is also known as the Tensho Embassy.  


The idea of sending a Japanese embassy to Europe was originally conceived by the Jesuit Valignano and sponsored by the three Christian Daimyo's.  Mancio Itō was chosen to act as a spokesman for the group.  On February 20, 1582, Mancio Itō left Nagasaki in company with three other noblemen:

• Miguel Chijiwa


• Julião Nakaura


• Martinho Hara

The ambassadors arrived back in Japan on July 21, 1590. On their eight-year-long voyage they had been instructed to take notes. These notes provided the basis for "The Mission of the Japanese Legates to the Roman Curia", a Macau-based writing by Jesuit Duarte de Sande published in 1590.

The four were subsequently ordained as the first ever Japanese Jesuit fathers by Alessandro Valignano.

Mancio Itō died in Nagasaki on November 13, 1612.

Martinho Hara was banished from Japan by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1614, and acted in Macau. He died in Macau on October 23, 1629.

Miguel Chijiwa seceded Society of Jesus before 1601 and died in Nagasaki on January 23, 1633. The reason of his secession is uncertain.

Julião Nakaura was caught by the Tokugawa Shogunate, and died a martyr by torture in Nagasaki on November 21, 1633. He was beatified on November 24, 2008.

It is so interesting to have so much Christian history available and right at my doorstep. My neighbouring town, Chijiwa was named after Miguel Chijiwa and his statue is proudly displayed right in front of the Town Hall for all to see and admire.




Christians in the day in Japan


The first Japanese Embassy to Europe, in 1586.
Top, from left to right: Julião Nakaura, Father Mesquita, Mancio Itō.
Bottom, from left to right: Martinho Hara, Miguel Chijiwa.

Check out the Miguel Chijiwa Statue in Nagasaki on a map!

Click on the photos below to enlarge:

Posing

On display at his namesake town of Chijiwa, Nagasaki

A servant of Christianity