Word: nagasaki
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History marks Nagasaki as one of only two places to have been devastated by an atom bomb. But four centuries before that epochal event, Nagasaki was known for something much sunnier than a dark mushroom cloud. Over a 200-year period during which Japan quarantined itself from the outside world-no explorers, no traders and above all no missionaries-Nagasaki was the one place foreigners were allowed to live. Dutch and Chinese traders, tolerated because they were not Catholic, called upon the city, leaving behind architecture, food and traditions that have been absorbed into Nagasaki's culture...
...Today, Nagasaki offers a respite for travelers exhausted by Tokyo's frenetic chaos. The city is located on Kyushu, Japan's pristine southernmost island where snow-capped volcanoes punctuate patchwork landscapes of vegetable farms. Surrounding waters contain more than 500 small islands. Even the airport is located on an island, albeit one barely larger than the runway...
...ferry is fishing from a large rock while waiting for the next boatload of passengers. Once we are aboard, the local topography takes the stage. Green hills crowned by foggy halos rise from Omura Bay. The ferry lands in Togitsu and a short bus ride brings us south into Nagasaki...
...Nagasaki's neighborhoods are closely packed, an environment ideal for a leisurely, if oftentimes uphill, wander. Start at the Nakashima River in the old downtown area. Stone bridges crisscross the ancient waterway every hundred meters or so; the most notable is Spectacles Bridge-so named because at sunset the waterborne reflection of the bridge's double arches creates the illusion that the river's orange and white carp are swimming within the frames of a pair of eyeglasses. I climb down to the bank for a better look and the fish crowd greedily around me, nudging their large snouts...
...city!). The Chinese rushed into the country when Japan, fearing the spread of Christianity, closed its doors to Westerners. Along with the Dutch whose trade-focused Protestants were considered less threatening than Portugal's Catholic missionaries, the Chinese did business with the rest of the country through Nagasaki's port, though both groups were sequestered in one area of town. Nagasaki's traditional dish-a soup of thick Chinese noodles with bits of fresh fish, shrimp and pork called champon-originates here...