Editing Nagasaki (section)

==History==
{{For timeline}}

===Nagasaki as a Jesuit port of call===
{{Main|Portuguese Nagasaki|Dejima}}
The first recorded contact between Portuguese explorers and Japan occurred in 1543, when a Portuguese ship, possibly a Chinese junk carrying Portuguese sailors, was blown off course and landed on Tanegashima, an island south of Kyūshū. This event marked the beginning of direct contact between Japan and Europe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Europeans Begin Trade with Japan {{!}} EBSCO Research Starters |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/europeans-begin-trade-japan |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=www.ebsco.com |language=en}}</ref>

Two Portuguese traders, António Mota and Francisco Zeimoto, were among the crew members. They introduced the Japanese to firearms, specifically the Portuguese matchlock guns known as harquebuses. The local lord, Tanegashima Tokitaka, purchased two of these firearms and had local blacksmiths replicate them, leading to the development of the "tanegashima" guns in Japan.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Low |first=Spencer |date=2023-01-29 |title=Japan & Portugal: 480 years of friendship |url=https://www.portuguese.asia/post/japan-portugal-480-years-of-friendship |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Portuguese in Asia |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Fernão Mendes Pinto, a Portuguese adventurer and writer, claimed in his memoirs, ''Peregrinação'', that he was part of the first landing party in 1543. However, his account is considered unreliable, and historians generally agree that he was not among the first Europeans to reach Japan.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Yamafune |first=Kotaro |title=Portuguese Ships on Japanese Namban Screens |date=2012 |doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.3612.3282 |url=https://www.academia.edu/15232598 |journal=Academia Materials Science |volume=2 |issue=2}}</ref>

The introduction of firearms had a significant impact on Japanese warfare, contributing to the unification of Japan during the Sengoku period. The Portuguese also introduced other goods and ideas, including Christianity, which further influenced Japanese society.<ref name=":2" />

Today, the arrival of the Portuguese in 1543 is commemorated in Tanegashima with the annual Teppō Matsuri (Firearm Festival), celebrating the island's historical connection to the introduction of firearms in Japan.<ref name=":1" />

Soon after, [[Nanban trade|Portuguese ships started sailing to Japan as regular trade freighters]], thus increasing the contact and trade relations between Japan and the rest of the world, and particularly with [[Ming China|mainland China]], with whom Japan had previously severed its commercial and political ties, mainly due to a number of incidents involving [[wokou]] piracy in the [[South China Sea]], with the Portuguese now serving as intermediaries between the two [[East Asia]]n neighbors.

Despite the mutual advantages derived from these trading contacts, which would soon be acknowledged by all parties involved, the lack of a proper seaport in [[Kyūshū]] for the purpose of harboring foreign ships posed a major problem for both merchants and the Kyushu ''[[daimyō]]s'' (feudal lords) who expected to collect great advantages from the trade with the Portuguese.

In the meantime, [[Kingdom of Navarre|Spanish]] [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit missionary]] [[Francis Xavier|St. Francis Xavier]] arrived in [[Kagoshima]], South Kyūshū, in 1549. After a somewhat fruitful two-year sojourn in Japan, he left for China in 1552 but died soon afterwards.<ref name="Diego Pacheco 1974 pp. 477-480">Diego Pacheco. "Xavier and Tanegashima." ''Monumenta Nipponica'', Vol. 29, No. 4 (Winter, 1974), pp. 477–480</ref> His followers who remained behind converted a number of ''daimyōs''. The most notable among them was [[Ōmura Sumitada]]. In 1569, Ōmura granted a permit for the establishment of a port with the purpose of harboring Portuguese ships in Nagasaki, which was set up in 1571, under the supervision of the [[Jesuit missionaries|Jesuit missionary Gaspar Vilela]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] Captain-Major [[Governor of Macau|Tristão Vaz de Veiga]], with Ōmura's personal assistance.<ref>Boxer, ''The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650'', p. 100–101</ref>

