Must-see attractions in Nagasaki

  • Peace Statue, Nagasaki,Japan

    Peace Park

    Nagasaki

    A still, serene and deeply moving place, Nagasaki's Peace Park commemorates the atomic bombing of the city on August 9, 1945, which reduced the…

  • Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan, Asia

    Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum

    Nagasaki

    On 9 August 1945, the world's second nuclear weapon detonated over Nagasaki, and this sombre place recounts the city's destruction and loss of life…

  • NAGASAKI, NAGASAKI-KEN, JAPAN - 2010/07/20: The former Nagasaki International club built in 1903. Dejima, literally "protruding island", was a small island in the bay of Nagasaki that was a Dutch trading post during Japan's self-imposed isolation of the Edo period from 1641 until 1853.  Here Dutch traders were stationed, keeping a small window on the outside world plus trade with the rest of the world..Since the closing of the Dutch East India Company's trading post in 1857, the island has been surrounded by reclaimed land and merged into Nagasaki. The island was designated a national historical site in 1922. Today, Dejima is a work in progress with the long-term plan to fully restore its characteristic fan-shaped form and all the embankment walls.. (Photo by John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images)

    Dejima

    Nagasaki

    In 1641 the Tokugawa shogunate banished all foreigners from Japan, with one exception: Dejima, a fan-shaped, artificial island in Nagasaki harbour. From…

  • Ōura Cathedral

    Nagasaki

    This hilltop church, Japan's oldest (1864), is dedicated to the 26 Christians who were crucified in Nagasaki in 1597. The former seminary and bishop's…

  • Gunkanjima

    Nagasaki

    From afar, the Unesco World Heritage island of Hashima resembles a battleship, hence its nickname Gunkanjima ('battleship island'). Up close, this long…

  • prayer hall of Suwa shrine in Nagasaki, Japan; Shutterstock ID 611889566

    Suwa-jinja

    Nagasaki

    Situated on a forested hilltop and reached via multiple staircases with nearly 200 steps, this enormous shrine was established in 1625. Around the grounds…

  • NAGASAKI, JAPAN -3 NOV 2017- View of the Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture located in Nagasaki, Japan.; Shutterstock ID 777299056; Your name (First / Last): Laura Crawford; GL account no.: 65050; Netsuite department name: Online Editorial; Full Product or Project name including edition: HCMC & Nagasaki page images BiA

    Nagasaki Museum of History & Culture

    Nagasaki

    This large museum with attractive displays focuses on Nagasaki's proud history of international exchange. Additionally, there's a fabulous, detailed…

  • Sōfuku-ji

    Nagasaki

    In Teramachi, this Ōbaku temple (Ōbaku is the third-largest Zen sect after Rinzai and Sōtō) was built in 1629 by Chinese monk Chaonian. Its red entrance…

  • Glover Garden

    Nagasaki

    Some two dozen former homes of the city's Meiji-period European residents and other important buildings have been reassembled in this beautifully…

  • The monument at the hypocenter of the atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki, Japan; Shutterstock ID 40978522

    Atomic Bomb Hypocentre Park

    Nagasaki

    A must-see for anyone coming to Nagasaki for its historic significance, this park houses a smooth, black-stone column that marks the point above which the…

  • Inasa-yama

    Nagasaki

    West of the harbour, the Nagasaki Ropeway cable car ascends every 15 to 20 minutes to the top of 333m-high Inasa-yama, offering superb views over Nagasaki…

  • Nagai Takashi Memorial Museum

    Nagasaki

    This small but quietly moving museum celebrates the courage and faith of one man in the face of overwhelming adversity. Already suffering from leukaemia,…

  • Nagasaki Ropeway

    Nagasaki

    West of the harbour, this cable car ascends every 15 to 20 minutes to the top of 333m-high Inasa-yama. The view from the mountaintop has been ranked one…

  • Urakami Cathedral

    Nagasaki

    Once the largest church in Asia (1914), the cathedral took three decades to complete and three seconds to flatten. This smaller replacement cathedral was…

  • Nakashima-gawa Bridges

    Nagasaki

    Parallel to Teramachi, the Nakashima-gawa is crossed by a picturesque collection of 17th-century stone bridges. At one time each bridge was the distinct…

