Trip of the week: a Japanese city opens to the world again

Nagasaki was the only part of Japan open to outsiders for centuries during the early modern age, says Jamie Lafferty in The Times. Almost entirely rebuilt after the War, it sits on a great natural harbour near the country’s southwestern tip, surrounded by forested mountains, on the relatively lush and balmy island of Kyushu.

It is a long way from Japan’s main tourist attractions, but Nagasaki is easy enough to include in a broader tour of the country, which is slowly reopening to tourists following the pandemic.

The memory of the atomic bomb that exploded over the city on 9 August 1945 is ever-present for visitors and residents alike. The Atomic Bomb Museum focuses on the “minutiae” of that terrible day, with “profound” testimony from witnesses; and the Nagasaki Peace Park is intended for “contemplation and mourning”.

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But the city that rose from the ashes is a vibrant place nonetheless, and there’s much else to learn about its history. Nagasaki’s first major encounter with outsiders ended badly, with the crucifixion of 26 Portuguese missionaries in the late 16th century. But while foreigners were banned from the rest of Japan until 1875, Nagasaki remained open to Dutch and Chinese traders. The houses in which they lived in the Dejima district have been reconstructed in great detail, and feature a unique mixture of Japanese architecture and foreign furniture.

The city’s cuisine is a fascinating mix of Japanese and foreign influences. Indeed, its quintessential dessert, a sponge cake called Castella, was introduced by the unfortunate Portuguese five centuries ago. And there’s much to see nearby, including the abandoned mining island of Hashima, which will be familiar to some as the villain’s lair in the 2012 Bond film Skyfall. With its mangled postwar architecture, it is a weird and otherworldly place.

Inside Japan has a 13-night tour, including Nagasaki, from £2,660pp, excluding flights