European Palace in the Deoksugung, view from Jeong-dong.

In October 1897, King Gojong – the last King of the Joseon Dynasty – declared independence from Qing China and proclaimed the formation of the Daehan Jeguk, or the Korean Empire from the confines of the Deoksugung Palace.

Just a year earlier, in aftermath of great power politics, his wife Queen Min had been assassinated by the Japanese, and he had fled with the Crown Prince to the Russian Legation in the Jeong Dong Quarter, seeking sanctuary.  He would return to begin the reformation and modernisation of Korea that would be cruelly cut short by the Japanese in 1910.

Already by the late 1890s, Jeong-dong – the precinct sitting immediately beyond the walls of the Deoksugung Palace, was home to the few foreign legations and missions that established themselves in Korea.  The Deoksugung itself, as if acknowledging this European influence, even contains Western style architecture alongside the traditional Korean.

The two most significant Daehan Jeguk era sites in Jeong-dong today include the Chungdung Methodist Church, the first church built in Korea, in 1897 – the first year of Emperor Gojong’s reign; as well as the Jungmyeongjeon, which was the Royal Library built in 1897.  The latter is historically significant: when the Deoksu Palace was burnt down in 1905, the Royal Library became Emperor Gojong’s de facto offices for national affairs; and it was here that Emperor Gojong was forced to sign an unequal treaty with Japan in 1905, that eventually led to Korea’s annexation in 1910.

[There is a third significant building from the Daehan Jeguk era, which is the Myeongdong Cathedral, established in the Myeongdong district in 1898. It too is shown here.]

Today, the entire precinct is one of the most pleasant areas in downtown Seoul, being verdant, tranquil and the perfect place for a romantic date or a moment of calm and reflection.

Specialty tiles laid into the pavement showing the key sights in Jeong-dong.

Walking along the walls of the Deoksu Palace.

The former Gyeongseong Courthouse, built in 1928 by the Japanese. It is today’s Seoul Museum of Art.

Chungdong Methodist Church is the first Church built in Korea, established in 1897, in the first year of the Daehan Jeguk.

The Shinya Building.

This is the Eastern Hall of the Paichai Hakdang, built in 1916. The school itself was founded by Henry Appenzeller in 1885 and was the first Western style school in Korea.

The Ewha Girl’s School Simpson Hall was built in 1916. The Girl’s School was established in 1886 and continues to be a prestigious school today.

1920s residence along Jeongdong.

The Jungmyeongjeon, built in 1897 as the Royal Library, used to be the residence of western missionaries.

The Seoul Nanta Theatre.

the former Russian Legation was built in 1890. It was largely destroyed during the Korean War and this is all that stands.

The walls of the Deoksu palace.

The Salvation Army is built in 1928 during the Japanese era.

Seoul Anglican Church was built in 1922.

The Myeongdong Cathedral sits in the Myeongdong precinct. But it dates from the Daehan Jeguk era, having been built in 1898.

Seoul City Hall was the former Keijo City Hall, built in the 1930s.

In 1910, Imperial Japan annexed Korea forcefully, culminating a process that began with the Meiji Emperor in 1876.  The Joseon capital of Hanseong was renamed 京城 – read as “Kei-jo” in Japanese, and “Gyeongseong” in Korean – and designated the colonial capital.  Literally, the word meant “capital”.

During their colonial rule (1910 – 1945), the Japanese destroyed many of Seoul’s indigenous Joseon architecture, including much of the Gyeongbukgung.  In place of the mediaeval city, they inscribed a European-inspired, totally rational urban plan of broad boulevards, grand vistas and monumental civic buildings: buildings such as the controversial former Government General Offices, demolished in 1995.

Today, much of colonial Seoul has vanished, demolished and built over by a city keen to get over a particularly difficult period of its history – the Japanese were brutal colonial masters and attempted to systematically eradicate Korean culture and replace with it with the Japanese.

But around downtown Seoul, some instances still remain of the Keijo era – in some cases, just barely.  The Keijo City Hall, for example, was literally in the midst of being torn down when the Cultural Heritage Department of the city declared it a protected site and halted demolition.

Keijo also remains in the urban fabric of the city – in the many low-rise front-facing stores that remind one of the same in the (Imperial) cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. And also in how modern-day Seoul (like modern-day Tokyo) is a towering city of glass and steel.

The Bank of Korea Building (1912) is built in a typical Meiji Imperial Architecture. It resembles the Bank of Japan in Tokyo.

Colonial-era bank building adjacent to the Bank of Korea.

The former Korea First Bank was built in 1933 and is today’s Standard Chartered Bank.

The Shinsegae Department Store was formerly the Mitsukoshi Department Store, built in 1930.

Municipal Building

Seoul Central Train Station, built in 1925 is a classic example of Meiji Imperial Architecture.

The Ilmin Building was built in 1926 by the Dong-A Ilbo 東亞日報.

Commercial Building

The Old Woori Bank Building was built in 1909 and is one of the oldest colonial buildings in downtown Seoul.

The former National Theatre of Korea in Myeongdong was built in 1934.

Colonial-era buildings in Myeongdong.

More colonial-era buildings.

New and old in the Myeongdong area.

Streetcar from the Keijo era.

The Westin Chosun Hotel.

The Westin Chosun Hotel is the grande dame of Seoul’s hospitality scene.  It originated as an act of cultural desecration.

In 1913, the Japanese destroyed the Hwangudan Altar – Seoul’s equivalent of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, where the Emperor would perform the rites of heaven, and built in 1897, during the brief Daehan era.  In its place, it erected, in 1914, the Chosun Hotel – a modern, European-style Grand Hotel designed and built by Germans.

Model of the original Westin Chosun Hotel

The Hwangungu Shrine is all that remains of the former Hwangudan Altar Complex.

One of the shrines from the Hwangudan complex – the Hwangungu, a three storey octagonal pagoda – was allowed to remain standing on the grounds of the hotel, where it still stands today.

By 1968, the hotel had become too small for the number of guests, and so the entire building was unfortunately demolished, and replaced with a high-rise hotel tower.  The hotel was renamed the Westin Chosun Hotel in 1981, and it has remained so today.

I stayed at the Chosun during my sojourn in Seoul and it did not disappoint in terms of luxury and service.  My only disappointment was that in all respects, it felt like any other major five-star hotel chain in the world – that sense of history that would have come from staying at a historic grand hotel was missing.

I sought consolation at the Hwangungu shrine – which still continues to stand on the hotel’s grounds, and provided a mute though eloquent reminder of the hotel and its host city’s turbulent and traumatic past.

Goodbye Seoul.  Till next time.

The Westin Chosun Hotel today is a high-rise hotel complex, built in the 1970s.

The driveway to the Westin Chosun Hotel.

The hotel lobby.

One of the guestrooms in the hotel

The Circle Bar – the hotel’s main bar.

Close up of a mythical animal at the Hwangungu Shrine.

Whalebone at the Indian Museum’s Natural History galleries.

Last week, I popped into the Museum to admire the whale bone in its natural history galleries, dropped by a streetside stall to have a cup of teh tarik (pulled tea) and – it being the Chinese Lunar New Year – also visited the temple to view the Lion Dance.

Except, of course, I wasn’t in Singapore at all last week.  I was in the city of Calcutta, India.

That’s right.  You heard me.

The Museum was the Indian Museum on Chowringhee Road.  Teh tarik, was exactly what it was, pulled by a Bengali streetside tea-seller in the middle of Bowbazar – the city’s ethnic district. And the Lion Dance?  It took place at the temple in the city’s Chinatown.

I suppose it’s rather coy of me to mention this only NOW, midway through the second of my Grand Tours of port cities… But the fact is, one of my key learning points in the course of these past three years of travel through Asia, is just how SIMILAR these colonial port cities are!

Here in Singapore, we’ve always claimed that we were unique in our multi-cultural make-up.  That’s true in only one aspect – that we have continued, post-colonialism, to trumpet this multi-culturalism as an intrinsic part of our national identity; whereas waves of nationalism in the other post-colonial countries (and cities) in Asia has meant erasure or at least a “dumbing down” of the multi-culturalism in their respective port cities.