The little harbor village quickly grew into a diverse port city,<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/edo-period/a/arrival-of-a-portuguese-ship | title=Arrival of a Portuguese ship | access-date=February 18, 2020 | archive-date=August 4, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804195413/https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/art-japan/edo-period/a/arrival-of-a-portuguese-ship | url-status=live }}</ref> and Portuguese products imported through Nagasaki (such as tobacco, bread, textiles and a Portuguese sponge-cake called ''[[Kasutera|castellas]]'') were assimilated into popular Japanese culture. [[Tempura]] derived from a popular Portuguese recipe originally known as ''[[peixinhos da horta]]'', and takes its name from the Portuguese word, 'tempero,' seasoning, and refers to the tempora quadragesima, forty days of Lent during which eating meat was forbidden, another example of the enduring effects of this cultural exchange. The Portuguese also brought with them many goods from other Asian countries, such as China. The value of Portuguese exports from Nagasaki during the 16th century were estimated to ascend to over 1,000,000 ''cruzados'', reaching as many as 3,000,000 in 1637.<ref>C. R. Boxer, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pOoYAAAAIAAJ&q=The+Great+Ship+from+Amacon The Great Ship from Amacon – Annals of Macau and the old Japan trade 1555–1640] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414043924/https://books.google.com/books?id=pOoYAAAAIAAJ&q=The+Great+Ship+from+Amacon |date=April 14, 2023 }}'' p.&nbsp;169.</ref>

Due to the instability during the [[Sengoku period]], Sumitada and Jesuit leader [[Alexandro Valignano]] conceived a plan to pass administrative control over to the [[Society of Jesus]] rather than see the Catholic city taken over by a non-Catholic ''daimyō''. Thus, for a brief period after 1580, the city of Nagasaki was a Jesuit colony, under their administrative and military control. It became a refuge for Christians escaping maltreatment in other regions of Japan.<ref name=Diego>Diego Paccheco, Monumenta Nipponica, 1970</ref> In 1587, however, [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]'s campaign to unify the country arrived in Kyūshū. Concerned with the large Christian influence in Kyūshū, Hideyoshi ordered the expulsion of all [[missionaries]], and placed the city under his direct control. However, the expulsion order went largely unenforced, and the fact remained that most of Nagasaki's population remained openly practicing [[Catholicism|Catholic]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

In 1596, the Spanish ship ''[[San Felipe incident (1596)|San Felipe]]'' was wrecked off the coast of [[Shikoku]], and Hideyoshi learned from its pilot<ref>so says the Jesuit account</ref> that the Spanish [[Franciscans]] were the vanguard of an [[Iberian Union|Iberian]] invasion of Japan. In response, Hideyoshi ordered the [[crucifixion]]s of twenty-six Catholics in Nagasaki on February 5 of the next year (i.e. the "[[Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan]]"). Portuguese traders were not ostracized, however, and so the city continued to thrive.

In 1602, [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] missionaries also arrived in Japan, and when [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] took power in 1603, Catholicism was still tolerated. Many Catholic ''[[daimyō]]s'' had been critical allies at the [[Battle of Sekigahara]], and the Tokugawa position was not strong enough to move against them. Once [[Osaka Castle]] had been taken and [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]'s offspring killed, though, the Tokugawa dominance was assured. In addition, the Dutch and English presence allowed trade without religious strings attached. Thus, in 1614, [[Catholicism]] was officially banned and all missionaries ordered to leave. Most Catholic daimyo [[apostacy|apostatized]], and forced their subjects to do so, although a few would not renounce the religion and left the country for [[Macau]], [[Luzon]] and [[Japantown]]s in Southeast Asia. A brutal campaign of persecution followed, with thousands of converts across Kyūshū and other parts of Japan killed, tortured, or forced to renounce their religion. Many Japanese and foreign Christians were executed by public [[crucifixion]] and [[Death by burning|burning at the stake]] in Nagasaki.<ref name="NSA">{{Cite book |url = http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Japan02.htm |title =MARTYRS OF JAPAN († 1597-1637) (poz. 10) | access-date = March 22, 2011| author= | publisher = | language =en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123203927/http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Japan02.htm |archive-date=November 23, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Martyrs List | url=http://www1.bbiq.jp/martyrs/ListEngl.html | publisher=Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum | access-date=2010-01-11 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214135648/http://www1.bbiq.jp/martyrs/ListEngl.html | archive-date=2010-02-14 }}</ref> They became known as the [[Martyrs of Japan]] and were later venerated by several [[Pope|Popes]].<ref name=JA3>{{cite web |url=http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Japan03.htm |title=Martyrs of Japan (1603–39) |website= Hagiography Circle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609051808/http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/Japan03.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2021}}</ref>

