Thursday – March 26, 2026 – Nagasaki
Unless you speak Japanese or have visited Japan, you probably don’t know the meaning of these words. Literally they mean “all you can drink”. We saw signs proclaiming Nomi Houdai as we walked in Tokyo but didn’t think much about it. Our guide in Nagasaki – Jessica – explained that in Japan you can drink and eat to excess for a modest price as long as you know the terms to use. She explained that Nomi Houdai generally means as much drink as you want (beer, liquor, soda) for a specified time (starting with 1 hour) at a fixed price ($10-$20). You must surrender your empty glass when ordering a refill. If you like to be more refined and not a glutton, here is a link to allow you to express yourself in a more refined way while dining in Japan.
Today we arrived at our last stop in Japan – Nagasaki. For quite a while Nagasaki was the only port Europeans could enter for trade – and only the Dutch were allowed to enter. Actually, they could only come to an island in the port and were not allowed on the mainland. The reason behind that was that prior to this arrangement, those who came from Europe had desires more than trade – conversion to Christianity. When the samurai saw that locals were converting, they issued a warning to Europeans to stop the conversion process and leave Japan. They were given a deadline. Those who did not leave were crucified and the country was closed to Europeans. Also, bread and wine were outlawed for 200 years. The Dutch convinced the samurai their only interest was trade and were allowed to do so with restrictions.
Prior to this World Cruise we wondered what to explore in Nagasaki. The first thing that came to mind was a memorial to what happened there in August of 1945 – the release and explosion of the second and last nuclear weapon used in a war. We chose to take another excursion that would not deal with war and decided to take a trip to Sasebo – an area Northwest of Nagasaki advertised as having 99 islands. We boarded our bus mid-morning and arrived in the Sasebo area slightly before noon.
The excursion included a “typical Japanese lunch” so our group went to the restaurant and waited for it to open (only a few minutes). We were told that Japanese are very regimented so those with special meal requirements were all to sit together at 2 of the tables for 4 – to deviate from this arrangement would cause discord at the restaurant. There is a selfie of us in front of the restaurant, but you can’t read the name because the iPhone software blurs the background automatically if it thinks you want people as the subject of the photo. I have since discovered how to reverse this process.
We sat at a table for 6. The man sitting across from me asked where we were from. When I answered the State of Iowa in the United States, he gave us a grunt and a disgusted look. That was the extent of our conversation with that couple. The table was already set with our food. We were told we would have wagyu beef sliced thin but didn’t know for sure what the other items were. We discovered we had raw fish, fried prawn and fried fish, clear soup with vegetables, lettuce salad with other vegetables, seaweed, white rice and some type of gelatin dessert. The wagyu beef was in a steam box – quite clever the way it works. Also great for steam cooking the raw fish (as I did)! Side note on the wagyu beef. Japanese did a study on things that result in better beef. Music is played for the cattle and they have determined that Mozart is the composer yielding the best beef. Despite not knowing what we were eating, the meal was delicious (but I didn’t try the gelatin dessert – don’t like gelatin).
Following lunch we made our way to the Pearl Queen which would take us through the 99 islands. Actually, there are more than 99 – like over 200 islands. Of those, only 4 are inhabited. The remainder are in a national park and protected from development. Jan, Kelsey and I didn’t get to sit together because all the spots for 3 were taken before we boarded. In addition, I couldn’t find a spot near a window so I didn’t take any photos during the sailing – Jan provided what she could using her iPhone. The sailing took around 40-50 minutes to complete.
We boarded our bus and drove to an observation spot where we could see many of the islands and could also see the Pearl Queen navigating among them. We could also make out the fish cages and the markers for the pearls being cultivated (lots of those). From the observation spot we drove back to Sasebo and could see the large naval base used by the United States. This area has dry dock facilities and we saw several ships making use of those.
In Sasebo we were given the opportunity to shop in a covered mall area that was a kilometer in length. We didn’t find anything we wanted to purchase but did walk most of the way down and back – we can always use the steps – Kelsey for her Fitbit and Jan and I for our iWatch.
When finished at the mall we boarded our bus and our guide Jessica (from Bolivia) told us about her 3 cats and explained that 90% of Japanese cats have short tails. She also told us she wanted to do a good job as our guide so she would be paid by her employer and could, then, feed those 3 felines. You can read about the legends associated with the short tails but it appears it is a combination of genetics and physical isolation of the Japanese islands.
The evening entertainment was a woman singing traditional Japanese songs and a man accompanying her with the Tsugaru Shamisen instrument. There are several still and video entries for this in today’s gallery.
Tomorrow we dock in South Korea at Busan.
Gallery for today is here.
One response to “Nomi Houdai”
There is a very good movie about Christian missionaries in Japan. During that era. It stars Andrew Garfield. It was made on a very low budget and it is called SILENCE. The nobles hated the Christians because they taught the peasants that God loved them. They were equal to a king in God’s eyes.