NAGASAKI
Nagasaki is a city of great antiquity, and in the early days of European in- tercourse with the Far East was the most important seat of the foreign trade with Japan. It is admirably situated on the south-western coast of the Island of Kiushin. A melancholy interest attaches to the neighbourhood as the scene of the extinction of Christianity in the empire and the extermination of the professors of that religion in 1637. At the entrance to the harbour lies the celebrated island of Pappenberg, where thousands of Christians are said to have been thrown over the high cliff rather than go through the form of trampling on the Cross. Not far from Nagasaki is also the village of Mogi, where 37,000 Christians suffered death in defending themselves against the forces sent to subdue them. When the Christian religion was crushed and the foreigners were expelled, to the Dutch alone was extended the privilege of trading with Japan, and they were confined to a small plot of ground at Nagasaki called Deshima. By the Treaty of 1858 Nagasaki was one of the ports opened to British trade on the 1st July in the following year.
On entering the harbour of Nagasaki no stranger can fail to be struck with the 'admirable situation of the town and the beautiful panorama of hilly scenery opened to his view. The harbour is a land-locked inlet deeply indented with small bays, about three miles long with a width varying from half-a-mile to a mile. A reclamation schieme was commenced in October, 1897, and completed in January, 1905; 147 acres were reclaimed, and retaining walls measuring nearly five miles in length have been built in front of what were formerly the foreign concessions at Deshima and Megasaki. Simultaneously, the harbour was deepened. The cost of the work was 4,000,000 yen. Quay walls are now being built to accommodate two vessels of 8,000 tons. The town is on the eastern side of the harbour, which is about two miles long by about three quarters of a mile in extreme width. The foreign quarter adjoins the town on the south side. The chief mercantile houses are situated on the bund facing the harbour, behind which are a few streets running parallel with it, and there are a number of private residences on the hill-side. There is a Roman Catholic church; Anglican services are held every Sunday at the Seamen's Mission. There are two clubs (Nagasaki and International) and two foreign hotels—the Nagasaki Hotel and the Hotel du Japon. The Mitsubishi Company own three docks in Nagasaki, the largest of which has a length of 714 feet on the keel blocks and a depth of water at ordinary spring tides of 34 feet 6 inches. There are three other smaller docks owned by the Matsuo Ironworks & Dockyard Co., and situated nearer to the harbour entrance. As a shipbuilding centre the place has rapidly developed in recent years; in addition to large ocean-going steamers, a battle-cruiser of 27,500 tons displacement and a battleship of over 30,000 tons displacement have been constructed there. Nagasaki gained considerable importance as a base for steam trawlers, but the vessels were all sold to foreign governments for war service during 1918. The industry has been restarted but on a smaller scale. The Municipality has erected a large fish market on the wharf near the railway station. A large extension of the waterworks to meet the growing needs of the town was completed in March, 1904. Further extensions have been in progress since 1920, but they are still very inadequate. The railway developments of recent years have made it possible, with a brief sea passage of ten minutes between Moji and Shimonoseki, to travel by rail from Nagasaki to Kobe and thence to Tokyo. The climate in Nagasaki is mild and salubrious, and there are popular health resorts in the neighbourhood, the most famous being Mount Unzen, on which an excellent nine-hole golf course was laid out in 1911, and greatly improved early in 1923.
In 1922 the exports were valued at Yen 14,617,723 and the imports at Yen 21,116,067, as compared with Yen 10,155,701 and Yen 22,732,519, respectively, in 1921.
The population of the port has increased greatly during recent years. In the census taken in 1920 it was returned as 176,554, nearly double that which it was 20 years previously. It is now estimated to be about 200,000. An English newspaper, the Nagasaki Press, is published daily.