Catholicism's last gasp as an open religion and the last major military action in Japan until the [[Meiji Restoration]] was the [[Shimabara Rebellion]] of 1637. While there is no evidence that Europeans directly incited the rebellion, [[Shimabara Domain]] had been a Christian ''[[Han (administrative division)|han]]'' for several decades, and the rebels adopted many Portuguese motifs and Christian [[icon]]s. Consequently, in Tokugawa society the word "Shimabara" solidified the connection between Christianity and disloyalty. The Shimabara Rebellion also convinced many policy-makers that foreign influences were more trouble than they were worth, leading to the [[sakoku|national isolation policy]]. The Portuguese were expelled from the archipelago altogether. They had previously been living on a specially constructed [[artificial island]] in Nagasaki harbour that served as a [[trading post]], called [[Dejima]]. The Dutch were then moved from their base at [[Hirado]] onto the artificial island.
{{Gallery
| mode = packed
| align = center
| height = 140
| File:Macau Trade Routes.png|[[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] (green) and [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] (yellow) trade routes to [[Portuguese Macao|Macao]] and Nagasaki
| File:Nanban-Screens-by-Kano-Naizen-c1600.png|[[Nanban trade|''Nanban'' trade]] by [[Kanō Naizen]], {{circa|1600}}. The screen shows Portuguese merchants docking in Japan.
| File:Tojin-yashiki.jpg|The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound (Tōjin yashiki), {{circa|1688}}
}}
{{clear}}

=== Seclusion era ===
[[File:Deshima - KONB11-388A6-NA-P-052-GRAV.jpg|thumb|[[Dejima]] was an artificial island in Nagasaki Bay; its fan shape was easily recognizable. The trading post consisted mainly of warehouses and dwelling houses (1669 engraving).]]

The [[Great Fire of Nagasaki]] destroyed much of the city in 1663, including the [[Lin Moniang|Mazu]] shrine at the [[Kofukuji (Nagasaki)|Kofuku Temple]] patronized by the Chinese sailors and merchants visiting the port.<ref name=properties>{{citation |contribution=Cultural Properties |contribution-url=http://kofukuji.com/english/properties.php |url=http://kofukuji.com/ |title=Official site |access-date=December 23, 2016 |location=Nagasaki |publisher=Thomeizan Kofukuji |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228051540/http://kofukuji.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1720, the ban on Dutch books was lifted, causing hundreds of scholars to flood into Nagasaki to study European science and art. Consequently, Nagasaki became a major center of what was called ''[[rangaku]]'', or "Dutch learning". During the [[Edo period]], the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] governed the city, appointing a {{lang|ja-latn|[[hatamoto]]}}, the ''[[Nagasaki bugyō]]'', as its chief administrator. During this period, Nagasaki was designated a "shogunal city". The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under the Tokugawa administration.<ref>[[Louis Cullen|Cullen, Louis M.]] (2003). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ycY_85OInSoC&q=bugyo&pg=PA59  ''A History of Japan, 1582–1941: Internal and External Worlds'', p. 159.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406145220/https://books.google.com/books?id=ycY_85OInSoC&q=bugyo&pg=PA59 |date=April 6, 2023 }}</ref>

Consensus among historians was once that Nagasaki was Japan's only window on the world during its time as a closed country in the Tokugawa era. However, nowadays, it is generally accepted that this was not the case, since Japan interacted and traded with the [[Ryūkyū Kingdom]], [[Korea]] and Russia through [[Satsuma Domain|Satsuma]], [[Tsushima-Fuchū Domain|Tsushima]] and Matsumae respectively. Nevertheless, Nagasaki was depicted in contemporary art and literature as a cosmopolitan port brimming with exotic curiosities from the Western world.<ref name=CEJ>Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan, [[Richard Bowring]] and Haruko Laurie</ref>