Festive Lion Dance in Calcutta Chinatown.

The fact is, Singapore is no different than Rangoon, Penang, Malacca, Calcutta, Hong Kong and even Shanghai in terms of not just the wealth of colonial architecture still extant in the city; but also the surprising multi-culturalism that was a product of the colonial era.

In all these cities, we see this multi-culturalism in the diversity of places of worship – Anglican Churches, Hindu Temples, Buddhist Temples, Taoist Temples, Sunni mosques, Shi’a mosques, synagogues, Armenian Churches, Portuguese Catholic Churches, even Greek Orthodox Churches in some cases.

And these are just the port cities of the British Empire.  When one explores other colonial port cities – Batavia (Jakarta), Soerabaja in the Dutch East Indies, Saigon and Hanoi in French Indochina and Manila in the Spanish East Indies – one sees the same pattern emerge: a wealth of different cultures inhabiting the same port city.

Because the port cities, at a fundamental level were all the same: entrepots for trade, commerce, people and therefore the religions and cultures that they brought.

And at the time, ALL of us port cities were linked in one regional and global network of trade and commerce that made us all siblings of each other.

Therefore we ended up with the same mix of peoples; the same kinds of Museums with the same mish-mash of stuffed animals and whalebones, and quite possibly the same rich stew of cultures, foods and drinks.

Streetside teh tarik in Bowbazar, Calcutta.

This point came over me in a wave that afternoon as I stood with my cup of teh tarik in my hands in the streets of Bowbazar, Calcutta.  I put the terracotta cup to my mouth and took a small sip, and immediately felt a tingling warmth and familiarity overwhelm me; like the petite madeleine, dunked in a tisane, overwhelms the narrator in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time.

How strange!!  I thought as I smiled secretly to myself.  How strange to feel this sense of HOME in a city I had never been to before!  How small the world must be!  

Just so you don’t mistake where I was: iconic Calcutta yellow cab, portrait of Rabindranath Tagore, and the former Great Eastern Hotel.

The Glover Residence (1863), overlooking the Port of Nagasaki.

From the Korean Peninsula, we hop on a ship over to the islands of Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun; to the very first treaty port in Japan – and quite likely the oldest colonial port city anywhere in Asia, except for Goa, Malacca and Macao.

This is Nagasaki – and its name belies the many layers of history that make the city a palimpsest… the Portuguese Era, the Dutch Era, the Foreign Settlement Era, the Chinese presence, the city as Buddhist pilgrim site, the Atomic Bomb….  The only other palimpsest-city in Asia, with multiple layers of colonisation and peoples, is Malacca.

The Portuguese first came to Japan in 1543, more than 450 years ago.  Soon after came that most famous of missionaries – St Francis Xavier, in 1549, to initiate a very efficient programme of evagelisation.  By the 1560s, the Portuguese had established a sufficient toehold in Japan that they were granted a “treaty port” in Nagasaki in 1571. By 1580, they had been given sole jurisdiction and ran a trade monopoly in Asia via Macao.

The Portuguese would impart to the city a taste for tempura – or deep fried seafood – and a sponge cake called castella, both of which still exist in Japan today, the former all over the islands, and the latter specifically in Nagasaki.  In the meantime, they would begin the export of one of history’s most spectacular and rare objects – nanban lacquer – or Japanese lacquer made for the European – which the Japanese called Southern Barbarians, or nanban 南蛮 – market.

In 1634, in the face of a hugely successful programme of evangelisation, the shogun ordered the construction of an artificial island, Dejima, to house the Portuguese and prevent them from further contact with the natives; but to no avail. Within 5 years, the Portuguese were expelled from the city, and Christianity hastily and violently suppressed.  Japanese converts were brutally persecuted and a key milestone of this period was the execution of 26 Japanese missionaries and converts, subsequently canonized by the Catholic Church in 1862 as the 26 Martyrs of Japan.  All in all, the Portuguese had been in Japan just under 100 years.

Museum and Monument to the 26 Japanese Martyrs, Nagasaki.

Reconstruction of Dejima, complete with latter-day Samurai.

Castela – カステラ – a spongecake brought by the Portuguese and considered a specialty of Nagasaki today.

With the Portuguese gone, the Dutch East India Company filled in the vacuum.  Already trading in Nagasaki since the early 1609, the Dutch alone were allowed to remain in a Japan that decided to turn in on itself as part of a centuries-long National Isolation Policy.  From their settlement at Dejima – with the Portuguese gone, the Dutch moved in in 1641 – they alone controlled trade in and out of Japan; and they continued the lucrative export of nanban art, Imari porcelain and other luxury items to Europe.

The Dutch would remain on Dejima – which became associated, in turn, with the Dutch and the Dutch East India Company (the V.O.C.) – till 1858: more than two hundred years!

A model of Dejima under Dutch Rule, at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The logo of the V.O.C., or the Dutch East India Company, on a ruined archway in today’s Dejima.

That which ended the Dutch monopoly in Nagasaki and Japan, was the coming of American “black ships” led by Commodore Perry into Edo harbour in 1853.  The Americans forced Japan out from its National Isolation Policy and in the course of the next decade, would establish a dozen treaty ports and foreign settlements all around Japan – in particular, at the cities of Kobe, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagasaki (naturally), and even Edo itself.

In Nagasaki, a foreign settlement was established at Oura 大浦 （which means “big waterfront”) and the settlement itself extended from a Bund, or waterfront, by Nagasaki harbour, all the way up to the top of the hill.  Today, much of this colonial-era architecture still stands and many buildings have been immaculately preserved.  In particular, the area is famous for its Oura Cathedral – the oldest Cathedral in Japan, and its Dutch slopes – where many of the foreign settlers used to reside.

Oura Church was built in 1853 by French Catholics. It is thought to be the oldest church in Japan, and is considered the church of the 26 martyrs.

An old stone marker indicating the boundary of the Oura Foreign Settlement.

The famous Dutch Slope – known, not because the Dutch lived here, but because the Japanese regarded ALL Europeans as Oranda オランダ　(Holland) peoples.

Many of the Treaty Port era European buildings have been gathered up and moved to Glover Gardens – a veritable theme park of historic architecture. This one is the former Mitsubishi second dock house.

Besides the Europeans, Nagasaki also has a very strong Chinese presence, with the earliest wave of Chinese settlers migrating from the Fujian province to the city in the early 1600s, during the final years of the Ming Dynasty. These Chinese are there still and they have imparted to the city another of its most iconic dishes – the chanpon, or seafood soup noodles.

The city contains one of the most well-preserved Ming Dynasty-style Chinese temples in the world – the Sofuku-ji 崇福寺, built in 1629 and dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea, Mazu.  It also has other familiar aspects of Chinese built heritage that can be found all over South and Southeast Asia – chiefly, a Hokkien Huay Kuan 福建會館, a Confucius Temple, and a City God temple － and of course, a Chinatown.

Perhaps due to the Chinese influence, Nagasaki is also renowned throughout Japan as a Buddhist pilgrimage site; and the city itself contains dozens of ancient temples both of the Buddhist, Zen Buddhist and Shinto persuasion.  A full dozen of these are concentrated along a single pathway, called the Teramachi 寺町, or Temple Alley, where a pilgrim may spend a whole day simply visiting each and every one of these temples in turn.

The Sofuku-ji 崇福寺 is one of the best remaining examples of Ming Dynasty architecture anywhere.

Unique to Nagasaki, and betraying the Hokkien origins of its Chinese peoples, there is a Hokkien Huay Kuan in its hsitoric Chinese settlement.

Today’s Nagasaki Chinatown is a bustling commercial quarter.

A subtle street sign marks out Teramachi – the temple trail which pilgrims of old used to walk.

The surreal vision of a massive Kwannon, or Goddess of Mercy at the Fukusai-ji 福濟寺 (not along the Teramachi but worth a visit). Many of the temples in Nagasaki were destroyed by the atomic bomb, but have been reconstructed or rebuilt.

Joan-ji entrance.

But we are digressing.

