Nagasaki
A port and industrial city in the west of the Kyushu island. Nagasaki is closer to Shanghai than to Tokyo.
From here the Japanese traded with the Portuguese (they brought sugar, bread, and the word tempura) and the Dutch (they brought the microscope). The Dutch were based on the artificial island of Dejima. Dutch ships were bringing sugar and sharkskin (used for sword sheaths), they brought back copper bars.
Nagasaki was where the Japanese navy was based during wars with China and Russia.
The Fat Man bomb was supposed to be dropped on Kokura (district in Kitakyushu), but it was too cloudy. It was dropped 3 days after Hiroshima, on August 9. More than 50,000 people died. The same day the Soviet Union has declared the war on Japan. Emperor Hirohito surrenders 6 days later (August 15).
Nagasaki and Kokura were linked by the famous trade route – Nagasaki Kaido Sugar Road.
See
- Dejima – Dutch settlement from 17th to 19th century
- Mount Inasa – fantastic view from the observatory
- Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum
- Sanno Shrine and the nearby one-legged Torii
- Urakami Cathedral
Food
- Champon - chicken broth soup with pork and seafood
- Castella - Portuguese biscuit
Various facts
- Silence by Martin Scorsese is set around Nagasaki.
- The setting of the novel The Thousands Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.
- Tsushima Island is nearby, the setting of the Ghost of Tsushima video game.
- Hometown of writer Kazuo Ishiguro.