Nagasaki

Nagasaki occupies a narrow harbour on the western coast of Kyushu, where hills rise steeply on both sides. The city was the only Japanese port open to foreign trade during the country's two centuries of isolation, and that long exposure to Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese influence left a mark you can still see in the architecture and food. At night, the lights of houses climbing the hillsides earn it the nickname "million-dollar night view." The Peace Park and Atomic Bomb Museum document the 1945 bombing with photographs, artifacts, and survivor testimonies. Glover Garden, a hillside park of restored Western-style houses, was home to Scottish merchant Thomas Glover and inspired parts of the opera Madama Butterfly. Nagasaki's signature dish is champon, a thick noodle soup loaded with seafood and vegetables, best eaten at one of the small restaurants in the Chinatown district near the port.