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Information About

Nagasaki Prefecture




  Name Nagasaki
  JapaneseName &#38263&#23822&#30476 ''Nagasaki-ken''
  Symbol PrefSymbol-Nagasakipng
  Capital Nagasaki
  Region Kyushu
  Island Kyushu
  TotalArea 4,09280
  AreaRank 37<sup>th</sup>
  PCWater 85
  PopDate 2000
  Population 1,516,536
  PopRank 26<sup>th</sup>
  Density 371
  Districts 4
  Municipalities 23
  ISOCode JP-42
  Flower Unzentsutsuji ('' Rhododendron serpyllifolium'')
  Tree Sawara (''Chamaecyparis pisifera'')
  Bird Mandarin Duck (''Aix galericulata'')
  Map Japan_nagasaki_map_smallpng
  Website wwwprefnagasakijp/en/


is located on Kyushu Island , Japan . The capital is the city of Nagasaki .


HISTORY


Nagasaki Prefecture, an unification of former provinces of Hizen , Tsushima , and Iki , has had close ties with foreign civilization for centuries. Facing China and Korea , the region around Hirado was a traditional center for traders and pirates.

During the 16th century, Catholic missionaries and traders from Portugal arrived and became active in Hirado and Nagasaki, which became a major center for foreign traders. The Christian belief in Equality between men, however, did not comply with the political structure of Japan, and after being given free reign in Oda Nobunaga 's period, the missionaries were forced out little by little, until finally, in the Tokugawa era, Christianity was banned under the Sakoku policy. After the prohibition of Christianity in the Edo period, foreign trade was restricted to Chinese and Dutch traders in Nagasaki, Dejima , but Kirishitan (Japanese Christian) worship continued underground. These Kakure Kirishitan (hidden Christians) were tried at every step, forced to step on Fumi-e ("trample pictures"--images of the Holy Mother Mary and saints) to prove that they were non-Christian. And with the banishment of all Catholic Missionaries , traders from Catholic countries were also forced out of the country. Along with them, their children, half Japanese and half European, were also forced to leave the country. The majority was sent to Jagatara ( Jakarta ) and are still remembered by the locals as the people who wrote the poignant letters which were smuggled across the sea to their homeland. Today, Nagasaki has a prominent Chinatown and Catholic churches[http://www.tca-japan.com/ .

During the Meiji Restoration , Nagasaki and Sasebo became major ports for foreign trade, and eventually major naval bases and shipbuilding centers up to World War II . On August 9, 1945 , a United States bomber dropped an Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, which was reconstructed after the war.


GEOGRAPHY

Nagasaki borders Saga Prefecture on the east, and is otherwise surrounded by water, including Ariake Bay , the Tsushima Straits , and the East China Sea . It also includes a large number of islands such as Tsushima and Iki . Most of the prefecture is near the coast and there are a number of ports such as Nagasaki and the United States naval base at Sasebo .


Subprefecture



Cities

13 cities are located on Nagasaki Prefecture.

Nagoya (not to be confused with Nagoya , Aichi ) was located in the prefecture before.


Towns and villages


These are the towns and villages in each District .


Mergers

(as of March 31, 2006)
















ECONOMY



CULTURE


Religion

Nagasaki is the most christianized area in Japan. As of 2002, there are 68,617 Catholics in Nagasaki Prefecture, accounting for 4.52 percent of the total population of the prefecture.


TOURISM




PREFECTURAL SYMBOLS



EXTERNAL LINKS