In 1808, during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the [[Royal Navy]] frigate [[HMS Phaeton (1782)|HMS ''Phaeton'']] [[Phaeton Incident|entered Nagasaki Harbor]] in search of Dutch trading ships. The local magistrate was unable to resist the crew’s demand for food, fuel, and water, later committing ''[[seppuku]]'' as a result. [[Edict to Repel Foreign Vessels|Laws were passed]] in the wake of this incident strengthening coastal defenses, threatening death to intruding foreigners, and prompting the training of English and Russian translators.

The ''Tōjinyashiki'' (唐人屋敷) or Chinese Factory in Nagasaki was also an important conduit for Chinese goods and information for the Japanese market. Various Chinese merchants and artists sailed between the Chinese mainland and Nagasaki. Some actually combined the roles of merchant and artist such as 18th century [[Yi Hai]]. It is believed that as much as one-third of the population of Nagasaki at this time may have been Chinese.<ref>Screech, Timon. ''The Western Scientific Gaze and Popular Imagery in Later Edo Japan: The Lens Within the Heart''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. p15.</ref> The Chinese traders at Nagasaki were confined to a walled compound ([[:ja:唐人屋敷|Tōjin yashiki]]) which was located in the same vicinity as Dejima island, and the activities of the Chinese, though less strictly controlled than the Dutch, were closely monitored by the [[Nagasaki bugyō]].

===Meiji Japan===
With the [[Meiji Restoration]], Japan opened its doors once again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki became a [[treaty port]] in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. Nagasaki was officially proclaimed a city on April 1, 1889. With Christianity legalized and the [[Kakure Kirishitan]] coming out of hiding, Nagasaki regained its earlier role as a center for Roman Catholicism in Japan.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Doak|first1=Kevin M.|editor1-last=Doak|editor1-first=Kevin M.|title=Xavier's Legacies: Catholicism in Modern Japanese Culture|date=2011|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=9780774820240|pages=12–13|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Rr6CRwj9aAC&pg=PA13|access-date=February 27, 2018|chapter=Introduction: Catholicism, Modernity, and Japanese Culture|quote=In 1904, Catholics in Nagasaki, with their deep ties to the past, were three times more numerous than Catholics in the rest of Japan...}}</ref>

During the [[Meiji period]], Nagasaki became a center of [[heavy industry]]. Its main industry was [[ship-building]], with the dockyards under control of [[Mitsubishi Heavy Industries]] becoming one of the prime contractors for the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]], and with Nagasaki harbor used as an anchorage under the control of nearby [[Sasebo Naval District]]. During [[World War II]], at the time of the nuclear attack, Nagasaki was an important industrial city, containing both plants of the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, the Akunoura Engine Works, Mitsubishi Arms Plant, Mitsubishi Electric Shipyards, Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works, several other small factories, and most of the ports storage and trans-shipment facilities, which employed about 90% of the city's labor force, and accounted for 90% of the city's industry. These connections with the Japanese [[war effort]] made Nagasaki a major target for [[strategic bombing]] by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] during the war.<ref name="HYP">{{cite web |publisher=United States Strategic Bombing Survey |title=Chapter II The Effects of the Atomic Bombings |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/AtomicEffects/AtomicEffects-2.html |access-date=December 27, 2014 |archive-date=September 20, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920201751/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/AtomicEffects/AtomicEffects-2.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=How Effective is Strategic Bombing?: Lessons Learned From World War II to Kosovo (World of War) |pages=86–87 |date=December 1, 2000 |publisher=NYU Press}}</ref>
{{Gallery
| mode = packed
| align = center
| height = 140
| File:Nagasaki illustration2.jpeg|Plan of Nagasaki, Hizen province, 1778
| File:View of Dejima in Nagasaki Bay Folding Screen by Kawahara Keiga c1836.jpg|View of [[Dejima]] in Nagasaki Bay by Kawahara Keigo c. 1836
| File:View of Nagasaki Bay by Antoon Bauduin c1865.png|View of Nagasaki Bay, c. 1865
| File:UCHIDA_KUICHI_Nagasaki.png|View of Nagasaki in 1870s
}}