Returning back to the main historical narrative….. The Foreign Settlement Era ended in 1899, just over 40 years after it was established.  Japan became an Imperial power and a coloniser in its own right.  The aftermath of Japan’s Imperialist ambition, as we all know, was World War II.  And World War II was ended through the Americans dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Atomic Bomb thus constitutes the final, and most recent layer of history in this multi-layered city; and throughout the city centre and its outskirts, one may find traces of the horrifying impact of the bomb and moving memorials to world peace.

This month on the Grand Tour belongs to Nagasaki, and I hope you enjoy taking a journey through its rich, complex and multi-layered history, as much as I did.

The haunting and moving Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Memorial.

The Epicentre – or Ground Zero – of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb, at the Peace Park.  This is where the Atomic Bomb hit. 

The Peace Statue at Nagasaki Peace Park.

The Ruins of Urakami Cathedral, built in 1925. The Atomic bomb dropped only 500m away in the village of Urakami and completely demolished it. While the Cathedral itself has been rebuilt, this fragment has been moved to the Peace Park as a reminder of the event.

Map of Nagasaki, showing Dejima island at centre.

Dejima 出島, which literally means “out -” or “exit-island” in Japanese, was an artificial, fan-shaped island reclaimed from Nagasaki bay by order of the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu 徳川 家光 in 1634, to house those errant Portuguese, whom, ostensibly in the city for trade, embarked upon a systematic and very successful campaign of evangelisation.

By 1639 – after this strategy of containment failed to work, the Portuguese were gone, and Catholicism, which the Japanese called Kirishitan キリシタん (after the Portuguese “cristão“) in their native tongue, was banned. The Japanese Christians were persecuted and went into hiding for a good 200 years, only re-emerging in the 1800s, when Japan was once again, open for business.

Nanban votive altar made in lacquer, from the Edo Period. The painting it holds is by a Spanish artist; so it is likely this is from the Portuguese era in Nagasaki (late 1500s, early 1600s).

The V.O.C., or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, also known as the Dutch East India Company, moved into Dejima from 1641 and remained till 1858. For two hundred years, only Dutch and Chinese ships were allowed to enter Japanese waters, through the port of Nagasaki, and specifically, Dejima.

On Dejima, the Dutch established one of the earliest instances of extra-territoriality. The foreign settlement on the island, albeit minuscule, was in all aspects, self-governing. The Dutch were banned from leaving Dejima and could not cross the narrow straits into Nagasaki proper.  Conversely, the Japanese were also banned from entering the island.

But goods and ideas passed freely.  For two centuries, the Dutch continued the very profitable nanban 南蛮 trade (or “Southern Barbarian Trade”) first established by the Portuguese.  From the sole exit point of Dejima, Nagasaki, Japanese luxury items like porcelain and most notably, lacquer, were commissioned by and exported to European markets.  These rare nanban trade pieces still exist today, scattered in a range of museums and private collections in Japan and Europe.

Conversely, European thoughts and technologies slipped through the cracks into Japan – things like coffee, chocolate, photography and even billiards.

The logo of the Dutch East India Company – the V.O.C., on a reproduction trade ceramic plate.

Nanban lacquer chest, possibly early Dutch era (mid – late 1600s).

Nanban lacquer chair, possibly early Dutch period (mid to late 1600s).

Nanban Sewing Table – interestingly the date and origin: “1851 Nagasaki” are inlaid in the inside of the cover. This is late Dutch era, just before Dejima would be abolished.

When Commodore Perry’s black ships came in 1858, the Dutch monopoly in Dejima was abolished, and a new foreign settlement established in nearby Oura (although foreign trading houses were still allowed to operate in Dejima). Over the course of a century and a half, the artificial island would gradually be swallowed up by the development of the city – quite literally, as due to land reclamation, Nagasaki’s coastline extended further and further south.

Dejima was designated a historic site in 1922, but it took until 1996, when reconstruction efforts began in seriousness. Excavations uncovered the perimeter wall of the island, and at the time of writing, some dozen or so buildings had been reconstructed; and the plan is to dredge further around around the island so it is once more surrounded by water, and visitors can view the island’s iconic fan-like shape.

A stroll through the reconstructed Dejima is an absolute must in Nagasaki, primarily because great pains have been taken to reconstruct these buildings and structures to a very high degree of accuracy. While the site is still largely work in progress, the reconstructed buildings and interiors provide a vivid sense of what life must have been for these Dutchmen far away from their homes.

For two hundred years, they would reside here, in this tiny enclave, adopting a mix of European and Japanese lifestyles, objects and decorative taste as they evolved and adapted to their immediate environment. And then, as swiftly as they arrived, it was all over.

The Town Hall like former Dejima Protestant Seminary.

A model of Dejima island.

The exposed original perimeter walls of Dejima.

A reconstructed archway with the V.O.C. logo carved on it.

Original gateways.

An original Japanese marker, marking the extend of Dejima.

Reconstructed stone warehouses.

Reconstruction in progress.

Reconstructed stone warehouses.

A reconstructed streetscape with the Chief Factor’s Residence at left.

Reconstructed warehouse.

The Deputy Chief Factor’s Quarters.

Reconstructed streetscape with the First Ship Captain’s Quarters at right.

Reconstructed interior: living room.

Reconstructed interior: dining room.

The former Dejima Protestant Seminary again.

A fuller map of Nagasaki, with Dejima at bottom.

Oura Church, built in 1864, is a National Treasure and is a major landmark in the Oura Foreign Settlement. To the right is the Archbishop’s Residence, built in 1914.

In 1858, Japan signed the Harris Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States of America.  The Treaty Port Era had begun for the Land of the Rising Sun.  Five ports were forced open to the Americans: Shimoda, Hakodate, Kanagawa, Niigata and, of course, Nagasaki.  Thereafter, the Japanese were forced to sign other similar Unequal Treaties with the Great Powers: Britain, France, Holland and Russia.

In Nagasaki, the Dutch trade monopoly in Dejima was abolished and a new foreign settlement was designated in Oura 大浦 around 1962.  The area took on the semblance of most foreign settlements in the East – with a commercial Bund (known as the Oura Bund) flanking the water, and a low-rise residential area that extended up into the hills.

The Foreign Settlement would revert to Japanese rule within forty years in 1899, as Imperial Japan, under the throes of the Meiji Restoration, shrugged off colonial rule and became its own colonial power.

But much of the heritage of the foreign settlement remained in Nagasaki and still exists today in the Oura district.  Many of the historic buildings and residences from the Treaty Port era have been gathered up and relocated on the top of Glover Hill, in what was once the residence of Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed greatly to the modernisation of Japan in the Treaty Port years.

His estate, including his actual residence, as well as the dozen or so other historic buildings, has been turned into a outdoor architecture museum-cum-nostalgic theme park called Glover Garden, and it is at and around the park that we start our journey.

Outside of Glover Garden, clusters of historic buildings still stand on Glover Hill, particularly around Hollander Slope, or Dutch Slope and Higashiyamate 東山手 – which was a former residential and Consulate area.  The Dutch were only one of the foreigners who lived here – the Japanese called ALL white people Hollanders.

The third part of our tour is of what remains of the Nagasaki Bund, once a bustling centre of trade and commerce, but today, a lot quieter and largely tourist-oriented. Only three of the buildings on the former Bund still stand today, as mute witness to a more illustrious past.

Finally, we make a detour to the suburb of Urakami 浦上 – the historic centre of Japanese Catholicism since the Portuguese era – to pay a visit to the historic Urakami Cathedral. The Cathedral was most famously destroyed by the Atomic Bomb in 1945, rebuilt in 1959 and restored in 1980 to more closely resemble the original.

Oura and Glover Garden

Oura from my balcony at the ANA Crown Plaza Hotel Nagasaki Glover Hill (the former Bellevue Hotel). Although entirely modern-Japanese, the architectural style here is still self-consciously European.  Note the original of-the-era residence at left-centre, which is a children’s museum today. 

The residence of Thomas Blake Glover (1863).

The residence of British merchant Frederick Ringer (1869) is in a Californian hacienda style.

The residence of British merchant, Willian J. Alt, built in 1865.

The former residence of the President of the Nagasaki District Court (1883) has a distinctly East-West architecture.

The former residence of Robert Walker Jr, built in the late 19th century.

The former Steele Memorial Academy, built in 1887.

