Kameyama Shachu

I adore Nagasaki’s signs that are in Japanese, Korean, English and Chinese. Because I couldn’t read Japanese back when I first visited Japan, I found Korean, in addition to English to be quite helpful. (Things made a lot of sense to me whenever I read something written in Korean that didn’t have an actual meaning in Korean. And for that, I’m thankful I was able to read Korean.) These signs I liked so much led me to temples and eventually to the site of the former Kameyama Shachu.

Getting to the site of the former Kameyama Shachu was a chore. I had to climb a bunch of stairs that were nestled between cemeteries. It was tiring and I almost wanted to give up on these stairs. Fortunately, they had these “cute” wooden signs that would greet you every now and then. The signs served as encouragement for people like me to keep on tackling the stairs. (Yeah…now we know why people back then didn’t suffer from obesity or did they?)

The “funny” thing is when I finally reached the Kameyama Shachu museum, I didn’t know I had reached it. There was a fancy sign along with an archway entrance in front of the site but because it was in Japanese, I was clueless as to what this site was. Eventually, I figured it was at least some place I could visit after seeing people taking photos of the exterior. So, after encountering a nice and polite couple, I decided to just go inside this site. It turns out the site was actually the place I was looking for, the Kameyama Shachu musuem.

The museum was small. Due to everything being in Japanese, I couldn’t understand anything that was on display within the site. I could only make assumptions of things based on what I saw. If I could read Kanji at the time, I think I would have enjoyed reading all about the things on display and would’ve stayed longer.

I must share that I encountered a super attractive guy here at the Kameyama Shachu museum. He was like a 20/10. I kid you not! He was with a bunch of other guys and I don’t know what these other guys looked like since my eyes were focused on this one particular guy only. He seemed cheerful, friendly and laid back. (LOL Look at me getting a crush on a guy I didn’t even talk to!) I first encountered him outside of the museum and then again inside the museum. His smile is like OMFG! (He was celebrity material, I tell you!) I saw this guy climb down some stairs from the “attic” and decided to climb the stairs, too! (I think I was the only female visitor that climbed these stairs.) Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything to see up in the attic. I recall a vase and that was about it. I asked myself if people would hide in the attic because it seemed super uncomfortable up there. Either that or people were significantly shorter in the past.

After looking around a bit, I obtained a stamp of having visited the former site of the Kameyama Shachu and left. As I was leaving, I got confused by an employee who spoke to me in Japanese. I unfortunately confused him in return by saying “What?” and then saying bye. (That was when I realized exactly how horrid my Japanese conversational skills were. Like, nonexistent.)

Upon exiting, I made a right where I spent a bit of time at a lookout area containing a statue of boots. The lookout area had a pretty nice view of Nagasaki.

Supposedly, if you were to tackle the stairs some more, you’d reach a park containing Ryoma Sakamoto’s statue. I was way too tired to climb additional stairs and thus can’t verify if Ryoma Sakamoto’s statue is truly up there but I’m pretty it is up there…

Coming down the stairs was a breeze but it made me realize exactly how uphill I had gone. The worst part of it all was how I could see a green spider high up in the sky and had to walk under it, between cemeteries. (I did this coming up and having to do it again was so not fun.) Minus this, it was a good “hike” and even though the museum lacked English, there was a good amount of informational signs en route to the museum.

Visitors can easily learn about the people that were somehow involved with the Kameyama Shachu while taking a break from tackling the stairs. I tried to read most of these informational signs but because I was afraid I wouldn’t make it to the museum before closing time, I skipped out on a good chunk of the reading.

So, do I recommend this museum? I recommend it for history buffs and those that can actually read Japanese. For everyone else, it’s best to visit only if you’re within the vicinity of the museum or something.