Most first-time visitors to Japan run the golden route: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka. All wonderful. But if the Portugal–Japan story pulls at you the way it pulls at me, there is one city that should be on your itinerary above almost anywhere else: Nagasaki.
For nearly seventy years, from 1571 until the expulsion of 1639, Nagasaki was Portugal’s front door to Japan — and for the two centuries of isolation that followed, it remained Japan’s only window to the outside world. No other Japanese city wears its international history so openly. It’s a place where church spires stand beside temples, where the local cake is Portuguese by birth, and where the autumn festival still celebrates the age of the foreign ships.
What to See: The Portuguese Trail
Ōura Cathedral. Japan’s oldest surviving church, built in 1864 and dedicated to the 26 Martyrs. It was here that Japan’s “hidden Christians” — descendants of the converts of the Portuguese missionary era, who had kept the faith in secret for 250 years — famously revealed themselves to a French priest in 1865. The hidden Christian sites of the Nagasaki region are now UNESCO World Heritage, and standing in that church knowing the story is genuinely moving.
The 26 Martyrs Monument. On Nishizaka Hill, marking the spot where twenty-six Christians — Japanese and foreign — were executed in 1597 as the persecution began. It’s the sombre chapter of the Nanban century, and it belongs on the itinerary as much as the cake shops do.
Dejima. The famous fan-shaped artificial island was originally built in 1636 to contain the Portuguese — a controlled trading pen. After the expulsion, the Dutch inherited it and became Japan’s only European contact for 200 years. It’s been beautifully restored; walking its little street is walking the exact seam where Japan and Europe touched.
Fukusaya and the castella houses. Fukusaya has been baking castella in Nagasaki since 1624. Buy a box from the source, eat a slice while it’s fresh, and taste four centuries of Portuguese-Japanese history. The zarame sugar crystals on the bottom are the sign of the real thing.
Nagasaki Kunchi. If you can time your visit for early October, the city’s great festival includes dances and floats celebrating its era of foreign trade — including the famous Dutch and Chinese-influenced performances. The whole city turns out.
Practical Notes
Nagasaki sits at the western tip of Kyushu. The comfortable route from Tokyo is a flight to Nagasaki Airport (about two hours) or the shinkansen network via Fukuoka (Hakata), changing to the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen — Japan’s newest bullet train line — for the final leg. Two days is enough for the Portuguese trail plus the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum, which you should not skip; one day if you’re ruthless. The city’s trams make everything easy.
🎒 What I pack for Japan city days
[Replace with AAWP boxes — a good daypack, portable battery, and comfortable walking shoes. Keep it to 2-3 genuinely useful items.]
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Why It Hits Different for Portuguese Visitors
Nagasaki is the only city in Japan where being Portuguese means something to the place itself. The story is on the museum walls, in the bakery windows, in the street names of the old quarter. Portugal mostly forgot this chapter; Nagasaki built an identity on it. Going there as a Portuguese person is less like tourism and more like being remembered by someone you didn’t know was waiting.
Planning a wider trip? Read my realistic guide to a first trip to Japan from the UK — and add Nagasaki to it.