Churches

In the Edo era, this area was very Christian, as the feudal lord of the time converted via influence of Portuguese traders. He in turn not only led his people to Christianity but also sent some men abroad to learn more about the religion. Unfortunately, the shogunate banned Christianity and threatened execution for those who did not convert back to Buddhism. Due to that thousands of people went into hiding, especially on the islands just off Nagasaki.

But the shogunate was very thorough and eventually uncovered many of them resulting in some mass beheadings. There were some Christians who survived and this area is still known for the prominence (but still rare) of Christianity. Thus, it's pretty easy to find churches like this one around the prefecture. This is in Sasebo.