PASTEXPERIENCE HISTORY

Honnō-ji. Edo. Pompeii. Where will you go?

Interactive episodes

Around 1780 · Edo period · Dejima, Nagasaki

Waiting for news at Dejima

A day with an apprentice interpreter

Resolve the smudged label and establish where the parcel belongs.

Mistaking similar marks could send the wrong cargo onward.

Begin the story

Preparing your story…

Explore the diagram: How overseas news reached Edo
Explore how it works

How overseas news reached Edo

How can news travel between people using different languages?

Cargo and news arrive by ship at Dejima’s trading post, an entry point for goods and information.
01News reaches the post
Dutch shipTrading postIncoming news

Information reaches the port and trading post.

Ships carry goods and information

The Dutch post moved from Hirado to Dejima in 1641. The trading post also provided the shogunate with news about overseas affairs.

Sources and scope

These illustrations explain processes and institutions rather than reconstructing actual people, buildings or layouts. Cutaways and insets show hidden structures or separate locations.

History of Dejima ↗

News reaches the post

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Scroll the enlarged image to inspect details.

Cargo and news arrive by ship at Dejima’s trading post, an entry point for goods and information.

Cargo and news arrive by ship at Dejima’s trading post, an entry point for goods and information.

Ichita, his mentor Shōzō, the delivery mix-up, dialogue and letters are fictional. The checking sequence is simplified for this story, not a reconstruction of historical regulations. Screen quantities and positions are illustrative models.

Explore the time and place
Sources
  1. History of Dejima ↗

    長崎市・出島 · Construction, Dutch relocation, overseas reports and closure in 1859.

  2. Dejima restoration programme ↗

    長崎市・出島 · Landscape change, reconstruction and comparison of models with other evidence.