Omura City, Nagasaki

With the Nagasaki Airport located on the worlds first man-made airport island in Omura Bay, Omura is truly the gateway to Nagasaki City and Prefecture as well as the rest of Kyushu Island in far western Japan.

Omura Park is said to be one of the nicest places in Japan to enjoy the cherry blossoms in spring due to the 60 200 petals on each flower found on the Omura cherry trees. Nearby is the partial remains of Kushima Castle, built in 1599 by the feudal lord, Yoshiaki Omura.

This region of Japan was the first place that this country opened up and traded with Europeans who arrived in Japan in 1543. With this new influence, Sumitada Omura was converted and became the first Christian Japanese feudal lord (Daimyo). However, within about 100 years, due to conflict and the fear of the spread of Christianity and European influence, most foreigners were banished from Japan until 1868. The only European exception was made for a small number of Dutch who lived on an island in Nagasaki City called Dejima. With this unique history, Omura and the region experienced European influences not had by other parts of Japan.