If you are coming on this day trip make sure to buy a Northeren Kyushu Rail Pass in advance unless you have a Japan Rail Pass already. Seat reservation is optional and is free of charge to rail pass holders.
This will be a long day trip with an early start. Hakata-Nagasaki is a little under 100 miles but the Limited Express 'Kamome' trains take about two hours to cover the distance. Nagasaki is a very hilly town and the day trip will involve a lot of walking up and down the hills. Please wear comfortable shoes. Apologies for the quality of the photos taken during a visit last August.
Nagasaki
Because of its proximity to the Asian mainland Nagasaki has long been an important transportation point and played a prominent role in foreign trade for many centuries. According to Great Circle Mapper NGS to PVG is 491 miles, while NGS to HND is 593 miles.
Ports for trade with Portugal and Holland were established there in the 16th century. In addition, since it was once the centre of Christian propagation, there are many historical churches and Christian sites in the area. During Japan's period of isolation between the 17th and 19th centuries, Nagasaki was the only harbour to which entry of foreign ships was permitted. Even today, Nagasaki shows the influence of many cultures such as Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese.
In more recent history, Nagasaki became the second city after Hiroshima to be destroyed by an atomic bomb towards the end of World War II.
Schedule
Leave Hakata (main JR station of Fukuoka City) 07:54 (Kamome #7, dep Platform 4)
Arrive Urakami 09:46
Tram to Matsuyama-machi
Visit Nagasaki Peace Park
Tram to Dejima - visit
Lunch
Tram to Ōura Tenshudō - visit
Walk to Glover Garden – visit
Walk down Dutch Slope
Tram to Nagasaki Station
Leave Nagasaki 17:20 (Kamome #38) – Arrive Hakata 19:14
Nagasaki Peace Park
The Nagasaki Peace Park commemorates the atomic bombing of Nagasaki of August 9, 1945, which destroyed wide parts of the city and killed nearlly 74,000 inhabitants. In the park stand the massive Peace Statue as well as various other memorials. A monument around a black pillar marks the atomic explosion's epicenter in the nearby Hypocenter Park and stores the name list of bomb victims.
Dejima
Dejima was an artificial island built in the shape of a fan during the 17th century in order to accommodate Portuguese residents while segregating them from the Japanese population and controlling their missionary activities. A few years later the Portuguese were expelled and a Dutch trading company, formerly located in Hirado, was moved to Dejima. For 200 years, until Japan reopened the country in the 19th century, Dejima was almost the only window to the world.
Dejima is no longer an island as the surrounding area has been reclaimed during the 20th century. However, a number of Dejima's historical structures remain, and have been or are being reconstructed, including various residences, warehouses, walls and gates. Japan's first Protestant Seminary, built in the 19th century, was renovated to house the Nagasaki Dejima Museum of History.
Lunch (
Nagasaki speciality at a
Japanese fast food restaurant 
)
When I went to Nagasaki last August to plan this day trip I queued for more than an hour at the restaurant where Nagasaki Champon originated. Was it worth the wait? Hard to tell. When I googled (in Japanese) for the best Champon in Nagasaki the first hit was this
fast food chain specialising in Champon and other dishes originating from Nagasaki.
Ōura Tenshudō (Ōura Catholic Church)
Constructed in the last years of the Edo Period in 1864, Ōura Tenshudō is considered the oldest standing Christian church in Japan, and was the only Western building to be designated as a national treasure for many years.
Glover Garden
Glover Garden is an open air museum, exhibiting mansions of former Western residents of Nagasaki. It is named after Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed to the modernization of Japan in shipbuilding, coal mining, and other fields. His former residence is the oldest Western style house surviving in Japan. Other buildings in the garden include the mansions of British merchants Frederick Ringer and William Alt.
The garden is on the hill where Western merchants settled down after the end of Japan's era of seclusion in the second half of the 19th century. Glover House is often associated with Puccini's opera, Madame Butterfly. The house was also the venue of Glover's meetings with rebel samurai particularly from the Chōshū and Satsuma domains.
Holland Slope (Oranda Zaka)
Holland Slope refers not just to a single street but the area of steep streets in a pleasant hillside residential area close to the Confucius Shrine and Ōura Catholic Church. Western merchants, most notably from the Netherlands, settled in the area in the second half of the 19th century. There are quite a few other original houses of western traders dating from the period still standing around Holland Slope. Some of them are private residences and some are opened as museums.
Cost
JR Hakata - Nagasaki return on Limited Express without reserved seats: 8,380 yen (9,400 yen with reserved seats) **
Nagasaki City Tram One Day Pass: 500 yen (Suica and other IC cards are not valid)
Dejima entrance fee: 510 yen
Glover Garden entrance fee: 610 yen
Lunch: 500-1000 yen
**
Northeren Kyushu Rail Pass (7,200 yen for 3 days, 9,260 yen for 5 days) is recommended even if you only go to Nagasaki and especially if you are going on the post-do trip to an onsen. A pass may be purchased online or once you arrive in Japan by showing your non-Japanese passport. The Japan Rail Pass also covers the route.