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Although few visitors these days arrive by boat and the woods are diminished, many would agree with British landscape painter Sir Alfred East, who came here in 1889, that NAGASAKI is one of Japan's more picturesque cities, gathered in the tucks and crevices of steep hills rising from a long, narrow harbour supposedly shaped like a crane in flight. It's not a particularly ancient city, nor does it possess any absolutely compelling sights. Instead, Nagasaki's appeal lies in its easy-going attitude and an unusually cosmopolitan culture, resulting from over two centuries of contact with foreigners when the rest of Japan was closed to the world, and cemented by its isolation from Tokyo.

Nagasaki would probably have remained just a pleasant, attractive city with a bustling harbour if a chance break in the clouds on August 9, 1945 hadn't seared it into the world's consciousness as the target of the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan. It's the A-Bomb hypocentre and nearby museum, as harrowing as that in Hiroshima , that brings most people to Nagasaki, yet the city has much else to offer. Successive communities of Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese and British have left their mark here to varying degrees, building colourful Chinese temples , Catholic churches and an array of European-style houses gathered in Glover Garden, as well as imported cuisines and festivals. Despite efforts to stamp out another European import, the Catholic faith, Nagasaki remains Japan's centre of Christianity , claiming one sixth of the country's believers. It's possible to cover the two main areas - the hypocentre and around Glover Garden - in a day, but Nagasaki deserves at least one extra night's stopover to explore its backstreets, soak up some atmosphere and sample a few of the city's culinary treats.