The Jiyu-tei Teahouse was Japan’s first Western-style restaurant and it still functions as a restaurant today on the grounds of Glover Garden.

The Mitsubishi No. 2 Dock House (1896) is an example of Meiji-era Western style architecture.

Outside of Glover Garden, there are still clusters of probably Treaty-port era residences still standing. This one literally stands outside Glover Gardens and is a cafe.

This residence stands at the foot of Glover Hill and a couple of streets away from Hollander Slope.

Hollander Slope and Higashiyamate

The stone marker indicates the beginning of Hollander Slope – the foreign settlement proper.

Treaty-port era residence (1892) in Higashiyamate.

The former Russian Consulate (1868).

Historic buildings just beside the Russian Consulate – note the American-style architecture.

Kwassui Women’s College 活水学園 was founded in 1879 by an American Methodist missionary, Elizabeth Russell.

View over the rooftops of historic residences on Hollander Slope.

A separate cluster of well-preserved historic residences in Higashiyamate around the hill from Hollander Slope.

Close-up of one of these historic residences.

The Nagasaki Bund and vicinity

The former Nagasaki International Club was established after the Treaty Port Era in to ensure that good relations ensued between the Japanese and foreigners (such as Frederick Ringer) who continued to live and trade in the city. The building was erected in 1903.

The former British Consulate on the Oura Bund, built in 1908 (after the Treaty Port era).

Former warehouse on the Oura Bund.

The former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building on the Oura Bund. To its left is the former Bellevue Hotel.

The site of the former Nagasaki Hotel – the city’s other grand hotel (before the Bellevue).

Hotel Monterey is a contemporary Japanese hotel chain that draws from Nagasaki’s ancient Portuguese heritage.

Warehouses behind the bund.

More warehouses behind the Bund.

Nakamachi Catholic Church (1897) is not actually near the Bund but it is close to the Memorial to the 26 Japanese martyrs.

Urakami Cathedral

The suburb of Urakami 浦上, with the Cathedral in the distance.

Close-up of the imposing Urakami Cathedral

The Hokkien Huay Kuan, Nagasaki.

Nagasaki has the oldest existing Chinese settlement and community in Japan, consisting of Chinese migrants (from primarily the Fujian province) who crossed over in the early 1600s, during the final years of the Ming Dynasty.

They have assimilated so well as to be considered an integral part of Nagasaki culture, and they’ve contributed one significant dish to Japan’s national cuisine – the chanpon, which is a kind of pork and seafood noodle, originating from the Hokkien word “jia-peng” 吃飯, meaning “eat rice,” literally, but referring to one’s having one’s meal.  The most famous of these chanpon restaurants, Shikairo 四海樓 – who actually originated the dish, still stands, just off the former Oura Bund; and still runs a brisk business today.

The architectural heritage of the Chinese in Nagasaki is significant.  They contribute the two oldest Zen temples in the city (possibly in Japan) – the Kofukuji 興富寺, built in 1620; and the Sofukuji 崇福寺, built in 1635.  Both of which are significant examples of Ming Dynasty architecture outside of China.

The Chinese were originally settled in the Chinese settlement 旧唐人屋敷, established in 1689 as a means of isolating the Chinese from the Japanese, much like Dejima isolated the Dutch.  As a result, it is located somewhat adjacent to Dejima – after all, for two centuries, the Dutch and the Chinese were the only foreigners allowed to trade with the city.  When the foreign settlements were eventually abolished, the Dutch left, but the Chinese remained.

In the Chinese settlement today remain the trappings of any typical Chinese settlement everywhere – a Temple to the Earth Deity 土神堂 and a temple to the Goddess of Mercy 觀音堂, and one to Confucius 文廟 – but what is unique about this Chinese settlement is that it was clear that the Chinese here, were Hokkien – there is a temple to Mazu 天后堂 (the Goddess of the sea), which the Hokkiens everywhere, including in Singapore worship; and most surprisingly, there is also a Hokkien Huay Kuan 福建會館, or a Hokkien Clan Association, which also exists wherever there are significant Hokkien populations (including in Singapore).

Of course, no Chinese community anywhere will be without its latter-day Chinatown – and Chinatown in Nagasaki is a major attraction for tourists and locals alike, bustling with energy and where some of the best Chinese food can be had.

This gallery takes us to the major sights in Chinese Nagasaki, ending off with a meal at legendary Shikairo, overlooking the Nagasaki harbour, with its ships from all over the world, bringing trade from afar, just like they have done so for almost 500 years.

Historic Chinese Temples in Nagasaki

Entrance to the Koofuki-ji, built in 1620, during the Ming Dynasty, to cater to the religious needs of Chinese merchants who traded in Nagasaki.

The main temple of the Koofuki-ji

An ancient doorway in the Koofukuji complex.

Soofukuji, built in 1635 by monks from the Fujian province.

Inner doorway to the Soofukuji

The main temple of the Soofukiji

The Confucius Temple, Nagasaki was built in 1893, with support from the Qing Government.

The main temple of the Confucius Temple.

The Chinese Settlement, Nagasaki

The Earth God Shrine was originally established in 1691, but it has been renovated and reconstructed multiple times over the years. This is a replica from 1977.

The main temple of the Earth God Shrine.

The front gate of the Hokkien Huay Kuan (Fukken Kaikan in Japanese), was built in the late 1800s.

The main temple of the Hokkien Huay Kuan

Statue of Sun Yat Sen in the Hokkien Huay Kuan.

One of the traditional Chinese houses in the Settlement.

The Temple to the Goddess of Mercy was originally built in 1737, though this version of the temple dates from 1917.

The Tengo Temple – Tengo 天后 is also known as Mazu 媽祖 – was established in 1736 but this version was built in 1906.

Chinatown and Chanpon

One of the Gates to Chinatown.

Close-up of the Gates to Chinatown

View down one of the main streets of Chinatown.

Shikairo 四海樓 restaurant sits just off the Oura Bund.

The famous chanpon.

The entrance to Shofuku-ji 聖福寺, built in 1677.

Quite unbeknownst to most visitors, Nagasaki is a historic centre of pilgrimage for Japanese Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.  The city centre is quite literally bursting with temples of all kinds, particularly around the foot of the various hills in the city.

The greatest concentration of temples – some 15 of them in the same area – is in Teramachi, which literally means Temple Street.  The two oldest and most famous temples in the city – Kofuku-ji 興福寺 and Sofuku-ji 崇福寺, both of which appeared in the post just before this one – are located on this street, alongside a dozen other temples.

But to get the full sense of just how overwhelming Nagasaki’s temple quarter is, one must begin the tour about a kilometer away at the ancient Honrenji 本蓮寺, located just adjacent to the Memorial to Japan’s 26 Catholic Martyrs.  Here sit four of the city’s most fascinating temples – Honren-ji, Fukusai-ji 福済寺, Shofuku-ji 聖福寺 and the Suwa Shrine 諏訪神社 (unfortunately I only managed to visit the third of the four). From the Suwa Shrine, cross over the river to check out another smaller shrine – the Isemiya Shrine 伊勢宮神社, before heading south to Teramachi proper, with its 15 temples.

Many of the temples were first established in the 1600s, but were then severely damaged by the atomic bomb in 1945, and rebuilt thereafter.  So there is a variety of architectural styles here, some temples being built in an entirely contemporary style, and others reconstructed in a more traditional form.

The entire journey will take you a full day, if you walk fast and are efficient with visiting each of these temples.  Ideally, one would take this in slowly, over the course of three days, just like pilgrims of yore must have done in Old Nagasaki.

Enjoy the gilded splendour of this Pilgrim’s tour of the temples of Nagasaki.

Inner doorway in the Shofuku-ji.

The Shofuku-ji temple proper.

The Isemiya Shrine 伊勢宮神社

The Shrine proper.

Wayside Kannon.

Kogen-ji 光源寺

A view down Teramachi.

Zenrin-ji 禅林寺 is built in a contemporary style, having been destroyed by the atomic bomb.

Jinsou-ji 深崇寺 was established originally in 1615.

The grounds of Jinsou-ji.

Sanpou-ji 三宝寺

The main temple, Sanpou-ji.