===Atomic bombing of Nagasaki during World War II===
{{main|Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki#Nagasaki}}
[[File:Nagasakibomb.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|The mushroom cloud from the atomic explosion over Nagasaki at 11:02&nbsp;am, August 9, 1945]]
[[File:Sanno_torii_boxed_in_red.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|An intact ''[[torii]]'' in the foreground and a one-legged torii in the background, Nagasaki, October 1945]]

In the 12 months prior to the nuclear attack, Nagasaki had experienced five small-scale air attacks by an aggregate of 136 U.S. planes which dropped a total of 270 tons of [[high explosive]]s, 53 tons of [[incendiary device|incendiaries]], and 20 tons of [[fragmentation bombs]]. Of these, a raid of August 1, 1945, was the most effective, with a few of the bombs hitting the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hitting the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, and six bombs landing at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these few bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and a number of people, principally school children, were evacuated to rural areas for safety, consequently reducing the population in the city at the time of the atomic attack.<ref name="HYP"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mp07.asp|title=Avalon Project – The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|access-date=December 27, 2014|archive-date=December 20, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220192659/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mp07.asp|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Bradley |first= F.J. |title=No Strategic Targets Left |year=1999 |page=103 |publisher=Turner Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-5631-1483-0}}</ref>

On the day of the nuclear strike (August 9, 1945) the population in Nagasaki was estimated to be 263,000, which consisted of 240,000 Japanese residents, 10,000 Korean residents, 2,500 conscripted Korean workers, 9,000 Japanese soldiers, 600 conscripted Chinese workers, and 400 Allied [[Prisoner of war|POWs]].<ref name="HY">{{Cite web |title=Nagasaki atomic bombing, 1945 |url=http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1945JAP2.html |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=www.johnstonsarchive.net}}</ref> That day, the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] ''[[Bockscar]]'', commanded by [[Major (United States)|Major]] [[Charles Sweeney]], departed from [[Tinian]]'s [[North Field (Tinian)|North Field]] just before dawn, this time carrying a [[plutonium bomb]], code named "[[Fat Man]]". The primary target for the bomb was [[Kokura#World War II|Kokura]], with the secondary target being Nagasaki, if the primary target was too cloudy to make a visual sighting. When the plane reached Kokura at 9:44&nbsp;a.m. (10:44&nbsp;am. Tinian Time), the city was obscured by clouds and smoke, as the [[Yahata, Fukuoka|nearby city of Yahata]] had been [[Firebombing|firebombed]] on the previous day – the steel plant in Yahata had also instructed their workforce to intentionally set fire to containers of [[coal tar]], to produce target-obscuring black smoke.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140726p2a00m0na014000c.html| title=Steel mill worker reveals blocking view of U.S. aircraft on day of Nagasaki atomic bombing| work=Mainichi Weekly| access-date=January 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122171430/http://mainichi.jp/english/english/features/news/20140726p2a00m0na014000c.html|archive-date=November 22, 2015}}</ref> Unable to make a bombing attack 'on visual' because of the clouds and smoke, and with limited fuel, the plane left the city at 10:30&nbsp;a.m. for the secondary target. After 20 minutes, the plane arrived at 10:50&nbsp;a.m. over Nagasaki, but the city was also concealed by clouds. Desperately short of fuel and after making a couple of bombing runs without obtaining any visual target, the crew was forced to use radar to drop the bomb. At the last minute, the opening of the clouds allowed them to make visual contact with a racetrack in Nagasaki, and they dropped the bomb on the city's [[Urakami|Urakami Valley]] midway between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works in the north.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History and Science of the Manhattan Project |author= Bruce Cameron Reed |date= October 16, 2013 |page=400 |publisher=[[Springer Nature]] |isbn=978-3-6424-0296-8}}</ref> The bomb exploded 47 seconds after its release, at 11:02&nbsp;a.m. at an approximate altitude of 1,800 feet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6652262.shtml|title=BBC - WW2 People's War – Timeline|access-date=February 18, 2020|archive-date=August 31, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831135828/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a6652262.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

