Nagasaki was for many years the only interface between Japan and the rest of the world. Contact took place via Dejima, a small man made island that stands on the edge of the harbour. It was to this island that the Dutch traders were confined and all contact to and from Japan passed through its gates. 

Later on the foreigner compound was extended and the hillside boasts the Glover garden, build by a tea trader from Fraserborough. Certainly a beautiful spot with views over the bay.

Not sure if the 26 martyrs who were crucified on the hills overlooking the bay enjoyed the view. Probably other things on their mind.  They were executed in the 17th century following the banning of Christianity by the Shogun.  The youngest was just twelve. The Catholic Church later made them all saints and a shrine stands where they were killed.

Following the opening up of the country the biggest church in Asia once stood in the city. It took twenty years to build, and just three seconds to be demolished when it found itself at the epicentre of the Worlds second, and so far last, atomic bomb to be used in anger. The museum is again sobering with many mormories of ordinary lives wiped out in the massive explosion that enveloped the valley.  Very moving testimony.