Nagasaki - Japan's Isolation Period

All right, so remember how the Shogun was beginning to get antsy about Christianity? No? Well, go back and read my post then!




Okay, now that I've been patiently waiting for you to catch up, I'll continue on. Well, in attempt to keep those evil Christian Portuguese from spreading Christianity, the Japanese set upon building in a 15,000 square-meter artificial island called Dejima in 1636. In 1637, the Shimabara Rebellion (involving mostly Christians) sealed the deal for the Japanese shogunate, and the Portuguese were completely exiled under the National Isolation Edict. However in 1641, the Dutch East India Company Trading Post was moved here and became Japan's only window to the rest of the world for two centuries. I guess the Dutch proved they didn't really care that much about Christianity, or the Japanese just wanted their goods badly enough. Since this was the only port open for trade, it was at one time Japan's only international trading port.

The Japanese have faithfully reconstructed Dejima for our viewing pleasure at the low cost of 500 yen!

It was here that the Dutch and Japanese traded, as trade was a very wealthy endeavor. The Dutch mainly imported raw silk, but gradually this was replaced by sugar and copper as Japan's homegrown silk industry grew. In return, Japan exported silver and then copper. The Dutch would turn around trade that for cotton fabrics in Bengal, which were then traded for spice in Moluccas (Spice Islands) and then sold for great profit in Europe. Viola! Financial success was practically guaranteed.

This is a measuring scale for sugar... below is the painting. Yay!

Who was allowed to enter Dejima? Well, it's probably easier to tell you who was banned via a decree placed on the bridge connecting the island:

1. Access by women other than courtesans
2. Access by priests other than sanctioned Koyasan missionaries
3. Access by vendors and merchants
4. Entry of boats inside the offshore markers around Dejima
5. Departure of Dutchmen from Dejima without permission

The island was made in a fan shape, some say to help break the waves coming into the harbor, and others say to allow the Nagasaki Magistrate's Office to monitor it.

Either way, Dejima was important in the modernization of Japan. Many Japanese students traveled to Nagasaki to learn "Dutch Learning" which included Western medicine, navigation, weaponry, and astronomy. More importantly, the Dutch brought the Japanese beer! They have never forgotten it since.

Once Japan was forced to open its ports by the Americans (via Commodore Perry) in 1854, Dejima was no longer needed and was subsequently reintegrated into Nagasaki.

Funny enough, when the Netherelands were conquered by France in 1810, Blomhoff (an employee of the Dutch Trading Post on Dejima) refused to hand over Dejima to England. Until the Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded in 1813, Dejima was the only place in the whole world to fly the national flag of the Netherlands. This little spot below marks where the flag was.

Next came Thomas Glover (or "Glover-san" as the Japanese tour guide called him) in 1859, establishing the Glover Trading Company. His work continued the modernization of Japan (I've said that phrase at least twice now). Glover was famous for quite a few things, specifically:

1. Brought Japan's first steam locomotive, called the Iron Duke
2. Supplied arms/warships to the Choshu clan, leading to the Meiji Restoration government
3. Helped found Japan's shipbuilding company, known as Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Corporation
4. Helped developed Japan's first coal mine
5. Started Japan Brewery Company, which became Kirin Beer. It's said that the label of the beer was inspired by two Kirin statues with a bushy beard (just like Glover)

I traveled to his house via the Glover Sky Road, a nifty little "sloping elevator" for five stories.

The garden consisted of multiple houses of various important European figures who helped progress Japan mostly through industrialization. The first one was the Former Mitsubishi No.2 Dock House, where ship crews could rest/party while their ship was repaired.

They even had a lovely view of their ship getting rebuilt... I'm sure they were quite excited to return to ship life.

Thomas Glover himself lived in a pretty nice little mansion.

I was told by the pamphlet there was a "Mirror You Can't See Yourself In", but it was only because it was mounted so high to provide light to the room. I thought it was going to be a weird trick mirror. So disappoint.

Below are the Kirin with the beards.

Another fun fact is that there were two heart shaped stones on the grounds... touching both of them brought good luck! I found both of them, obviously.

I think the heart stone was a theme in Nagasaki, as there was one other place (to be featured in yet another post) that had a heart stone. I'm sad to report that I failed to notice any of them except the second one in the Glover Garden... instead I saw other people pointing, getting excited and posing for pictures. It was quite amusing.

And then I did. Touché, Japanese, touché.

I also wandered down Hollander Slope, so named because to the Japanese, all non-Japanese were Dutch people and this particular street was mostly filled with foreigners. The more you know.

Interestingly it was not just the non-Asians who were discriminated against during Japan's Isolation Period. The Chinese were also relegated to a Chinese Quarter that previously stood near the current Chinatown. It's mostly nondescript and is marked by four small temples that I luckily took pictures of; honestly I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more information about this area. I believe entry into this Chinese Quarter was just as tightly regulated as entry into Dejima.

The temples consisted of Dojin-do ("Shrine to the Deity of the Earth"), Tenko-do ("Shrine to the Goddess of the Ocean"), Kannon-do ("Shrine of the Deity of Mercy"), Fukken Kaikan (actually not built during Chinese Quarter time period), shown below in that order.

That's it for this post... the next one will encompass the Atomic Bomb Museum and a last post (more!) will just cover the other random things about Nagasaki that didn't fit into a three part history lesson. :)

As an aside, a lot of the information I've written about over the past two posts was from the individual museums attached to the particular location and also the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture, which did have some English translations.

A story regarding the museum, though, was when I was trying to keep the headphones with the English translations to go to a second part of the museum (the first part was really well done with the English recording). The ladies were not having it, and forced me to use touch screens that only talked about 25% of the material on the second half of the museum. I'm still convinced that I needed that translator. While I was walking around a reconstruction of a warehouse, some old Japanese lady told me I had to study more Japanese (at least, that's what I think she said in Japanese... I know the word for "study" and "Japanese"). Everyone's a critic!

To get to:
1) Dejima: Take the #1 blue tram to Dejima Station (going toward Shianbashi if from Nagasakieki-mae station). It's literally right across the street
2) Glover Garden/Sky Road: Take the #5 green tram to its last stop, Ishibashi, and follow the signs for Glover Garden. The Sky Road is just before it. 
3) Chinese Quarter - Also get off at Ishibashi but take a left at the train station. Follow the signs.