

What is Gunkanjima? Gunkanjima, or Hashima Island, is a small, abandoned island off the coast of Nagasaki. From a distance, it looks like a battleship—so people started calling it “Gunkanjima,” which means “Battleship Island” in Japanese. The island has a powerful history. It once had a busy coal mine run by Mitsubishi. In the 1950s,…

In Nagasaki, very close to where the epicenter of the explosion of the atomic bomb was, is the Atomic Bomb Museum. Here, you can learn about what happened in 1945, and why this should never happen again.

One of the most emotional places in Japan is the so-called Peace Park. It is located in Nagasaki, a few minutes’ walk from the atomic bomb museum and it commemorates the victims of the atomic bombing.

One of the most impressive and curious places in Nagasaki is the Sanno Shrine because the main torii (gateway to the shrine) maintains only one pillar. How did this happen?

The Suwa shrine in Nagasaki was founded in 1614 as a way to expel the Christian faith from the region. During the Edo period, Nagasaki was one of the few places where there was contact with foreigners.

The city of Nagasaki is especially known for having been bombed with an atomic bomb during WW2. This fact overshadows its long history as an ancient point of contact with the Portuguese and the Dutch.