Dejima

Dejima was built in 1636 as a fan-shaped artificial island in Nagasaki harbour, about fifteen thousand square metres, to contain foreign traders; from 1641 to 1858 the Dutch, at first through the Dutch East India Company, traded from it and it was the only point of direct European contact with Japan. Goods, books and instruments came through it, and rangaku, Dutch learning, gave Japanese scholars their route to Western medicine, astronomy and botany. Land reclamation in the Meiji period surrounded the island entirely and it stopped being an island; the buildings went. Restoration began in the 1950s and is still running: sixteen buildings have been rebuilt on their original footprints from Dutch and Japanese drawings and excavation, with interiors furnished, and the long-term plan is to restore the water on all four sides and make it an island again. Bridges have been rebuilt as part of that.

History

Dejima was made in 1636 by cutting a canal through a small peninsula and joining it to the town by a small bridge, and it was built by the Tokugawa shogunate to keep foreign merchants apart from Japanese society while allowing trade. The Dutch East India Company had run a trading post on Hirado since 1609, and from 1641 to 1858 the Dutch traded from Dejima, for long the only Westerners allowed to trade with Japan (Wikipedia, Dejima).

What to look for

• A fan-shaped plan - the outline of the 1636 island still legible in the modern city.
• Sixteen rebuilt buildings - reconstructed on original footprints and furnished.
• The rangaku route - the channel through which Western science reached Japan.
• A restoration in progress - a long-term plan to surround the site with water again.

When to go

All year. Two to three hours.

Things to know

It is not an island now - the surrounding land was reclaimed and the setting is city streets. Everything standing is reconstruction. Work continues and parts may be fenced. Entry is charged.

Nearby

Glover Garden is south; Chinatown is a short walk east.

Key facts