During the Japanese Period of Isolation, from 1641 to 1867, only two countries were permitted to have contact of any kind with Japan: China and The Netherlands.
The Dutch traders were required to remain on a tiny fan-shaped island called Dejima on the tip of the Nagasaki peninsula. The island is around 200x70 metres in size. A trading ship of the Dutch East India company would arrive from Batavia (modern day Jakarta, then a Dutch colony) once a year. For upwards of 15 foreign residents (there were also many Japanese, who were allowed to come and go) - a chief factor, several clerks, a physician and a number of assistants and servants - this small space was the only place they could go. Unless leaving on a trading ship, it was the only place they would ever go.
The museum at Dejima has been put together with apparently meticulous care. The island was designed to prevent unwanted visitors from entering, but due to reclaimed land is now in the middle of the city. In spite of this, standing at the old Land Gate, just metres away from life on the other side, evokes the kind of isolated feeling the Dutch traders may have felt. As does standing at the Sea Gate - once a place to long for home, now the exit from the museum on to a traffic crossing.
There is a main street stretching the length of the island. It is only a small, narrow street, but so carefully restored are the wooden buildings and cobblestoned walkways, that the skyscrapers and noise of the city seem to fade away, intruders in an era in which they don't belong.
In 1858, Japan entered into a treaty with the USA that ended Dejima's status as the sole gateway to and from the outside world. Modern Japanese culture bears no evidence of its early and exclusive contact with The Netherlands. What remains on Dejima Island is a poignant reminder of a short and fascinating footnote in the history of two countries at opposite ends of the world.
David Mitchell's novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet recreates life on Dejima with the same kind of affectionate care as the museum itself. It was through this book that I learnt about Dejima's existence.
The Dutch traders were required to remain on a tiny fan-shaped island called Dejima on the tip of the Nagasaki peninsula. The island is around 200x70 metres in size. A trading ship of the Dutch East India company would arrive from Batavia (modern day Jakarta, then a Dutch colony) once a year. For upwards of 15 foreign residents (there were also many Japanese, who were allowed to come and go) - a chief factor, several clerks, a physician and a number of assistants and servants - this small space was the only place they could go. Unless leaving on a trading ship, it was the only place they would ever go.
The museum at Dejima has been put together with apparently meticulous care. The island was designed to prevent unwanted visitors from entering, but due to reclaimed land is now in the middle of the city. In spite of this, standing at the old Land Gate, just metres away from life on the other side, evokes the kind of isolated feeling the Dutch traders may have felt. As does standing at the Sea Gate - once a place to long for home, now the exit from the museum on to a traffic crossing.
There is a main street stretching the length of the island. It is only a small, narrow street, but so carefully restored are the wooden buildings and cobblestoned walkways, that the skyscrapers and noise of the city seem to fade away, intruders in an era in which they don't belong.
In 1858, Japan entered into a treaty with the USA that ended Dejima's status as the sole gateway to and from the outside world. Modern Japanese culture bears no evidence of its early and exclusive contact with The Netherlands. What remains on Dejima Island is a poignant reminder of a short and fascinating footnote in the history of two countries at opposite ends of the world.
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| View from the old Land Gate |
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| Inside a clerk's quarters |
David Mitchell's novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet recreates life on Dejima with the same kind of affectionate care as the museum itself. It was through this book that I learnt about Dejima's existence.
