Dejima in Nagasaki

A glimpse into Japan and Europe during the Edo period

Sleiman Azizi Mar 04, 2019 - 1 min read

One of the many spacious Japanese-styled rooms laced with European touches.

Another room in the Chief Factor's residence building. An interesting, if only practical, blend of Japanese and European.

A Christmas banquet laid out in the Chief Factor's residence

A display of billiards, introduced into Japan via the Dutch in 1794

Once the Former Stone Warehouse, this archaeological centre features many of the finds discovered in Dejima.

Mini-Dejima, a scaled model of the Dutch ghetto as it was in the early 19th century.

Belying its size, the former island of Dejima played an important role in the history of Japan.

The banning of Christianity by the Shogunate saw the island used as a place of internment for the local Christian Portuguese traders. After the Portuguese were expelled from the country, the Dutch then set up an international trading port on the island - the first and only such trading port during Japan's official period of isolation from the outside world.

Courtesy of land reclamation projects, Dejima is now part of Nagasaki proper. Ironically, though, plans are in place to have Dejima separated again and restored back to its original island state.

The single main street of Dejima makes it an easy place to visit. Once you enter, you find yourself surrounded by many original and reconstructed buildings, giving a most interesting glimpse at the life and conditions of the Dutch who lived and worked here.

From JR Nagasaki station, take Tram Line 1 to Dejima Station (no.30). It's only a few minutes to the station and even less to the entrance to Dejima.

Sleiman Azizi @sleiman.azizi

I'm a Japanese Permanent Resident with over 650 published articles on Japan as well as 5 English language books inspired by traditional Japanese literature.I'm also a Japan Travel expert for Tokyo, so if you've anything to say about Japan's never ending capital - or just Japan in general - don't ...