Nagasaki isn’t on most people’s itineraries when they plan a trip to Japan. It’s too bad. It’s a wonderful city with a lot of history, charm, art and culture.  

I went there April 2023 on a Espirit Travel: Cuisine and Culture trip to Western Japan and I’m so glad I did. I will share why in this blog post.  

First of all, let’s establish where it is. Nagasaki is on the island of Kyushu in what is called Western Japan. It has a population of about half a million people.

Here’s a map…….

       So, what is interesting about it? 

I found it interesting that  it was open to trading during the time period when Japan closed its doors to the world.  The Dutch were allowed access. We visited the area where they were allowed to live called Dejima, a man made island that served as a trading post. The small area  is now a museum containing exhibits about trade and culture during this time. The green staircase in the photo below is where the head of  of the Dutch delegation lived. We had a glimpse of what life would have been like for the Dutch who lived there.  

Why were they allowed when everyone else was shut out?  Well, part of the reason for excluding the rest of the world was to limit the missionaries from Spain and Portugal who were converting a Buddhist country to Christianity. According to our knowledgable guide, the Dutch only wanted to trade so they were given access, but the settlement was tightly controlled. 

The other group allowed in were the Chinese and they were limited to a confined area as well, now known as Chinatown. The photo below is a nighttime image of the current Chinatown.

Learning the history of Japan being closed to the outside world and the impact of that is one of the most fascinating parts of visiting Japan for me.  

Another reason I enjoyed Nagasaki is that it wasn’t overrun with tourists. We spotted only one cruise ship in the harbor.  Museums weren’t crowded. The reports I heard about  Kyoto is that it is filled with massive crowds now that Japan has opened to tourism after the pandemic.   

Another reason I really liked Nagasaki was participating in  a quiet and private Prayer for Peace ceremony at a Shinto Shrine, Suwa-jinja.   You can do that at other Shrines in the country, but my guess that it is harder to arrange and you probably don’t feel like you have the venue to yourselves the way we did. 

Our travel guide arranged for a beautiful ceremony on the day that we visited the Atomic Bomb sites, providing a spiritual relief from seeing the tortuous effects of the devastation.  

Interesting to note is that the rope hanging across the front of the shrine (called a temple in the religions) indicates that this is a sacred place.  It is called a Shimenawa. 

Of course, there was a garden. Japan is chock-o-block full of gardens.  As with the other spots in Nagasaki, it wasn’t crowded. 

We toured the home that the most notable Dutch businessman and family lived in once Japan opened to Westerners.

 We enjoyed seeing the statures celebrating the origin of the Opera: Madame Butterfly, both the composer and the subject of this famous performance in the garden. 

The garden wasn’t as traditional as the ones you see in Kyoto, more of a blend of the Dutch influence with the Japanese. The living flowers (what Japanese call their beautiful fish) were, of course, included.

One night we took a funicular to the top of the city for night time viewing.  Spectacular.

I also found the Atomic Bomb site, Memorial and all incredibly powerful.  I have included them in an upcoming blog post.We  had the opportunity to meet a bomb survivor and learn about her experience.  She was a very small child when the bomb exploded above her city. 

I am including this link here because I loved this blogger’s photography.

https://www.theinvisibletourist.com/nagasaki-itinerary/

Heads Up

I will be giving a presentation at Olli at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids on November 30 at 9:30. 

Join  me on a journey to the Land of the Rising Sun where I will share photography from three multi week trips to Japan over the last four years.  

Experience the Cherry Blossom festival, the bullet trains, interesting art focused venues, Buddhist Temples, Shinto Shrines and both Atomic Bomb sites along with a plethora of other items and experiences around this exotic destination.