Japan Day 26: The Dutch Connection

Did you know that back in the time of the Napoleonic there was a brief period where a small island in Japan was the only place in the world that the Dutch (Netherlands) flag was flown?

Nope, I didnt either.

As it turns out, Dejima Island, barely 5 minutes walk from our hotel, was that place.

We spent a solid couple of hours wandering around Dejima, learning all about the island and its history, and the often complicated and nuanced relationships between the Japanese and their trading partners.

A model of Dejima, with some of the real thing beyond. While wanting to continue trade, Japan was serious about preventing outside contamination: Dejima was protected by a large wall with armed guards at all times. In addition to being on an island, of course. Did the Dutch get Island Fever, cooped up as they were? History is silent in that regard.

An unimpressed Durchman.

Late that afternoon another walk took us down to the Port where our old friend the Cunard cruise ship was still docked. We climbed the hill up Holland Slope and through the Foreign Sector and Glover Garden where old Japanese houses clustered shoulder to shoulder with the oldest historic homes of foreign dignitaries and fine examples of Dutch and European architecture.  Due purely to the happenstance of where the cloud cover opened in 1945, this sector of Nagasaki was not damaged by the atom bomb blast and as a result these beautiful historic buildings still survived.

Oura Cathedral.

The picture book museum.

It began to rain. Roger took the streetcar home but I busted out my trusty Japanese umbrella and walked home along cobbled streets in the rain,

 past snoozing cats 

And past Prayer Triangle, so called because a Protestant Church, a Shinto Shrine, and a Buddhist Temple occupied the three corners of a very small triangle of land with a Cemetery in between.

Cemetery cat, snoozing in the rain.

There was so much more to see but time, as always, ran out.

I want to know more.