Dejima Museum (within Dejima)

Housed within several of Dejima's reconstructed buildings, the Dejima Museum collection documents Japan's sole direct trading relationship with the West during the 218-year Sakoku isolation period, when the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and later the Dutch government maintained the only Western trading post permitted on Japanese soil. Holdings include reproduction and original trade ledgers, scale models tracing the island's reclamation and expansion from 1636 to the present, botanical and medical specimens reflecting the 'rangaku' (Dutch learning) knowledge exchange, and furnished period rooms recreating the Chief Factor's residence and company warehouses. The collection is displayed building-by-building rather than in a single gallery, with each of the roughly 25 reconstructed structures holding artifacts relevant to its original function, such as the sugar warehouse displaying period trade goods and the company office displaying original VOC correspondence. Restoration of the site has proceeded in phases since 1996, with each newly reconstructed building opening its own exhibits; the project is ongoing, aiming eventually to fully reconstruct the historical island within the modern cityscape.