Exploring Nagasaki Chinatown: The Oldest Chinatown in Japan

Join me as I wander through Nagasaki Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in Japan, and explore the rich history and vibrant culture of Nagasaki. In this video, I also visit Nagasaki Confucius Shrine, Dejima, Sofukuji Temple, Nagasaki Kiyomizudera Temple, Kofukuji Temple, Kazagashira Park, Meganebashi Bridge, Hamamachi Arcade and much more!

✅ You might enjoy watching some of these other videos:
✔️ Tour of Nagasaki – Part 1: https://youtu.be/MpJdWp0WiJo
✔️ Tour of Nagasaki – Part 2: https://youtu.be/uFq-2KVm1Zw
✔️ Exploring Hiroshima: https://youtu.be/_UfbCJRowv4

✅ You can find all my videos filmed in Japan here::
✔️ 🇯🇵 My Japan Tavel Videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0wwMzq5-Q2icG4ZFUm9fH-1wvtTifUdD

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#japan #nagasaki

[Music] greetings from nagazaki chinat toown is the oldest China toown in Japan and I am going to explore this District and it’s a huge District that will take me probably half an hour to explore there is a Chinese settlement area that is not far from here but as you can see it’s a little bit crowded with the school kids I’m not sure if they are on a school trip or not almost everywhere I visit in Japan I see school kids I’m not sure if this is part of their U curriculum in school to let them uh go out and explore the city cuz I don’t see any guide with them they just wander through I have no idea maybe if you know about Japan curriculum in school you can uh let me know so I’m I’m I’m curious the main gate is right there and the uh and the settlement is not actually that far from here it’s just a few blocks away from here and this is the famous gate right there and the settlement is uh that way but we’re going to cross the street to take a look at this uh area it looks like a lot of people are taking photos there just to give you the brief history of this area nagazaki was the only Port was the only Port open to foreign trade in Japan during the era of isolation and the Chinese uh Traders were the only one were the only ones who are allowed to trade along inside the Dutch people so the the Dutch and Chinese Traders were allowed to trade in Japan D during the era of uh of isolation that lasted for almost two centuries so we’re going to walk uh a little bit further because there is also a beautiful Shrine up ahead see the um the area that is known as the Dutch slope is that way it’s about 5 minute walk from uh from there so unlike the Dutch traders who were allowed to to trade in Japan during the era of isolation the Chinese people were actually allowed to move freely outside Chinatown in nagazaki they’re not uh forced to stay in a certain location like the Dutch and the Portuguese so prior to the Dutch people um there were pese here in um in nagazaki in an area called deima or something like that which I will go and explore but I’m not sure what happened to the Portuguese traders they left Japan I’m not sure if they were forced to leave Japan or they left on their own and then after the Portuguese people um left the Dutch Traders um um came here and they chose that area that is known as the Dutch um Dutch slope which I explored that area yesterday you can check out that uh video if you are interested and the whole area is is known as the western style buildings uh area and there seems to be a lot of construction right here but my mission is actually to go to a very beautiful uh Shrine called The nagazaki confucious Shrine you see this is a temple along the way but that’s not the where I’m trying to to go there seems to be construction outside which uh annoys my video audio so let’s go to that uh beautiful uh Shrine you see looks like the the trail is going to be a little bit uphill uh line as usual and along the way they have these kind of uh details to help you understand the history of the of what whatever building you you see along the way they also tell you the distance to get there for example this one right there there’s the Holland uh slope that the one that I I talked about earlier it’s about 360 M away from here which I already filmed it’s basically it’s a a district full of uh western style buildings that the foreign Dutch Traders used to live and they kept the same buildings and now they keep uh they keep them as uh museums and they are open to the public so people can go inside and take a look [Music] you see this is the uh Dutch uh slope right here with a lot of uh western style buildings so yesterday I was down there and it’s also huge area uh full of uh very interesting uh buildings along the way see I’m almost there and I see this uh what Eastern style building along the way too next to the Japanese uh style buildings and that is the shrine that I want to go and explore the fee is 660 yen to uh to go inside but it’s really beautiful from the way I looking at it on the Internet it’s it looks beautiful so we are in early Je June 2024 and you might ask me why I’m wearing um a jacket because it was raining so hard this morning and this jacket is a light uh rain jacket so it’s not really for winter uh season so let’s find out where the entrance is here we go is it under construction or what this is a shrine is it open the construction this way the shrine the shrine this way this way this way okay one ticket all right they have a big construction but I hope it’s not going to ruin the experience so this Shrine is one of the only a few