Nagasaki straddles the west coast of Japan’s Kyushu Island. Photo / 123rf
Nagasaki straddles the west coast of Japan’s Kyushu Island. Photo / 123rf
Nagasaki, a city straddling the west coast of Japan’s Kyushu island, is the country’s former front door to the world, writes Denise Stephens
The evening crowds on Mount Inasa stood waiting for the famous night view, said to be one of the three best in the world. The sun glowed orange to the west while beneath the lookout, the hills lit up as darkness fell. Bright lights illuminated the wharves surrounding the harbour, a long bay that stretched out to the East China Sea. Nagasaki’s location on a sheltered harbour has guided its fortunes for centuries as it became Japan’s front door to the world.
The skyline glistens as the sun sets in the city of Nagasaki, Japan. Photo / Getty Images
At Dejima, archaeologists have unearthed portions of the original walls and artefacts from the former European trading post, and some buildings have been reconstructed based on this to show how the inhabitants lived and worked. Here I learned the fascinating story of Japan’s early contact with Portuguese and Dutch traders. They were confined to this small island in Nagasaki Harbour, two blocks wide, where their activities were strictly controlled. Portuguese ships arrived first in the 16th century, bringing not only trade but also Christianity. After conflict over the new religion and its Japanese converts, the Portuguese were eventually banished, and the Dutch took over trade between Europe and Japan for 300 years.
Nagasaki lanterns for Lantern Festival during the Chinese Lunar New Year. Photo / Denise Stephens
One legacy of the Portuguese is castella, a light sponge cake, and Fukusaya - the castella bakery based in Nagasaki - has been baking its renowned castella since 1624. Their main shop displays cakes of many different sizes in old-fashioned wooden cabinets. I chose a small cube of castella which cost $3.50, about the same price as the large mass-produced slabs found in souvenir shops throughout Nagasaki. Fukusaya’s cake was light and airy, and so much more delicious than any other castella I’d eaten.
Alongside the Dutch and Portuguese, Chinese merchants came to Nagasaki and were also confined by the Japanese authorities to a small area. Today this is Shinchi Chinatown, the oldest in Japan, consisting of a few central city blocks lined with restaurants and food stores.
Shinchi Chinatown in Nagasaki is the oldest in Japan. Photo / Denise Stephens
Nagasaki was celebrating its Lantern Festival when I visited during Lunar New Year. Strings of lanterns illuminated the streets where the steam and sizzle of food stalls attracted queues. A parade wound its way around the city centre, performers in traditional Chinese costume beating drums and clashing cymbals. In the courtyard of the Confucius Shrine, excited children gathered underneath the serious gaze of the statues of 72 Confucian sages, waiting for gift bags full of snacks and treats. Local Chinese built the traditional-style shrine in the 19th century in partnership with the Qing Dynasty government.
Performers on parade in traditional Chinese costume. Photo / Denise Stephens
Japan’s isolation from the world ended in the middle of the 19th century and foreign businessmen arrived in Nagasaki looking to make their fortune. A new foreign settlement on a hill overlooking the harbour replaced Dejima. I walked up the hill through the pretty European-style Glover Garden, named after Thomas Glover, a Scotsman. Several splendid 19th century mansions in Glover Garden are open to the public, including Glover’s own house. The interior combined both European and Japanese details, and showed the style in which wealthy foreigners lived. Exhibits illustrated his successful career in Nagasaki, starting as a tea merchant and eventually expanding his interests to shipbuilding and coal mining. From the verandah, I looked across the harbour, just as Glover would have done. The shipyards established by his companies still line the shore.
Old mixes with modern in the Japanese harbour city of Nagasaki. Photo / Getty Images
As a port and a centre of industry, Nagasaki became a target during World War II and an atomic bomb was dropped on the city in 1945. Visitors to the Atomic Bomb Museum were silent as they looked at exhibits showing the effects of the blast. Charred clothing and household objects illustrated the stories of people injured and killed, while photos and shattered masonry showed the devastation of the surrounding neighbourhood.
A few minutes walk uphill at Urakami Cathedral, some brick walls and headless statues were all that remained of the old church, which was destroyed by the blast. A small exhibition room contained more relics, a cracked bell and melted stained glass attesting to the fierce heat of the bomb. The nearby Peace Park had memorials to the dead and monuments expressing hope that Nagasaki would be the last city in the world to suffer from an atomic bomb. Lawns and gardens now cover the scars of war.
Urakami Cathedral in the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Photo / Getty Images
While some foreign visitors still arrive by sea at the cruise port, like many other visitors today I flew into Tokyo and travelled around Japan by train. The new West Kyushu Shinkansen made the journey to Nagasaki quicker, conveniently arriving at the station in the heart of the city. From here it was easy to explore the sights and history. Although Nagasaki is no longer the main entrance to Japan, it remains a lively, cosmopolitan city.
Checklist: Japan
Getting there
Air NZ flies non-stop to Tokyo-Narita International Airport. Fly or take the train to Fukuoka; the West Kyushu Shinkansen runs hourly from Hakata station, Fukuoka to Nagasaki.