Joan-ji 淨安寺

Stairs up to Joan-ji temple.

Kofuku-ji 興福寺

Enmei-ji 延命寺

The temple of Enmei-ji.

Chosho-ji 長照寺 entrance. The temple was established in 1631.

The grounds of Chosho-ji

Kotai-ji 皓台寺 was buit in 1663 and is – hands down- the most beautiful, fairytale-like temple on Teramachi. The grounds were stunningly landscaped and the entire temple transported one back to the days of shogunate.

The side temple of Kotai-ji, and an elderly pilgrim.

Daion-ji 大音寺 was founded in 1614 and has a spectacular entranceway.

Inside Daion-ji, there was a beautiful pure white contemporary temple.

Daiko-ji 大光寺 had the most dramatic entranceway.

The stairway leading up to Daiko-ji.

The Daiko-ji grounds.

Sofuku-ji 崇福寺

The stunning Yasaka Shrine 八坂神社

The shrine proper.

Couple leaving the Yasaka Shrine.

Kiyomizudera 清水寺 was built in 1623.

The Kiyomizudera grounds.

Shokaku-ji 正覺寺

The Shokaku-ji proper.

The itinerary of the Pilgrim’s Tour – extending from the Memorial to Japan’s 26 Catholic Martyrs, to Shokaku-ji. Time needed: at least one full day, if not two.

The former Belle Vue Hotel is buried within the form of today’s ANA Crowne Plaza Nagasaki Gloverhill, which sits on the same site.

The grande dame of the Nagasaki hospitality scene was the former Belle Vue Hotel, situated just off the Bund, at the edge of Glover Hill, in the Oura Foreign Settlement. It was the second oldest Western-style hotel in the city, established in 1863, a full thirty years before the famous Nagasaki Hotel was established in 1898.

Where the Nagasaki Hotel would be demolished in the 1900s, the Belle Vue continues to stand today, albeit buried deep within the form of the ANA Crowne Plaza Nagasaki Gloverhill.  If you look close enough at the form of the latter hotel, however, you will still be able to see – only just – the structure of the former Belle Vue, in particular its long verandah at the front of the building.

The Crowne Plaza today is a business hotel at heart, with small but comfortable rooms, and a lovely view of Gloverhill from the balconies of its hillside rooms.  Notably, its French restaurant, Pavé serves the best Japanese-style French cuisine in the city.  This is a unique east-meets-west fusion food that is a specialty of Nagasaki’s.

All in all, a quiet, tranquil, delightful sojourn.

View of the Belle Vue Hotel in the early 1900s. Note the long verandah out front.

Close up of the front of the Crowne Plaza Gloverhill – the verandah still exists and the Art Deco tower was probably added during the 1930s.

Lobby of the Crowne Plaza Gloverhill.

Side view of the hotel up towards Glover Hill.

Side view of the hotel down towards the harbour.

View of Gloverhill from the balcony of my room.

Interior of my room.

Having a cocktail at the hotel bar.

Exterior view of Pave, the hotel’s French restaurant.

Fried pieces of fish served upon a mock- V.O.C. plate.

Main course – a crayfish, in a distinctly Japanese-French style.

The Crowne Plaza Gloverhill at night. Goodbye Nagasaki!

It is a new coffee table book celebrating the Grand Tour of Southeast Asia in the 1920s, and based on the first, Southeast Asian, leg of my Grand Tour of the East, which I posted here on Dream Of A City from June 2012 to August 2013. Retracing the journey of those grand tourists of the ‘20s, the book takes today’s traveller through 12 fabled port cities in what was then known as the East Indies.

Setting sail from Rangoon (Yangon), we visit Penang, Malacca, Singapore, Batavia (Jakarta), Surabaya, Bangkok, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Phnom Penh, Hanoi and Manila before disembarking at Hong Kong harbour.

Each chapter presents a historical and photographic overview of the city’s old town, colonial precincts and living cultural heritage, drawing on archival images, maps and accounts, as well as contemporary photos.

In each city, we also stop at the city’s grand colonial hotel – the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong, the Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang and the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi, to name a few.

As part of the on-going marketing and publicity campaign for the book, I am starting a new blog – http://www.romanceofthegrandtour.com – where in the course of the year, I shall be posting images, photographs, maps and quotes from my book; interesting stories related to the “making of” the book; book events in the region, AND – as a plus – images, quotes, bits of history that are related to the history of travel, or to the 12 port cities in my book, but which did not make it into the “final cut.”

You are all invited to come on board ship at http://www.romanceofthegrandtour.com, for a journey of history, nostalgic and excitement!

Weathercock House, in the ijinkan district, was built in 1909 for a German trader.

Now that the book is launched, its time to get back to the Grand Tour of China, Korea and Japan.  Our next stop is one of the original 7 treaty ports forced open to trade in the aftermath of US Commodore Perry’s black ships entering Edo harbour.

These seven treaty ports were Shimoda 下田, Hakodate 函館, Yokohama 横浜, Kobe 神戸, Nagasaki 長崎, Osaka 大阪 and Niigata 新潟.  On this Grand Tour we pay a visit to three of these cities – Nagasaki we’ve already been to; Kobe we explore this month; and Yokohama next month.

Kobe was thrown open to trade in 1858 as part of the unequal Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed between Japan and the United States of America.  It very swiftly became one of the major port cities in Japan and, like Nagasaki, it also played host to a sizeable foreign settlement.

The former Kobe Bund today, where some of the commercial buildings of the treaty-port era still remain.

The Former Foreign Settlement, or Kyu-Kyoryuchi, is the heart of downtown Kobe – its financial and fashion centre. Walking down its streets, you still get a sense of how the city looked like in the early 1900s.

Like most port cities in the colonial-era, Kobe had a Bund – or a waterfront that was both commercial and civic.  In its heyday at the turn of the 20th century all the way till World War II, the Kobe Bund was the most stunning Bund of all the treaty ports.  Today, however, most of the original buildings have been torn down, but there exists a tract of treaty-port buildings that still stand.

The Bund extends some three to four blocks back, just like in Shanghai; and today the entire area is known as the Kyu-kyoryuchi 旧居留地, or Former Foreign Settlement Area. Surprisingly, quite a few of the treaty-port era buildings still remain here, and walking down the streets of what is still Kobe’s downtown and Financial heart today, one can get a feel of how the city looked like 100 years ago.

Western architecture in the heart of downtown Kobe.

The Former Foreign Settlement is also the heart of the fashion district.

The other district of Kobe intimately linked to the treaty port era is the Ijinkan district – ijinkan 異人館 meaning “foreign residences.” Nestled up in the Kobe hillside, here it is that the Grand Tourist will find the greatest concentration of turn of the century European architecture – many of which still occupied and used as residences today.

Western style architecture in the form of ijinkan – 異人館 in the Kitano district, nestled in the hills.

Another example of Western-style residences, this one in a Californian style.

Kobe was also multi-cultural: it has a Chinatown 南京町 – one of only three Chinatowns in Japan (in Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama, where else?).  Interestingly, it also has a mosque, built in 1935 (Japan’s very first mosque), serving a Turkish-Tatar community there.

Kobe Chinatown 南京町

Kobe Mosque.

Of course, Japan being Japan – Kobe is also known for is stunning contemporary architecture, nowhere more so than in its former port area – today serving as a passenger port terminal, and home to the iconic Kobe Tower and Maritime Museum.

The Kobe passenger cruise terminal plays host to the fabulous Oriental Hotel – not the same one as the other HISTORIC grand hotel in the city.

The Kobe Tower and the Kobe Maritime Time at right.

For a meld of colonial and contemporary, Kobe is the city to be in.  Let’s not even talk Kobe Beef – which has its origins in Kobe’s Treaty-Port status and large resident foreign population; like everything else, the Japanese have taken something foreign and made it entirely their own.

Colonial contemporary in Kobe’s Former Foreign Settlement.

And finally… Kobe beef: part of the living heritage of Kobe’s treaty port past. It’s as good as its reputation.

