More species hunting fun in Japan : Nagasaki and Sasebo.

We arrived in Nagasaki fairly late in the evening so after walking from the station to our hotel we headed to a food mall in a large shopping centre nearby to get something to eat. After filling our faces with one of our favourite Japanese foods we had a look in some of the shops and also walked through an amusement arcade. Even though I'd spent most of the afternoon earlier that day fishing, I got permission to do some more of an electronic variety.

Takoyaki are dough balls filled with octopus chunks, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion. They are then covered with a tangy sauce and sprinkled with seaweed and bonito flakes. They're also amazing!

No water involved but this fishing arcade game was great fun.

The next day we spent the morning and the early afternoon visiting the Nagasaki Peace Park, the Hypocentre Cenotaph, the Atomic Bomb Museum and finally the National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims. Like our visit to the Peace Park in Hiroshima it was educational and thought provoking. The museum and the memorial hall were quite tough going emotionally and I'm not ashamed to say that by the end my throat was sore from swallowing lumps. Learning in graphic detail about the horrific reality of the devastation caused by the second atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan was difficult but the thing that really got me was reading the testimony and thoughts of those who had survived. Despite everything they went through there was still an underlying message of hope for the future in their words. Before we left to explore more of Nagasaki we folded some origami cranes to add to the multitudes on display already.

The origami crane has become a symbol for peace.

After some lunch we spent the rest of the afternoon taking a relaxing wander around the backstreets of the city, visiting shrines and temples before we walked back to our hotel, following for a time the street up above the Nakashima River. As we ambled along I kept my eyes open for any fish down below and soon spotted some that were incredibly hard to miss.

We visited a few throughout the afternoon but this Buddhist temple was quite unusual with Kannon the goddess of mercy standing on the back of a huge turtle.

The koi obviously stand out like a sore thumb but if you look carefully you'll see lots of common carp too. Rather conveniently there were some steps nearby so I stuck a pin in Google Maps so we could find this spot again.

Before going back to our hotel I also wanted to visit a fishing tackle shop but we struggled to find it. The Japanese are normally incredibly polite so when I asked for directions I thought at first the response I got was quite rude. When we eventually found the tackle shop the directions we were given made perfect sense.

Turns out the tackle shop was across the park next to Fukken Street after all!

Needless to say the tackle shop was amazing! Despite being dedicated to lure fishing only it was massive and had a mind boggling selection of tackle. With both the koi carp we'd seen ealier and also future trips abroad in mind I bought myself a 2.1m telescopic net handle that collapses to only 42cm and a 45cm rubberised net that folds in four, perfect for throwing into my hold luggage! I also got the nod to treat myself to a few packets of creature baits and isome crabs to use for seabream should the opportunity arise again.

The next day we caught a train north to Sasebo to visit the Pearl Sea Resort there. Its aquarium and a boat cruise around the kujukushima islands were the main reasons for the day trip but first we visited a shrine to Ebisu, the Japanese god of fisherman and luck, so I could say a quick prayer.

The shrine was located on this small island.

This is Ebisu. One of the seven gods of fortune. As you can see he's a top angler.

Before going into the aquarium I got the green light to fish for a while but things were tough. There were lots of lure munching puffers around so we hopped along the coast back towards the aquarium trying a few different spots along the way. Eventually in some deeper water something else began nibbling away but I struggled to connect with its bites. I ended up using progressively smaller hooks until I finally caught the culprit.

I'd later identify this tiny mouthed fish as a threadsail filefish.

After  a few hours spent visiting the aquarium and relaxing on the boat cruise I got permission to fish for an hour or so before we had to catch the last bus of the day back to Sasebo Station. To start with all I caught was a few grass puffers and a couple more threadsail filefish.

Wandering around the harbour having a few casts in each area before moving on eventually produced something different...

...when this Japanese whiting took a piece of dried ragworm.

Soon we ended up all the way around the harbour, opposite the moored cruise boats, on a small breakwater where a few locals were fishing. One angler was doing particularly well, fishing prawn under a float and was catching a few nice seabream. He was putting in plenty of shrimp paste groundbait to attract the fish and I managed to catch a seabream myself before we had to leave.

My first ever goldlined seabream. A nice fish to end a relatively tough day's fishing.

When we arrived back in Nagasaki we dropped my fishing gear off at our hotel, headed over the Uragami River and caught the Nagasaki ropeway up to the observation deck at the top of Mount Inasa. The views of Nagasaki after dark were spectacular and the photos we took really don't do it justice.

Nagasaki after dark. Much better viewed using the naked eye!

The following day we were travelling to our next destination but before going to the station we took a little detour, walking alongside the Nakashima River to the spot where we'd seen the carp. Armed with my new net and a few slices of bread I quickly set up my rod and was just about to start targeting the carp when I noticed there were also a few catfish swimming around on the bottom. Lillian had already started throwing in some small pieces of bread and much to my surprise the catfish soon came up and joined in the feeding frenzy on the surface. I decided to target one of these first which was pretty tricky due to their poor eyesight and all the carp bullying them away from the bread. Going a little way along the bank, Lillian was able to draw the majority of the much more agile carp away and I managed to catch a catfish that was a little more isolated by lowering my bait right in front of it.

This Amur catfish was a nice way to start the day and another new species added to my tally.

This was then quickly followed into my new net by a few very colourful koi carp. Catching these was no challenge at all so I made it interesting by targeting individual fish that Lillian pointed out for me.

The lady wanted a golden koi carp. I duly obliged. What a stunning fish!

Pleased to have caught some fish in Nagasaki I packed up my gear and we headed to the station to make the journey to Kumamoto. We had reached the halfway point of our trip and were having a great time. With three more cities left on our itinerary I was confident the remainder of our trip would be just as exciting as the first half had been and also that I'd get plenty more fishing opportunities too.

Tight lines, Scott.