Shimabara is a small rural town just east of Nagasaki, about 2 hours by the local one-car-train. The kind of place you do not see big nosed Westerners, which makes it all the more appealing to me. It is famous for a few things and infamous for a few things as well. Shimabara is most noted for being partially wiped out in the early 1990s by the near by volcano Unzen Dake.

There is quite a sordid history for this little town. Briefly, in the 1600s, Christianity was first infiltrating the islands through nearby Nagasaki and it's western trading business. Many Christians settled in Shimabara and began practicing their religion and converting the local townsfolk. Well, this did not sit too well with the fuedal lord of the castle, so he had them systematically killed. The killing fields are still there, but we decided to pass on that.