Hirado Onsen Nagasaki

Hirado Onsen Nagasaki is located on Hirado Island, connected to the Nagasaki Prefecture mainland by Japan's first western-style stone bridge built by Dutch merchants in 1634, in a town that holds an extraordinary place in Japanese history as the site of Japan's first Dutch and Portuguese trading posts — the primary gateway through which Western trade, Christianity, and scientific knowledge first entered feudal Japan in the early 17th century. The chloride-rich thermal waters of Hirado's coastal hot springs draw from the mineral-rich geology of this island on the outer edge of the East China Sea, valued for their warming saline properties that reflect the maritime environment of this historically outward-looking island community. The juxtaposition of a Dutch Reformed Church and a Japanese Buddhist temple visible simultaneously from Hirado's hillsides is one of Japan's most iconic cross-cultural images, making the onsen town one of the country's most historically fascinating thermal destinations.