Sasebo is a small city located in the Nagasaki Prefecture. It was the home of one of the only active trading ports with the west.
We took a short drive to Hirado a small, 28,000 person town.It was a casual day of walking through the streets and seeing a small town up close. We started by walking to the Matsura Historical Museum. It’s located on a hillside overlooking Hirado Port in the preserved former residence of the Matsura Clan which ruled over Hirado from the 11th to the 19th century. The building complex now houses an excellent exhibition of heirlooms, including grand samurai arms and armor, impressive fusuma doors, intricately designed lacquer boxes and other household items and treasures. In addition, there are various documents, maps, globes, drawings and diagrams of ships, and other items related to the clan's dealings with international traders on display throughout the wooden building's rooms and corridors.
Of course, I found a cannon on display and had Mae pose with it. That makes about 50 of those shots from around the world.
From the museum we walked to the Dutch Trading Post. The Dutch Trading Post was set up in Hirado in 1609 as the base of operations of the Dutch East India Company in Japan. The building today is a warehouse which was originally constructed here in 1639 as part of the trading post, but torn down just three years later after the Dutch had been relocated to Dejima Island in the port of Nagasaki.
We had about an hour left to wander around the town. I was starving so Mae and I walked into a noodle shop. It was the tiniest thing I’ve ever seen and all 3 people in there just turned to stare at us. First Hirado is not an easy place to get to and second, they don’t have many Westerners wandering in. We don’t speak Japanese and they didn’t speak English. But through a lot of handwaving, Google Translate, and sheer will power, we got our food ordered. She made us Champon, the local dish, and it was fabulous. I snapped a photo of the food but regret not getting a selfie with her. Experiences like that are why we go to out of the way places!