Less than a second after the detonation, the north of the city was destroyed and more than 10% of the city's population were killed.<ref>{{cite book |title=Welcome To Planet Earth – 2050 – Population Zero |author= Robert Hull |date=October 11, 2011 |page=215 |publisher=[[AuthorHouse]] |isbn=978-1-4634-2604-0}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2024|reason=self-published non-[[WP:N|notable]] author}}{{Unreliable fringe source|date=August 2024}} Among the 35,000 deaths were 150 Japanese soldiers, 6,200 out of the 7,500 employees of the Mitsubishi Munitions plant, and 24,000 others (including 2,000 [[Korea_under_Japanese_rule#Deportation_of_forced_labor|Koreans]]). The industrial damage in Nagasaki was high, leaving 68{{nbnd}}80% of the non-dock industrial production destroyed. It was the second and, to date, the last use of a [[nuclear weapon]] in [[combat]], and also the second detonation of a plutonium bomb. The first combat use of a nuclear weapon was the "[[Little Boy]]" bomb, which was dropped on the Japanese city of [[Hiroshima]] on August 6, 1945. The [[Trinity (nuclear test)|first plutonium bomb was tested]] in [[central New Mexico]], United States, on July 16, 1945. The Fat Man bomb was more powerful than the one dropped over Hiroshima, but because of Nagasaki's more uneven terrain, there was less damage.<ref>{{cite book |title=Nuke-Rebuke: Writers & Artists Against Nuclear Energy & Weapons (The Contemporary anthology series) |pages=22–29 |date=May 1, 1984 |publisher=The Spirit That Moves Us Press}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=343–346}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hoddeson|Henriksen|Meade|Westfall|1993|pp=396–397}}</ref>

===Contemporary era===

The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed. The pace of reconstruction was slow. The first simple emergency dwellings were not provided until 1946. The focus of redevelopment was the replacement of war industries with foreign trade, shipbuilding and fishing. This was formally declared when the Nagasaki International Culture City Reconstruction Law was passed in May 1949.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://atomicbombmuseum.org/4_ruins.shtml|title=AtomicBombMuseum.org – After the Bomb|access-date=December 3, 2013|archive-date=February 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219200252/http://www.atomicbombmuseum.org/4_ruins.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> New temples were built, as well as new churches, owing to an increase in the presence of Christianity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.world-guides.com/asia/japan/kyushu/nagasaki/nagasaki_history.html|title=Nagasaki History Facts and Timeline|access-date=December 3, 2013|archive-date=September 28, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928165803/http://www.world-guides.com/asia/japan/kyushu/nagasaki/nagasaki_history.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, such as a one-legged ''[[torii]]'' at [[Sannō Shrine]] and an arch near [[ground zero]]. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the [[Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum|Atomic Bomb Museum]]. Nagasaki remains primarily a port city, supporting a rich [[shipbuilding]] industry.

On January 4, 2005, the towns of [[Iōjima, Nagasaki|Iōjima]], [[Koyagi, Nagasaki|Kōyagi]], [[Nomozaki, Nagasaki|Nomozaki]], [[Sanwa, Nagasaki|Sanwa]], [[Sotome, Nagasaki|Sotome]] and [[Takashima, Nagasaki (Nishisonogi)|Takashima]] (all from [[Nishisonogi District, Nagasaki|Nishisonogi District]]) were officially merged into Nagasaki along with the town of [[Kinkai, Nagasaki|Kinkai]] the following year.
{{Gallery
| mode = packed
| align = center
| height = 140
| File:ModernDayNagasaki.jpg|Modern Nagasaki, [[Oura Cathedral]] on a slope, 2005
| File:Nagasaki_City_view_from_Hamahira01s3.jpg|Night view of Nagasaki seen from Mount Konpira, 2012
| File:Nagasaki City View from Glover Garden, Nagasaki 2014.jpg|View of Nagasaki seen from [[Glover Garden]], 2014
}}