A hybrid western-Chinese aesthetic dominated this room furnished with tables and chairs, a novelty in Japan but common to both Chinese and western domestic interiors. In the s the Maruyama district, where Kagetsu is located, was officially the designated red-light district, the only city in Japan foreign merchants were allowed to enter in the notoriously isolated country.
Within this district, Kagetsu, then a tea house, was opened within the Hiketaya brothel. In Kagetsu was recognized by Nagasaki Prefecture as a historical landmark , and opened as the restaurant it is today. While the surrounding neighborhoods have modernized, evolved over time, or rebuilt from the destruction of the atomic bombing in , Kagetsu has physically stayed the same.
It usually ends with a sweet red adzuki bean soup with chewy mochi riceballs, a full stomach, and a new appreciation for the crossroads of culture, and cuisine. Ari M. Jacob Beser, the only U. April 19, The main dining room in Kagetsu, a historic restaurant in Nagasaki that was favorited by Ryouma Sakamoto, the famous Samurai who unified Japan into the transition of the Meiji Era.
The first course in the shippoku meal served in Kagetsu, with ohire soup waiting to be opened, and various cuts of sashimi, sweet black beans and a chines-inspired duck dish.
Ari Beser. Beser is the grandson of Lt. He is traveling through Japan with the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship to report on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the fifth anniversary of the Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima. Using photo essays, videos, and articles, Beser will give voice to people directly affected by nuclear technology today, as well as work with Japanese and Americans to encourage a message of reconciliation and nuclear disarmament.