shrines dedicated to the Chinese philosopher confusus in [Music] Japan and it was built in 1893 by nagazaki Chinese community [Music] do you see anybody else besides me the whole place is to myself as usual nobody visits nagazaki or what it’s definitely this is one of the uh top sites in nagazaki to visit maybe because the fee is uh 660 in and that uh may be one of the reasons why people don’t visit this site it’s a little bit expensive I guess [Music] you see in case you’re wondering why 66n is because it also includes a museum which in my opinion it’s worth it if you are into this kind of History Historical Museum of China it’s a ghost town I’m the only person here but because no photography is allowed I’m not going to film inside [Music] [Music] all right I am going to a place called The Aima it’s basically it was an Island located right there a few blocks away it was a man-made Island made for the Portuguese residents in uh Japan at the time the Portuguese people were the only foreigners who were allowed to to uh to trade in uh Japan so they built an island for them and now I think uh they only have uh some buildings like models the some kind of replica we will go and take a look this is the entrance but there is a beautiful Bridge right there that I would like to walk and uh take a look you see it’s called the former Dutch Trading Post at the JMA so basically the Portuguese residents uh were expelled from uh from Japan and then the Dutch uh Traders um replaced them and they came uh here to this particular Island as you can see it’s like an open air museum that I would like to uh to go inside the the fee is uh is only 520 Yen which is not expensive but I can of like the The View right here you get a free view before you enter the the place so now it’s no longer an island I guess they destroyed it but there are some efforts now to actually bring the island back to make it look like it was uh like the original uh look the the JMA Main Gate Bridge Park I guess I am at the already in the park but I would like to actually go inside there so it was a man-made island in the port of nagazaki constructed in 1636 to segregate uh Portuguese residents from the Japanese population and then a few years later for some reason the Portuguese were expelled from Japan that’s bad that and the Dutch trading station that was located in herado was moved here and the Dutch were restricted to Thea during Japan two centuries of isolation but I’m really curious why they expelled the Portuguese and they brought the Dutch to replace the the Portuguese welcome to the GMA welcome to the all right I bought the ticket and they do accept credit cards wow it’s a really nice uh nice area kicha camera okay okay okay so it’s a an open air museum I guess but it looks very nice and uh and the fee is reasonably affordable so we will uh go through the uh the main street but for some reason they have a lot of uh school kids almost every single tourist site you see a bunch of school so I had to wait for them until they until they left because uh they were a little bit uh uh loud and what makes me curious is that I don’t see teachers um guide them so they are like uh free on their own exploring the place on their own and they all follow each other so I’m not sure if they follow specific curriculum to do that or not I have no idea but it’s good to let their kids learn the history of their of their uh country so my hotel is located just a few blocks away from uh from this area this is uh nagazaki downtown [Music] area and almost it’s walkable most of the tourist uh the most popular sites are within walking distance but I did take the the street car from the uh Chinatown from that uh Shrine that you saw earlier to get here because I run out of energy to to do the the 10-minute walk and the public transportation is super cheap let’s go check out the uh this building I’m trying to hurry up a little bit because I want to go to another Temple uh that was built for the Chinese residence the Chinese uh residence who were allowed to trade in uh in [Music] Japan there is like a viewing platform right there I’m not quite sure if they’re uh if they allow people to go up or not I don’t think so it will be nice to go up and uh and take a look even though the island uh was built for the uh westerners Portuguese and first and then the Dutch but uh they look uh they look like a Japanese style buildings Chief Factor residence [Music] [Applause] [Music] I like uh this building I’m not sure what it is let’s take a look the JMA the former the JMA Protestants Seminary right there you see the the name of the building [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] wow this is the uh Model Homes right here it’s a model based on kawahara Kaya illustration nagazaki showing the island around 1820 it was built by nagazaki city in 1976 [Music] all right I guess uh it’s time to move on and go to another uh another place to explore let’s go it’s a nice area here I took a Trum street car I should say and I am on my way to a beautiful Temple called suuki that is only 200 M from here and the temple was constructed in 1629 for the nagazaki Chinese residents and it’s one of the top sites to visit and it’s only 300 Yen uh the the admission fee and it’s built on uh a mountaineous uh side of the uh of nagazaki but I like what I see so far and as usual it’s not uh overwhelmingly crowded see that’s the name of the suuki it says I should go this way but I see it a nice stair right here but