Nagasaki Prefecture (長崎県 Nagasaki-ken) is on the island of Kyushu, Japan.
Understand
[edit]Nagasaki is known to the world primarily as the site of the world's second atomic bombing, yet it receives far fewer visitors than the first (Hiroshima) and has a rich history of its own.
For 220 years, during Japan's isolationist Edo period, Nagasaki's Dejima was the only trading post in the country open to Westerners. The Portuguese bought silk and Catholicism, which quickly took root and led to the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637. The rebellion was violently suppressed, with more than 37,000 dead, Christianity banned and the Portuguese expelled. The Dutch took their place and for centuries remained Japan's only contact with the Western world, providing the country with a trickle of science and technology known as rangaku. The British navy tested the waters in 1808, with the frigate HMS Phaeton successfully extorting supplies from Nagasaki, paving the way for U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry's Black Ships to force the country open in 1854.
Today's Nagasaki Prefecture also incorporates a slew of islands: Iki and Tsushima, once their own provinces and closer to Korea than Japan, and the five Gotō Islands, where "hidden Christians" quietly kept the faith through a century of oppression.
Tourist information site
[edit]Discover Nagasaki is the prefecture's official multilingual guide site.
Cities
[edit]
- 1 Nagasaki - an international port city of rich history and brief tragedy.
- Ikeshima - coal mine ruins island.
- 2 Sasebo is the second largest city in Nagasaki. Sasebo has American culture because there is an American military base in Sasebo.
- 3 Shimabara
- 4 Hirado
- 5 Unzen
- 6 Isahaya
- 7 Omura
- 8 Nagayo
- 9 Togitsu
Other destinations
[edit]
- 1 Tsushima is a famous island between the Japanese island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.
- 2 Iki is another island between Tsushima and the Nagasaki prefecture.
- 3 Saikai
- 4 Higashisonogi
- 5 Hasami
- 6 Matsuura
- 7 Saza
- Goto Islands
Get in
[edit]Located at the westernmost tip of Kyushu, Nagasaki is a long way from Tokyo and off all the major tourist routes.
By plane
[edit]Nagasaki Airport (NGS IATA) has services to major Japanese cities, and connecting via Tokyo-Haneda is the fastest way to get here. Low cost carriers Jetstar and Peach fly from Tokyo-Narita and Osaka-Kansai, and this can be the cheapest way to get here if you book in advance. As of 2026, the only international connection is Seoul on Korean Air.
By train
[edit]In 2022, Nagasaki was finally connected to the Shinkansen network, but there's still a missing section requiring a cross-platform connection at Takeo-Onsen. Travel time from Fukuoka (Hakata) is 1 hr 30 min, while from Tokyo you're looking at close to 7 hours.
By ferry
[edit]There are daily ferries from Busan, South Korea to Tsushima, from where you can continue to the mainland by a second ferry.
Get around
[edit]By plane
[edit]Oriental Air Bridge (inexplicably abbreviated "ORC") operates turboprop flights from Nagasaki to Tsushima, Goto and Iki.
By train
[edit]The JR Nagasaki Line connects Nagasaki to Sasebo (1 hr 45 min) and Tosu in Saga.
By ferry
[edit]Tsushima, Iki and Goto can all be reached by ferry services from Nagasaki, with a choice of faster, more expensive jetfoils or slower, cheaper car ferries.
See
[edit]- Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region — a World Heritage Site composed of 12 individual sites in the Gotō Islands and along the coast near Sasebo.
- Koshibyo, the only Confucian Temple to be built by Chinese outside of China (Nagasaki)
- Explore Shimabara Castle and its nearby samurai district (Shimabara)
Do
[edit]Eat
[edit]
Nagasaki's most famous dish is champon (ちゃんぽん), which is a hearty dish of noodles in a pork-based broth, filled with vegetables, bacon, shrimp, squid, and scallops.
Saraudon (皿うどん) is another popular dish that combines the meat, seafood, vegetables, and sauce of champon, but serves it on a plate, or 'sara', over crispy dry fried noodles.
Sleep
[edit]Go next
[edit]