This attractive port city on the west coast of Kyūshū is well known for two major events in Japanese history.

During the Edo Period (1603-1868), Japan’s period of isolation, it was the most important of the few ports open to foreign traders, making it Japan’s link with the outside world.

At the end of WWII, Nagasaki became the second city after Hiroshima to be destroyed by an atomic bomb. Nagasaki Peace Park should be on every visitor’s itinerary.

For a look at some of Nagasaki’s earlier foreign relations, check out Glover Garden, with mansions of former foreign residents, and Dutch Slope, an area where foreign merchants resided.

Nagasaki (pop 430,000) is known Japan-wide for Nagasaki Champon, a tasty, inexpensive noodle dish, and Castella, a sponge cake introduced to Nagasaki by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century.