we will follow the sign you can see the view from here I like what I see but it’s it’s uh a little bit weird because the sign says go that way but the actual Temple is actually here and to add to the confusion uh Google Map Google Map also wants me to go this way but the actual Temple is this one so what’s going on am I in a different place or what and I don’t see other people visiting this area so I’m not sure why Google Maps is not uh pointing me to to go this direction but it is what it is I will just uh randomly explore and see what I come across because technology is not always the uh correct but what makes me curious is that the sign down there it says that sufu kui Temple is the other way maybe this is not suuki Temple maybe this is something else or maybe we discovered something new along the way wow what’s going on nobody nobody is here there is a nice uh view right there view of the river but it’s uh it’s block [Music] but we will keep exploring and I do want to ask somebody to ask to figure out what this place is is this suuki or no nobody nobody is here they have the public toilet which is [Music] open and this tells me that it’s actually maybe it’s a shrine because I see two R Gates up ahead wow what a beautiful place there is also another temple in another area of nagazaki that I’m trying to squeeze in in this video and that Temple is close to a very beautiful bridge that I also want to take a look there is a helicopter flying up there wow look at that wonderful Hello is every is anybody here wow look at the view of nagazaki right there nagazaki downtown downtown nagazaki is that direction I took uh the street car here we go I hope they speak uh English I’m going to ask them is this suuki or no kicha CH is this suuki Temple no n n suuki next one and what is this what is this oh yeah I found the answer no wonder why Google Maps wants me to go that way but but I am actually glad that uh I ignored Google Maps and I went my way because it’s beautiful I discovered a new place that never show up on any search engine uh any websites as far as searching for places to visit in nagazaki and what is this now a cemetery I don’t like to film cemeteries I don’t feel comfortable but I’m here for the view hoping to see the view from right here so uh let’s continue the uh the journey to suuki Temple and now you see what I I found along the way isn’t that beautiful beautiful gate finally I see now some staff working I really like this gate right here but I wonder why they uh don’t have they don’t have it on the on the tourist uh tourist guide the books that they uh they have uh printed uh guided books that they give for free at my uh the hotel I’m staying at but this site is not one of the it’s not one of them on the list and there is another beautiful Garden along the way I should not say let’s continue our journey to suuk kuji I should say Let’s uh explore the sites along the way to Soki because I don’t know what else I’m going to see along the way and here I am by myself [Music] this is a nice photo opportunity right here you know but I have nobody here to uh to help me uh take a a photo from me so I’ll have to do I guess I will have to do a selfie before I leave uh this uh area I’m having a hard time finding a suuki temple to be quite honest with you but uh I started filming this uh Narrow Street because I like it I like it for some reason and I hope uh Google Map is correct it says only 1 minute away so I’m not really that far and one day I really need to to find an Airbnb accommodation in one of those uh Japanese style buildings so my uh trip to Japan is about to to end very soon I have 10 more days here in Japan I’ve been now for a little bit over 2 months and now where should I go Okay Google Map wants me to go this way but it took me back to it took me back to the train station to the street car station see I can’t tell you Google Maps is uh is confusing okay I ended up asking one of the local people here I ditched uh Google Maps because it’s taking me somewhere else it’s taking me to the the street car station it’s totally wrong but we finally I hope I hope this is the temple the other one that we saw that I found by accident is is called kidu zura or something like that which happens to have the same name like the one like the famous One in Kyoto in toyoto I filmed that entire Temple the one the famous One in Kyoto you can check out that video but for some reason this that Temple has the same name as the one in toyoto which is a UNESCO world heritage site and you look it’s only it’s only me here hopefully I find somebody sometimes it’s always good to have to see at least one person yeah I see I do see one one tourist now two two more right there total is four including me but so far nobody is asking for a ticket for a ticket I thought the fee is 300 Yen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it looks like uh there is a hiking opportunity uh uh up there and I would like to just keep going and see what I’m going to [Music] see wow looks like if this is a a small village [Music] they right here do people leave here I wonder when they when they enter their homes they have to go through the the temple or they have their own um entry am I even allowed to uh to be here you look the trail goes all the way up but I don’t think I have the I don’t think I have the energy to do it because there is another beautiful Temple that I would like to to visit I am on my way to kufu kuji Temple and I see this