The aim of the current restoration and maintenance project is to restore the former Dejima Dutch Factory as it looked in the early 19th century, when the chief factor J.C. Blomhoff and physician P.F. von Siebold were active. The restoration of 16 buildings, including the Chief Factor's Quarters, has already been completed.
Artifacts from other stages in Dejima history are also evident, such as the initial stone wall constructed when Portuguese residents were interned here, stone warehouses dating back to the end of the Edo Period and the opening of the country, and Western-style buildings from the Meiji Period. Visitors can follow the history of Dejima while viewing the various sites.
The history of Dejima is also a story of the modernization of Japan. Have a pleasant stay!

For a period of 65 years from 1571 when the first Portuguese ship reached Nagasaki until the completion of Dejima in 1636, Japan engaged in trade with Portugal and other European countries such as Spain and Italy. The Portuguese lived freely in Nagasaki and joined in exchanges that deeply influenced local culture. Restoration works at Dejima revealed the embankment walls built at the time of construction. These have been restored and opened to the public. Land reclamations from the harbor resulted in the loss of Dejima as an island, but a century later the original shape is coming back to light.

In 1637, the Shimabara Rebellion sent shockwaves throughout Japan. Two years later, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered the Portuguese to vacate Dejima and leave the country, causing great distress among the merchants of Nagasaki who had invested in the island.
However, the Shogunate ordered the Dutch to move their factory (trading post) from Hiradoto Dejima in 1641, an event that marked the beginning of Dutch trade in Nagasaki. The current restoration project focuses on Dejima as it looked around 1820, when the chief factor J.C. Blomhoff and physician P.F. von Siebold were active.

The Tokugawa Shogunate agreed to a new era of international exchange in 1859 and opened the ports of Nagasaki, Yokohama and Hakodate, endingDejima’s218-year-long monopoly on trade with Europe. Foreign merchants of various nationalities poured into Nagasaki, and new Western-style buildings and warehouses appeared on the island of Dejima. The restored Old Stone Warehouse was originally used by the German trading firm Lehmann, Hartmann & Co. After the opening of the port, Dejima continued to play a role in international exchange as part of the Nagasaki Foreign Settlement.

Two Western-style buildings—the former Dejima Protestant Seminary and Nagasaki International Club—remain from the Meiji Period. The former is the oldest Protestant seminary building in Japan. The Nagasaki International Club was a gentlemen’s club founded through the efforts of Thomas Glover’s son Kuraba Tomisaburo and frequented by prominent political and business figures. The latter building was erected in 1903, around the time that harbor reclamation projects were erasing the original fan shape of Dejima.