The Kobe Bund 海岸どり

The Former Foreign Settlement, or Kyu-Kyoryuchi 旧居留地 lies at the very heart of Kobe City, and is also where the city began its history as a major port in Japan.  The Foreign Settlement was established post-1868, when Japan was forced to open Kobe (known to the foreigners as Hyogo) up as one of the 7 original Japanese treaty ports.  Foreigners were allowed to establish residences and trade their wares in this strictly demarcated zone.

Today, the Former Foreign Settlement still retains more than a dozen buildings from the Treaty-Port era, and makes for a rather pleasant stroll. There are two sections to the settlement – the first is the Kobe Bund 海岸どり itself, which used to sit on the water, but due to successive land reclamation, no longer does.  There are only four buildings from the Treaty Port era that survive on the Bund, but they provide a good sense of how it would have looked like.

Just behind the bund, is the foreign settlement proper, and this gallery takes the reader through a handful of the buildings that still survive.  Most of them have been repurposed and put to a new use altogether, but the area surprisingly still retains its identity as the financial and trading core of the city.

To the East of the Former Foreign Settlement, we pay a visit to the Kobe Customs House and some remaining buildings in the vicinity.

Finally, as a means of transitioning into the next post on the Kitano Ijinkan District, we take a short trek up north, slightly off the Former Foreign Settlement to visit a couple of churches and the spectacular Meiji-era Hyogo Prefecture Guesthouse, once Government offices.

The first of the four remaining buildings on the Bund – the Kobe Yusen Building 神戸郵船ビル. The Kobe Yusen is a mailboat / shipping company.

The second building on the Bund – the Kaigan Building 海岸ビル. Note that stunning addition of a ten-floor contemporary tower on the original colonial-era structure.

The third building on the Bund is the Shosen Mitsui Building 商船三井ビル. The Shosen Mitsui is another major shipping company.

A view of the old and new, juxtaposed on the Bund.

The final remaining building on the Bund is the former Chartered Bank Building, which is a restaurant today.

Further along the Bund sits the former Kobe Club.

Moving behind the Bund, we have the former US Consulate Building, the oldest building in the Former Foreign Settlement. Today it is a restaurant.

The Foreign Settlement No. 38 Building is owned by Daimaru, just behind it.

Treaty-port era building.

Another treaty-port era building.

The Kobe Sumitomo 住友Bank Building.

The Kobe City Museum.

Daimaru – one of Japan’s oldest departmental stores.

The Shinkoboeki Building sits near the Customs House.

Kobe Design and Creative Centre, across from the Customs House.

The Kobe Customs House is a museum today.

Colonial edifice en route to the Hyogo Prefecture Guesthouse.

Kobe Union Church

Christchurch Kobe

The Hyogo Prefecture Guesthouse, erected in 1902 in a French Renaissance style.

The Uroko House and Museum sits on one of the highest points of the Kitano District.

Kitano-cho (or Kitano District) 北野町 was an extension of the Kobe Foreign Settlement, in that it was the location of the latter’s residential and consular district.  Like the Oura district in Nagasaki, Kitano is nestled at the foot of the Kobe hills and is quite a hike to get to and to get around.

But the hike is worth it.  Kitano has the greatest concentration of Treaty Port era residential and consular architecture anywhere in Japan. This, despite the Kobe earthquake, which hardly affected the buildings here.

Unique for Kobe, these residential and consular buildings are called ijinkan 異人館, or ‘foreigner residences’.  Many of them, particularly the former consulates, have been turned into museums, cafes, restaurants and hotels; though quite a few are still privately owned residences.  The whole area feels a little bit like Switzerland, though in a kind of theme park way.

Kitano was also a multi-religious district, with Shinto temples, Christian churches, and even a mosque and a synagogue located here, serving the once cosmopolitan residents in this bustling former Treaty Port.

This gallery takes the reader through a walk of Kitano-cho, showcasing some of the most iconic ijinkan in the area.

The Weathercock Mansion is the most famous ijinkan in Kitano, built for a German merchant thomas Weathercock, in 1909.

The Former Sharp House is right beside the Weathercock Mansion, and was built in 1903. It is called the Moegi House today.

Yamate No. 8 House.

The Former Wolhin House was used as the Dutch Consulate.

The former Austrian Consulate.

Blue House, viewed from the Former Kobe International Club.

The Former American Consulate (1898).

The Rhine House – formerly the German Consulate (1915).

The former Panama Consulate.

French House – formerly the French Consulate.

The back view of English House – formerly the British Consulate.

Ijinkan-dori is a main street in Kitano District, lined with ijinkan and historic gas lamps.

The Choueke Family Residence is privately owned.

Queen’s Chapel (from 1900s).

Privately owned Ijinkan in a unique Victorian style.

Ijinkan en route to the Kitano district.

Starbucks occupies a former ijinkan.

A luxury hotel occupying a former ijinkan.

More ijinkan.

Graciani Restaurant.

A period postbox.

The Kobe Kitano Hotel.

Kitano Tenman Jinja Shrine.

Ikuta Jinja.

Ohel Shelomo Synagogue serves the Kansai area.

Kobe Muslim Mosque.

Totenkaku Chinese Restaurant.

And finally… the Korean Consulate.

The Oriental Hotel Kobe today is in its fifth incarnation as a high-rise hotel with heritage roots. It sits in Lots 25 – 26 of the Former Foreign Settlement.

The Oriental Hotel is the grande dame of the Kobe hospitality scene, and it has had a long and complicated history. The first generation of the hotel was established by a Dutchman in 1870 at Lot 6 of the Foreign Settlement.

Ownership was subsequently transferred to Englishmen and the hotel was moved for first time in 1907 to Lot 6 of the Foreign Settlement. That incarnation – the third generation of the Kobe Hotel – became world famous for its service, hospitality, and in particular its Kobe Beef.

The third incarnation of the Oriental Hotel was the one famous world-wide for its hospitality and for Kobe Beef. It sat at Lot 6 of the Former Foreign Settlement.

Luggage Label of the Hotel from the 1930s/40s.

In modern times, the history of the hotel has been a lot more convoluted. The original hotel building was damaged beyond repair during the Kobe Air Raids in World War II and was demolished.  The fourth generation of the hotel was erected in Lot 25 – 26 and became a modern structure with a lighthouse.  The 1995 Kobe earthquake again damaged the hotel irretrievably and business afterwards so bad that the hotel actually shut for a period of time.

Finally, in 2010 – the fifth generation of the hotel (under a completely different management) re-opened its doors on the same lot: 25-26, and it is this hotel that I stayed at during my sojourn in Kobe.  While it is a completely contemporary hotel with no traces of its past; it attempts to draw links with its illustrious past through many reproductions of period ephemera – postcards, maps and the like.

The hotel was easily my favourite in Japan, with its large rooms complete with stunning views of the Kobe hills and skyline; with its amazing restaurant that morphs into a different creature in the evenings when it serves delicious Kobe European cuisine.  The old world atmosphere of the original Oriental Hotel in Kobe has been amply captured and I highly recommend a visit and a stay.

Entrance to the hotel today.

Another view of the entrance.

Rug depicting the historic hotel logo.

Lobby Lounge area.

The Oriental Hotel mall adjoins the hotel.

Guestroom.

View of the Kobe Hills.

Breakfast at the Hotel’s Restaurant.

Map of the Former Foreign Settlement.

The restaurant transforms into a Bistro at night and is one of the best places to dine at in the city.

Having a quiet glass of wine at the Bar.

The Hotel at night.

Entrance to the hotel at night.

Old view of the hotel.

There I am, smiling away on the steps of the Armenian Church in Singapore… This photo was published in a recent Business Times Singapore feature on my book and its author. [It’s the first and only photo of myself I shall ever upload on Dream Of A City.]

At the time, I must say that the more I travelled, the more unsettled and unmoored I was; and I was nowhere near finding that equilibrium or pivot on which I would find proverbial BALANCE.

The truth is, I stopped travelling because my Mom asked me to. One morning in New York City, while in the midst of writing the next line to an un-finish-able novel I was working on, my mom called me long-distance and posed THE question:

 “My dear, don’t you think it’s time to come home and get a job?”

The truth was, I had already run out of money some months before; and I was trying very hard, with a career counsellor, to get a job in New York City’s very saturated cultural scene. I could’ve decided to go on a while longer on claims that I was “finishing my novel.” But I decided that it was time to move on, or rather, to move home.