beautiful Park it’s called Kaza gashira and that is also another site that is not on the list and I found it along the way to kuu kui and kuuk kui is for some reason is on the top of the list and that’s why I’m going there to check it out and see why is uh on the top of the list and this place is [Music] not and no ticket is required to enter this beautiful place [Music] wow what’s going on right [Music] there maybe that is the main hall kuuki Temple is not that far from here anyway it’s only 5 minute walk and it’s it’s still uh 5:00 p.m. I hope the temple is not closed I still have time to go there but it looks nice to me it’s worth uh stopping by and and check it out all right let’s find our way to Kukui Temple and there is a trail goes all the way up but that is I think it’s a cemetery up there so I’m not going to go up but that lady is actually going there she’s a tourist and it’s very beautiful uh hiking trail right there I think but because I am [Music] concerned that the temple might close at 5:00 p.m. we will go to that Temple since is listed on the top of the list as far as places to visit in nagazaki we will see if it’s worth it or not we’ll find out here we go kuuki Temple that is the temple entrance now we will see if it’s worth it to make all the efforts to get here or not and they are already asking for 300 Yen to entera go for cushy yeah okay okay I got the ticket I wonder why the other temples are free but this one is not wow it’s not even uh crowded at all other than uh those uh two people right there so I would say nagazaki is a a nice city to visit if you want to avoid the the crowd that you usually see in uh Tokyo Osaka and and Kyoto come visit nagazaki you will love it Hiroshima is also crowded but not as crowded as Osaka and Kyoto but nagazaki there is only one section of the city that is uh a little bit crowded and that is the peace um Memorial Park where the the uh the second atomic bomb uh was dropped on August 9th 1945 and that’s the only section of the of the city that is crowded but uh downtown nagazaki as you saw in this video the most of the places that I have seen so far we’re almost to [Music] myself so I think this Temple is a big uh site an important site to visit I should say is because it’s the oldest and one of the most important Chinese founded temples in nagazaki it was established in [Music] 1620 just want to capture get footage of what the she is uh displaying so the temple was established around 1620 by a Chinese monk at a time when large numbers of Chinese Merchants were coming to nagazaki to trade there is a beautiful garden right there the complex was originally set up as a place to pray for safe sea travel for the merchants and the construction is heavily influenced by Chinese architectural Styles what a beautiful place [Music] here o [Music] [Music] all right I am going to see a bridge a beautiful stone bridge that is not far from the temple and I think it was established by the resident priest of Kukui Temple back in 1634 and as always I do discover something interesting this street looks very nice to me and I’m not sure what they call it they don’t have the sign what a shame it’s not even on the on the list but it looks nice maybe later I will uh go and check it out so that’s not the bridge that I’m looking for but it’s one of uh it’s one of the stone Bridges and this is nakami nakasha Naka Shima River I should say you see it’s a beautiful River and Google Map wants me to go this way I can see people off in the distance all the way down standing right there taking photos I wonder how they got uh down there but we will uh we will figure it out and I really like that Narrow Street that I just saw 5 minutes ago I will go back there and walk through that interesting street and find something to eat there probably cuz it’s uh almost close to dinner time yeah there is actually a way to go down there I can see the stairs but Google Map is also wrong cuz it wants me to go this way and I will let you see the the stair actually there is a way to go down right here you see but I see a lot of bridges I’m not quite sure which one is the one I’m looking for and the one I’m looking for is called Mega Nashi Bridge it’s one of several Stone bridges that span the Nakashima River wow I do see another group of people there but this trail ends here which means I have to go to the other side to enter the that beautiful area from over there or maybe I can do it from here maybe that is that is the bridge I’m looking for I think so it looks like the one like the one I’m looking at it uh right now on Google Images the bridge was originally built in 1634 it’s construction overseen by the Chinese monk who would go on to become the resident priest of kofukuji Temple I have to be very careful here I don’t want want to fall I’m doing now multitasking looking at Google Maps and filming and also reading you see wow this is beautiful spot for photo right here and I do see a bunch of uh Stone Bridges all the way down but I think the famous one is that one the one that the Chinese monk built all right I kind of like this street I’m just going to walk down all the way to get to the end and in the meantime if I see something good food I will grab something to eat I don’t even know the name of the street but I’m sure it’s going to be more lively at night because of all those lights right there you’re [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] look at this I search like what [Music] [Music]