Saturday, 5th April, 2014.
In 1641, all foreigners were banned from Japan, with the exception of Dejima, a tiny man-made island in Nagasaki harbour. From then until the 1850s, this small Dutch trading post was the sole sanctioned foreign presence in all of Japan. The Dutch traders were closely supervised, their only contact with the locals being limited to their trading partners and courtesans.
17 buildings have now been painstakingly reconstructed, based on pictorial representations, into the Dejima Museum, which opened in 2006.
After our visit to the Nagasaki Peace Park, Junko took us there by streetcar.
About Dejima.
A painting from the museum, which shows how goods were weighed, using people as a counter weight.
A plan of Dejima.
A scale model of the island, as it was in its heyday.
Reconstruction of a Dutch house.
More reconstructions.
It was very cold, and the reconstructions of the Dutch trading post were very stark, so this pot of tulips lent a welcome splash of colour and warmth to the austere atmosphere.
Tulips against a black wall.
The King of the Netherlands did his bit to brighten up Dejima.
Here is the flowering dogwood he planted. We were lucky to be there in spring and see it flowering.
Some tulips in a garden at the very back of the museum were very bright and cheerful. I hope the Dutch traders had time to plant some:
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