Home > Nagasaki, Nagasaki
1.2 Modern era
After US Commodore Matthew Perry landed in 1853 and the shogunate crumbled shortly afterward, Japan opened its doors again. Nagasaki became a free port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. With the Meiji Restoration, Nagasaki quickly began to assume some economic dominance. Its main industry was ship building. This very industry would eventually make it a target in World War II, since many warships used by the Japanese Navy during the war were built in its factories and docks. Nagasaki was greatly devastated by its atomic bombing on August 9, 1945. See the article Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The city was rebuilt after the war, albeit dramatically changed, as any city would be after such colossal damage. New temples were built, and new churches as well, since the Christian presence never died out and even increased dramatically in numbers after the war. Some of the rubble was left as a memorial, like the one-legged torii gate and a stone arch near ground zero. New structures were also raised as memorials, such as the Atomic Bomb Museum. Nagasaki remains first and foremost a port city, supporting a rich shipping industry and setting a strong example of perseverance and peace.
2 Nagasaki in Western music and song
Nagasaki is the title and subject of a 1928 song with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Mort Dixon . A popular success in its day, the music remains a popular base for jazz improvisations. The lyrics today are enjoyed for their ludicrous incongruity and their lack of political correctness. The song asserts: "Hot ginger and dynamite/There's nothing but that at night/Back in Nagasaki/Where the fellers chew tobaccy/And the women wicky wacky woo."
Nagasaki is also the setting for Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly.
3 External links