It was the best decision I ever made.

I found a job in the museum world almost immediately – its a world I’ve always loved. In fact, I started work three months before I actually moved back from New York for real.

I immediately re-connected with old friends and family; and discovered again, the pleasures of company and conversations about life, fueled, of course, by wine. =) I’m no teetotaller.

And best of all, I found out that I COULD hold on to a full-time job, and STILL achieve my dream of travelling, (self-)discovering and writing.

As you, my readers, all know, I recently published my very first book – The Romance of the Grand Tour: 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia – a gorgeous, coffee table publication that was based on that first year of travel I did (after I returned to Singapore) to the major port cities of Southeast Asia, and that features my writing, quite a bit of my photography and my own collection of archival postcards, maps, prints and other ephemera.

I did this – I’m proud to declare – EVEN as I was working full-time.

So here goes some conclusions I’ve made three years after my return home to Singapore:

Fact #1 – If I did not return home to Singapore, I could never have written this book and gotten this book published. Singapore was the only place I could’ve have done this.

AFTER returning to Singapore, I finally discovered what it is that I was meant to do – my PURPOSE. And this purpose was to travel to as many of Asia’s cities as I could to learn more about their histories, cultures, and peoples; and in so doing learn more about myself and the state of being concurrently Singaporean, Southeast Asian, Asian and Global.

And I was very very fortunate that there was a publisher here who was willing to take that journey with me, and an old friend who was there to introduce me to the publisher; and that there were heaps of passionate, talented and driven people that I had the privilege to know and to work with in the course of putting my book and its book launch together, some of whom I have the double privilege of being work colleagues with!

Fact #2 – If I did not have a full time job, I could never have finished this book project and gotten it published.

In fact, the full-time job gave me the DISCIPLINE and the RESOLVE to manage my time as best as I could – “If I don’t do this tonight I won’t have time to get to this tomorrow!” – such that I could balance both my professional duties as well as my need to write and create and to explore. It took many late nights – but it was worth every minute. I became more efficient in my writing – able to write good quality stuff in increasingly shorter periods of time.  I honed my craft, so to speak.

In New York City, I had ALL THE TIME in the world, and so, stripped of any limitations, I was unmotivated to finish anything. There was no innovation and creativity. No craft and discipline. I aimed for perfection, not understanding that at the end of the day, it is the DEADLINE that is more important when you want to accomplish something.

Fact #3 – If my mom hadn’t called me that morning in New York City, I would not have DRIVE nor PURPOSE nor BOOK.

So in hindsight, I have to thank my mother for finally losing her patience and (nicely) asking me to come home; and the gentle but firm insistence thereafter on my getting a proper job, even as she listened to and supported everything I did to achieve my dream to be an author.

[Mom: “Where are you off to again?” Me: “Manila.” Mom: “Why???” Me: “Oh it’s for my book.” Mom: “Oh that’s alright then.” No questions asked, even though I was months ahead of securing a book contract.]

To quote her remarkably pragmatic words of wisdom, which she continually dispenses to me, even NOW as I work towards my NEXT book project:

“My dear, of course you should keep writing books and aspire to be an established author; but please also keep a job. Any job.” 

Thanks Mom! I will.  And thanks to everyone right here in Singapore, without whom, I would’ve been unable to achieve this Dream – this Romance of a Grand Tour of the fabulous Port Cities in Southeast Asia.

Here’s to finding one’s purpose and achieving one’s dream, right here at Home.

[Incidentally, my book, The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia, is available in all major bookstores in Singapore, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. It will be available at Waterstones in London from late June. And it is also available now on amazon.uk and bookdepository.com]  

The Hikawa Maru 氷川丸, berthed at Yamashita Park, at the former Yokohama Bund.

Yokohama is the original treaty port in Japan; it was here, in 1854 that the Treaty of Amity was signed between Commodore Perry (of the United States) and Japan, which forced open Japanese ports to European trade. In fact, the very tree under which the treaty was signed still stands, near the exact spot where the historic event took place (at the former British Consulate). Yokohama opened 5 years later, in 1859, to foreign trade – the very first port in Japan to do so.

The Treaty of Amity was signed under this Tabunoki, or Camphor Tree in 1854. (The original tree actually burnt down during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake but it sprouted a new tree which was saved and replanted here in the grounds of the Former British Consulate.)

Just so you it’s clear that here it was that the treaty was signed.

Of the three major treaty ports of Japan – Nagasaki, Kobe and Yokohama – the latter has maintained its foremost position, by virtue of it being the port of Tokyo. It is also the city that has best integrated its heritage as a port city into its contemporary architecture and urban design.

The former port area is known today as Minato Mirai 21 港未来 – literally “Future Port.” Revitalised and restored in the 1980s, it continues to be Yokohama’s central business district and is a case study in successful urban rejuvenation.

The Nippon Maru 日本丸 is another museum ship, permanently docked in the Minato Mirai 21 District.

Overview of the Minato Mirai 21 District – the former Treaty Port era godowns are at centre, in the distance.

The former shipping docks have been integrated into a high-end residential and shopping mall.

Elsewhere, Yokohama has also preserved a surprising number of its historic buildings. Many of these, unfortunately don’t date from the Treaty Port era (1854 – 1899) but from the Meiji-Taisho-Showa Eras (1900s – 1930s).

But there is a sufficient number of these buildings to give you a sense of what it used to look like.  A large concentration of these sit along Bashamichi 馬車道 – literally “Horse Carriage Road” – so-called because this was the main commercial thoroughfare down which Europeans would go in their horse carriages in the late 1800s.

Near the Port area is also to be found Yokohama’s three most famous heritage buildings – known as the three towers: the “Jack Tower” or Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall (a Meiji-era confection), the “Queen Tower” or Yokohama Customs House and the “King Tower” or Kanagawa Prefectural Office (the latter two being early Taisho-era buildings).

The Yokohama City Port Opening Memorial Hall (1917), or “Jack Tower”

The Yokohama Customs Building (1934), or “Queen Tower”

The Kanagawa Prefectural Office (1928), or “King Tower”

The headquarters of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha 

The Former Mitsubishi Bank building along Bashamichi 馬車道

The other major cluster of heritage buildings sits in the Yamate 山手 District, formerly known as “The Bluff.” Like in Oura in Nagasaki and Kitano in Kobe, Yamate was the former foreign consulate and European residential area, built into the side of the city’s rolling hills.

In this area, there are more than a dozen historic residences and places of worship preserved today in a scattering of lovely parks on the hill. One significant historic site that dates from the Treaty Port era sits here – this is the Foreign Cemetery, a pleasant, if a bit melancholy collection of residents who passed on and were buried here. It has been reverently preserved and maintained.

The way to Yamate 山手 is through the district of Motomachi 元町.

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Yamate.

The way to the Foreign Cemetery in Yamate.

Like the other two treaty ports, Yokohama also has a Chinatown, and though it does not have a strong a historic pedigree as its sister in Nagasaki, it is the largest Chinatown in Asia, outside of China, of course. It hosts a Mazu Temple as well as a Guan Gong Temple (called a Kanteibyo 関帝廟 in Japanese).

There was once also an Indian community living and working here, and their presence is memorialised by a very unique drinking fountain in the water-fronting Yamashita Park – the Yokohama Indian Union Drinking Fountain, presented to the city in 1923 in honour of members of the Indian Community that perished in the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The Yokohama Kanteibyo 関帝廟 in Chinatown was founded in 1962, three years after Yokohama opened to foreign trade. The temple was destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake, and burnt again in 1986. This reconstruction was completed in 2000.

The Yokohama Indian Union Water Fountain (1923) in Yamashita Park.

Unlike Kobe and Nagasaki, however, Yokohama’s Bund has not survived. All that remains today is the fabulous Hotel New Grand – the grande dame of the city’s hospitality scene – where General MacArthur spent his first night after Japan surrendered during the Second World War.

