Dejima

 

A scale model, made in 1976, showing how Dejima looked around 1820, is on display at the reconstructed island "home" of the Dutch traders in Nagasaki during the Edo Period.

The Dutch, the only Europeans allowed to trade, lived here from 1641 to 1859 after being moved here from nearby Hirado. The Portuguese were on Dejima for a few years prior to that before they were all expelled from Japan.

The only Japanese people allowed into the compund were government officials and prostitutes.

Some of the buildings only date back as far as the Meiji Period, after Japan "opened" and a larger foreign presence was established. This was the International Club, built in 1903, by foreign residents as a social meeting place.

The first protestant seminary was established here in 1878.

Restoration and rebuilding continues and over time more interiors will be finished and opened to visitors.

As well as the "foreign" buildings, there are some purely Japanese structures where government officials conductd business.

Gradually more restoration work is bring done on the waterways around Dejima to bring it back to its historical state.

The previous post in this series exploring Nagasaki was the nearby  Nagasaki Prefectural Museum of Art