Dejima

Dejima is a former artificial island in Nagasaki that served as Japan's only trading link with Europe for more than 200 years. The Dutch East India Company ran its trading post here from 1641 to 1859. Today the site is an open-air museum of reconstructed warehouses and residences, and adult admission is 1,100 yen.

The island was completed in 1636 to confine Portuguese traders, who were expelled from Japan three years later. In 1641 the shogunate ordered the Dutch to move their trading post from Hirado to Dejima. For the rest of Japan's period of national seclusion, Western goods, books and medical knowledge reached Japan through this one small site.

History of Dejima

Dejima was built in a fan shape at the edge of Nagasaki Harbor and linked to the town by a bridge. A group of Nagasaki merchants paid for its construction. The Dutch staff lived on the island under close watch, and Japanese officials controlled everyone who came and went at the front gate.

Notable residents included the German physicians Engelbert Kaempfer and Philipp Franz von Siebold, who studied Japan and helped bring Western medicine and science into the country. When Japan opened Nagasaki, Yokohama and Hakodate to international trade in 1859, Dejima lost its 218-year role. Harbor reclamation in the Meiji period later swallowed the island into the city.

The current restoration project rebuilds Dejima as it looked around 1820, when the chief factor Jan Cock Blomhoff and Siebold were active there. The restored embankment walls are slowly bringing the original fan shape back into view.

What to see at Dejima

Edo-period buildings

The reconstructed buildings were opened in phases from 2000 to 2016. Highlights include:

• Chief Factor's Residence: the largest building on the island, used as the Dutch chief's office and home. The upper floor recreates how he lived and entertained Japanese officials.

• Kitchen: where meals for the Dutch staff were cooked before they gathered at the chief's residence twice a day.

• Dutch Clerk's Quarters: displays on the Western science that entered Japan through Dejima.

• Warehouses: the No. 1 and No. 2 warehouses held imported sugar and sappanwood, a dye wood. Their displays cover the restoration work and the trade goods.

• Copper Warehouse: a recreated storeroom for copper, Dejima's main export.

• Sea Gate: the gateway where cargo was loaded and unloaded.

Later buildings and the miniature model

Two stone warehouses date from the 1860s. One shows artifacts dug up on the site, and the other has the information office and a small theater. From the Meiji period, the Former Nagasaki International Club of 1903 holds a restaurant on its ground floor. The Former Dejima Protestant Seminary of 1878 is the oldest Protestant seminary building in Japan. Its rooms are closed to visitors for safety reasons for now.

A 1:15 scale model built in 1976 shows Dejima around 1820. You can also see a monument that Siebold put up to honor Kaempfer and the Swedish botanist Carl Thunberg.

To hear the story as you walk, the self-guided Nagasaki audio tour includes the Chief Factor's Residence.

Dejima tickets

• Adults: 1,100 yen

• High school, junior high and elementary school students: 550 yen

There are no group discounts, and you cannot re-enter after leaving. The site accepts cash, WeChat Pay and Alipay. These rates took effect on April 1, 2026, and the Dejima admission page lists the current fees and discounts. Strollers and wheelchairs can be borrowed free at the information office.

How to get to Dejima

• By tram: from Nagasaki Ekimae, take a tram bound for Sofukuji and get off at Dejima or Shinchi Chinatown.

• By bus: take bus 17 or 27 from Nagasaki Station South to the Dejima stop, about a 1-minute walk away.

There is no visitor parking. Nagasaki Shinchi Chinatown is a 5 to 10 minute walk away, which makes it the easiest place for a meal after your visit.

Dejima is a Nagasaki stop on a long route between Kyoto and Osaka that runs through Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Shikoku.