  • Megane-bashi

    Nagasaki

    The best known of several bridges that cross the Nakashima-gawa, the Spectacles Bridge is so called because the reflection of the arches in the water…

  • Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

    Nagasaki

    Designed by Kuma Kengo (the architect behind Tokyo's Nezu Museum and 2020 Olympic Stadium), this museum straddles a canal in an environmentally friendly…

  • Peace Statue

    Nagasaki

    At the far end of the Peace Park, this hulking, muscular bronze statue by Nagasaki Prefecture native Kitamura Seibō is a much-photographed symbol of the…

  • Ko-shashin-shiryōkan

    Nagasaki

    In the Dutch Slopes, this quiet museum showcases the area's history through historic photographs (note that most signage is in Japanese). The combined…

  • One-Pillar Torii

    Nagasaki

    The atomic blast knocked down half of the stone entrance arch to Sanno-jinja shrine, 800m southeast of the hypocentre, but the other pillar remains, a…

  • Maizō-shiryōkan

    Nagasaki

    In the Dutch Slopes area, this museum has archaeological artefacts. The combined admission includes Ko-shashin-shiryōkan.

  • Shiroyama Elementary School

    Nagasaki

    This was the closest school to the nuclear blast, up a hill a mere 500m away, and 1400 children perished here. Nowadays, it's hard not to be moved by the…

  • Dutch Slopes

    Nagasaki

    The gently inclined flagstone streets known as the Dutch Slopes were once lined with wooden Dutch houses. Several buildings here have been beautifully…

  • Kōshi-byō & Historical Museum of China

    Nagasaki

    The jauntily painted Kōshi-byō shrine claims to be the only Confucian shrine built by and for Chinese outside China, and the statues of sages in its…

  • Fukusai-ji Kannon

    Nagasaki

    This temple takes the form of a huge turtle carrying an 18m-high figure of the goddess Kannon on its back. Inside, a Foucault pendulum (demonstrating the…

  • Glover House

    Nagasaki

    A Unesco World Heritage site and Japan's oldest wooden Western-style building, this house, and the garden around it, are named for Thomas Glover (1838…

  • Gunkanjima Digital Museum

    Nagasaki

    For days when Gunkanjima is inaccessible (or even when it's not), you can tour the island from afar via high-tech video presentations and virtual-reality…

  • Shōfuku-ji

    Nagasaki

    This temple, surrounded by serene gardens, is not to be confused with Sōfuku-ji (in Teramachi). It contains an arched stone gate dating from 1657. The…

  • Shinchi Chinatown

    Nagasaki

    During Japan's long period of seclusion, Chinese traders were theoretically just as restricted as the Dutch, but in practice they were relatively free…

  • 26 Martyrs Memorial

    Nagasaki

    This memorial wall has reliefs of the 26 Christians – six Spanish friars and 20 Japanese – crucified in 1597 during a harsh crackdown. The youngest killed…

  • Ringer House

    Nagasaki

    A historic house in the hillside Glover Garden, this important cultural property has been in its original location since the 1860s. The first owner was a…

  • Mitsubishi No 2 Dock Building

    Nagasaki

    This former dock house has been moved to the top of Glover Garden and offers great views, especially from the 2nd floor. Inside are displays about the…

  • 26 Martyrs Museum

    Nagasaki

    Just next door to the memorial wall that honours the memory of 26 Christians murdered here in the 16th century, this museum houses Christianity-related…

  • Madame Butterfly Statue

    Nagasaki

    Inside Glover Garden, this statue memorialises Japanese opera singer Tamaki Miura, who performed as Cio-Cio-san in Puccini's famous opera Madame Butterfly…

  • Kōfuku-ji

    Nagasaki

    This temple in Teramachi dates from the 1620s and is noted for the Ming architecture of the main hall. Like Sōfuku-ji, it is an Ōbaku Zen temple – and the…

  • Walker House

    Nagasaki

    Walker House in Glover Garden is filled with artefacts donated by the Glover and Walker families. Look for both Japanese and Western design touches.

  • Alt House

    Nagasaki

    Built in 1865, this is the largest of the several historic houses in the hillside Glover Garden and one of the few still in its original location.

  • Fuchi-jinja

    Nagasaki

    You must pass through this Shinto shrine at Inasa-yama to get to the cable car.