In 2026, The New York Times named Nagasaki one of its “52 Places to Go,” bringing global attention to a fascinating, beautiful and complex city. In selecting Nagasaki, the publication highlighted two aspects in particular: its evocative beauty and its history shaped by nuclear catastrophe.
Unlike Hiroshima, much of Nagasaki’s urban core remained intact after the bombing — giving the city a sense of “sliding-door surrealness,” as writer Craig Mod puts it. It’s an incredibly poignant place to visit, especially in an age of nuclear proliferation. At the same time, there’s plenty else to experience: glittering night views, centuries-old camphor trees, European-influenced architecture, intimate jazz bars and long-standing confectioneries.
Nagasaki has served as a point of contact between Japan and the outside world for centuries — for a time, it was the country’s only gateway to the West. That legacy gives the city a uniquely cosmopolitan atmosphere, with foreign influences that show up in all kinds of ways: dazzling festivals that blend Japanese, Chinese and Dutch elements; local dishes unlike anything else in Japan; and UNESCO-listed Hidden Christian Sites, remnants of its history as a secret center of Christian worship.
Offshore, Hashima Island (Gunkanjima) stands as a stark relic of Japan’s rapid industrialization, its dense concrete buildings left to weather after the island was abandoned in 1974. On land, Glover Garden looks back to an earlier moment of change, with Western-style residences once home to the foreign merchants who helped drive Japan’s modernization. Together, they form part of the UNESCO-listed Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution.
But the best way to experience the city is by wandering around and absorbing its unique atmosphere — lights glittering around the harbor like a dense chest of jewels, castella shops that have been around for centuries and narrow streets where European facades and temples blend into everyday life.
A newly released media kit brings these elements together in more detail.
Download the media kit here.
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Country: Japan
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