Regions & prefectures
JapanRegions & prefectures
Nagasaki
Japan’s only window onto the West during two centuries of closure.
- Capital
- Nagasaki
- Status
- Prefecture
- Region
- Kyūshū and Okinawa
- Must-see
- The islet of Dejima
- Local specialty
- Champon, castella cake, sara udon
From 1641 to 1854 all Japanese trade with Europe passed through Dejima, a fan-shaped artificial islet of fifteen thousand square metres where the Dutch were confined. Western knowledge entered through that bottleneck under the name rangaku, "Dutch studies". Nagasaki also holds the country’s oldest Christian community, and was the second city struck by an atomic bomb, on 9 August 1945.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
Articles that cover this topic.