Right in front of the Hotel at Yamashita Park is docked a majestic and fabulous relic from the era of long-distance luxury travel, however. This is the M.S. Hikawa Maru 氷川丸 – formerly a cruise ship of the NYK (Nippon Yusen Kaisha日本郵船株式会社) Lines, which has been meticulously restored to its former glory and functions as a floating museum. Exploring the ship, one gets a sense of the life led by our grand tourists in those heady days of travel.

Hotel New Grand, along the Yokohama Bund.

View of Mount Fuji in the distance, on a clear day.

A first-class cabin in the Hikawa Maru.

The Former British Consulate (1931), on the Bund, was built on the site where the Treaty of Amity between Japan and the USA was signed.

Yokohama was the first treaty port in Japan to be opened to foreign trade in 1859, and the heart of the foreign concession area was known (and is still known today) as Kannai 関内, or within the Kanmon 関門 (“Kan Gate”).

This is also the area where most of Yokohama’s historic European-style and Meiji/Taisho/Showa-era buildings are found today.  Unfortunately, almost nothing from the Treaty Port era (1959 – 1899) actually remains – most were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923.

But the city still displays the typical layout and architectural vernacular of its sister cities in Nagasaki and Yokohama, albeit with architecture that is a little more early modern.

There are a few sections of the tour of Kannai, the most important being the former Yokohama Bund and its environs, which still exists today, just barely. Along the Bund and just off the Bund we find the city’s most iconic buildings, including two of the “Three Towers” earlier introduced, and the fabled Hotel New Grand.

Just off the Bund are two historic streets – the Bashamichi 馬車道, or “Horse Carriage Street”, which was once the most fashionable street during the Treaty Port era, and the Nihon Oo dori 日本大通り, which houses some of the major Government offices, including the Kanagawa Prefectural Offices (the “King Tower”).

Joining the two is the Honcho 本町 – which was the equivalent of Yokohama’s Wall Street, with its early 19th century local bank headquarters, including the headquarters of the former Yokohama Specie Bank, today’s Kanagawa Prefectural Museum, located one block off the Honcho on Bashamichi.

They are a reminder of Yokohama’s once glorious past as a treaty port; and its continued position today as Japan’s foremost port city.

The Former Yokohama Bund 海岸通り and its Environs 

The Yokohama Kaigan Church (1933) is situated adjacent to the former British Consulate.

The Kanagawa Prefectural Office (1928) sits at the intersection between the Bund and Nihon Oo Dori.

The Customs House Building (1934).

The Port Opening Memorial Hall (1917) sits across the street from it.

The Headquarters of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (1936) still sits on the Bund.

The Hotel New Grand (1927).

The English House No. 7 (1922) is the only remaining building from before the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The Yokohama No. 2 Joint Government Offices Building.

Bashamichi 馬車道 and Honcho 本町 – the Banking Quarter

Former Dai-ichi Bank 第一銀行Yokohama Branch (1929). Actually on the Former Bund.

The Former LoA Bank Yokohama Branch 露亞銀行 (1926).

Street tile depicting a horse carriage on Bashamichi.

The former Yokohama Specie Bank 横浜正金銀行 Headquarters (1904), today’s Kanagawa Prefectural Museum.

The Former Fuji Bank 株式会社富士銀行 Yokohama Headquarters

The Former Tokyo Marine and Fire Insurance Building.

The Former Kawasaki Bank 川﨑 銀行 Yokohama Branch.

The Sumitomo Mitsui Bank 株式会社三井住友銀行 Yokohama.

The former Tokyo Mitsubishi Bank 株式会社三菱東京銀行 Yokohama Branch.

The Yokohama Bankers’ Association and Yokohama Bankers’ Club – note the Art Deco detail.

Yokohama Shiloh Church, at the other end of Bashamichi.

Nihon Oo Dori 日本大通り

Former Yokohama Commercial and Industrial Promotion Centre 1929.

Close-up of Art Deco entrance.

Former Yokohama District Court (1930 – reconstructed).

Former Kanto Local Finance Bureau.

Mitsubishi Industrial Bank.

The Museum of Yokohama Urban History.

Bluff 111 Residence

During the Treaty Port Era, foreign residents in Yokohama settled high up in the Yokohama Hills, which they called The Bluff. Here also was to be found the major foreign consulates of the various Great Powers with trading interest in the city.

Today, the area is known as Yamate, or the Yamate Bluff, and still clings on to an air of foreign-ness and history, feeling not unlike a small (American) hill town somewhere in Maine or Massachusetts, by virtue of the handful of historic buildings that still exist and were built in a very consciously American style.

All of the treaty-port era (1859 – 1899) buildings were destroyed in the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1922, and so almost everything remains today post-dates that terrible disaster.

The exception is the Foreigner’s Cemetery, which still holds the graves of many a Yokohama resident that made his or her home here, halfway across the world from America and Europe.  The cemetery is organised like a miniature foreign settlement, with French, British, Dutch and Russian areas clearly marked out.

With its panoramic view of Yokohama, the cemetery is the perfect spot for a moment of poignant contemplation.

This walk begins at the site of the former French Consulate, crosses over to the Foreign Cemetery and the former British Consulate before winding its way across the Yamate Hills to end at the site of the former Italian Consulate.

Yamate is accessed via Motomachi.

The former Rue Baltard, near the site of the former French Consulate.

The French Consulate park.

Gates to the Foreign Cemetery.

Panoramic view of the Foreign Cemetery and of Yokohama City.

Close-in on some of the graves in the Foreign Cemetery.

The British Consular Residence.

View of the British Consular Residence.

The Iwasaki Museum is part of the former Gaiety Theatre site built in 1885 by a French architect.

The Yamate Museum was a private residence built in 1909, making it the only Western-style residence from the Treaty Port era that survives today.

Yokohama Christchurch dates fro 1931.

Bluff 214 residence

Bluff 234 Residence was built in 1927.

Bluff 89-6 Residence.

Ehrismann Residence was built in 1926.

Berrick Hall was built in 1930.

Interior of Berrick Hall, which is a public museum today.

European-inspired residences scattered along the Yamate hills.

More european-inspired residences.

European-inspired residence.

The Yamate Tennis Museum sits in the former Tennis club grounds, and was the place where tennis was first introduced to the city.

Yamate was and is still home to a handful of international and local schools, this being one of them.

The Sacred Heart Cathedral was completed in 1933.

Entrance to the former Italian Consulate grounds.

This public fountain was erected in 1887.

Bluff 18 residence, also known as the “Diplomat’s house” is an important American-Victorian style building. It was home to Sadatsuchi Uchida, who was a diplomat during the Meiji era and served as the New York Consul General.

Bluff 18 Residence.

View of the Italian Gardens towards Yokohama city. Here was where the Italian Consulate sat in the Meiji era.

The East Gate of Yokohama Chinatown is its main entrance.

If Nagasaki’s Chinatown is Japan’s oldest and most historic, Yokohama’s Chinatown, also known as Chukagai 中華街, is the nation’s largest and most bustling.  Located within the former foreign settlement of Kannai, alongside its European sibling, Bashamichi, the Chinese settlement was opened for business in 1859, almost immediately after Yokohama was opened up as a treaty port.

The most historic edifice in the Chinese district is the Temple to Guan Yu, or the Kanteibyo 關帝廟 in Japanese.  Guan Yu 關羽 was a historic character that lived during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280 A.D.) in China, and who has been canonised in the Chinese pantheon of deities as the God of War as well as of Brotherhood.  The temple was first built in 1873, though it has been successfully ravaged by earthquakes and the present incarnation is a reconstruction completed in 2000.

Otherwise, the area’s attraction lies in its many streets dedicated to Chinese food, snacks, tea and souvenirs. While there aren’t many Chinese living in the area today, it still retains a very authentic atmosphere, no doubt due to the many new Chinese immigrants who have somehow made their way here and who man the storefronts of the many buildings.

All in all, a visit to Yokohama is incomplete without a short mosey into Chinatown.

The archway to the Kanteibyo 關帝廟

Lion standing guard at the Kanteibyo.

Interior of the temple, with the icon of Guan Yu.

Main food and shopping street in Chinatown.

Facades of restaurant establishment.

Facade of restaurant establishment.

Shophouse style building dating from 1955.

Another gat in Chinatown.

I Love Chinatown Yokohama sticker.