Bridge built to link Nagasaki with former artificial island

November 25, 2017

Nagasaki- A ceremony was held in Nagasaki on Friday to mark the completion of a bridge linking the southwestern Japan city to the former artificial island of Dejima.

The ceremony was joined by Japanese Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, as well as Dutch Princess Laurentien. Some 800 local citizens selected from applicants also joined the ceremony.

"I'm really happy with the completion of a new bridge between Japan and the Netherlands," said Prince Akishino, honorary president of the Japan-Netherlands Society.

Dejima, a fan-shaped artificial island that housed a Dutch trading post, was Japan's sole trade base with the West in its national isolation period in the early 17th century through the early 19th century.

A stone bridge from Dejima to downtown Nagasaki was removed in 1888-1889 in line with reclamation work that eventually transformed the island into an inland area.

The Nagasaki city government launched restoration work in 1951. A stone embankment and 16 buildings originally built in the early 19th century have been restored so far. Jiji Press