Nagasaki’s Dejima Wharf

I looked forward to visiting Japan’s Nagaski for two main reasons:

#1. Back when Japan closed itself from the outside world, Nagasaki was the only place that remained open to foreigners. (Most likely for selective trading reasons, but still…)

#2. Ninja Shadow. I want to say enough said but I realize that some of you may not know what I’m talking about. It’s a game/app that takes place in NAGASAKI! Because I’ve played Ninja Shadow (I don’t care if you judge.), a big part of me wanted to see exactly how legit their history and imagery of Nagasaki was. I want to say it was on point but then again, I didn’t exactly have the opportunity to see every nook and cranny of Nagasaki.

The area around Nagasaki’s Dejima Wharf was a pleasant place to take a stroll. While it wasn’t much of a walk, I found much joy in the ambiance. The fresh air. The people, here and there. The hilly backdrop. And the ships.

I liked the ships. In fact, there was one particular ship I found myself attracted to and you can see it in the photo below.

The harbor may have been relatively calm when I was there, but I have a funny feeling it was a place filled with much activity and excitement in the old days.

I’m sure the sight of foreign ships alone was something big back then. Add the sight of foreigners with their boxes of foreign goods and wham, the excitement (or curiosity) meter goes up!

If I could go back in time, I would love to have seen how much of a bustling city Nagasaki was. In fact, I think I would have enjoyed people watching back in the days. Not too sure how people back then would take a female people watcher but I think it’s something I would have found joy in doing. Plus, who would not want to watch guys (foreign and native) who were naturally buff carrying cargo around? Haha, I’m just kidding. Or am I?

All kidding aside, as a “history buff”, I would have found much joy in looking at the different ships and smelling different cuisines foreigners cooked. Just thinking about it is making me salivate and I’m not even a foodie! (Honestly, I’m probably just hungry as I write this entry.)

Although Nagasaki did not make it as my MOST favorite Japanese city, my trip there was quite meaningful. Knowing a bit of Nagasaki’s history (pre-WW 2 era) as well as seeing how foreigners left their mark on Nagasaki was probably what aided in making the trip meaningful.

Most important of all, though was my observation of how the bulk of natives working in Nagasaki’s tourism sector weren’t afraid to communicate in English and were ridiculously fluent in English, even. To a further extent, some were even capable of distinguishing the Asian travelers from the native travelers, something that most natives east/north of Kyushu couldn’t do. This shows that Nagasaki has so much more experience interacting with non-natives and it’d be a lie if I were to say I didn’t like this part of Nagasaki.

Because I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to see in Nagasaki, I’m hoping that there will be another opportunity for me to visit Nagasaki again.

Sidenote: I am not too sure if natives of the past actually ran into foreigners in present day Nagasaki Dejima Wharf area. I say this because foreigners seemed to have been restricted to Dejima island specifically.