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The Dutch factory was moved to Dejima, a small manmade island in Nagasaki Harbor, in [[1641]]. The Dutch presence in Nagasaki was of great importance for Tokugawa Japan not only economically (in terms of the importation of goods), but also in terms of the inflow of information. ''[[Rangaku]]'', or "Dutch studies", was a major development in the Edo period, with a number of scholars eagerly studying Dutch books and other materials (and, on very rare occasions, meeting with Dutchmen personally) and introducing to Japan new technologies, scientific information (especially in the fields of medicine and botany), world maps, and painting techniques. It was through the Dutch that Japan obtained telescopes and microscopes, among other technologies, and it was through the Dutch that Japan was kept up to date on world events.  

The Dutch factory was moved to Dejima, a small manmade island in Nagasaki Harbor, in [[1641]]. The Dutch presence in Nagasaki was of great importance for Tokugawa Japan not only economically (in terms of the importation of goods), but also in terms of the inflow of information. ''[[Rangaku]]'', or "Dutch studies", was a major development in the Edo period, with a number of scholars eagerly studying Dutch books and other materials (and, on very rare occasions, meeting with Dutchmen personally) and introducing to Japan new technologies, scientific information (especially in the fields of medicine and botany), world maps, and painting techniques. It was through the Dutch that Japan obtained telescopes and microscopes, among other technologies, and it was through the Dutch that Japan was kept up to date on world events.  

Nagasaki was also of great significance to the Company. In [[1649]], profits from business in Japan reached almost 710,000 guilders, one-and-a-half times as much as the VOC factory in Taiwan, and more than double the profits in Persia that year. Fully one third of these Nagasaki profits were from the sale of silks purchased in [[Tonkin]].<ref>William Wray, “The Seventeenth-century Japanese Diaspora: Questions of Boundary and Policy,” in Ina Baghdiantz McCabe et al (eds.), ''Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks'', Oxford: Berg (2005), 84. </ref>

Nagasaki was also of great significance to the Company. In [[1649]], profits from business in Japan reached almost 710,000 guilders, one-and-a-half times as much as the VOC factory in Taiwan, and more than double the profits in Persia that year. Fully one third of these Nagasaki profits were from the sale of silks purchased in [[Tonkin]].<ref>William Wray, “The Seventeenth-century Japanese Diaspora: Questions of Boundary and Policy,” in Ina Baghdiantz McCabe et al (eds.), ''Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks'', Oxford: Berg (2005), 84. </ref> In the 1820s, and perhaps for much of the time before and after then, the Company operated according to a pattern that 1820s ''opperhoofd'' [[German F. Meijlan]] called "trade by contract," in which the Company shipped to Japan only goods previously requested or otherwise officially agreed upon by the [[Nagasaki kaisho]] (Accounting House, or Clearinghouse). The quantity, quality, and prices of these goods was agreed upon in advance, and this is what the Dutch were able to sell to the Japanese.<ref>Matsukata Fuyuko and Joshua Batts. "Get It in Writing (If You Can): Regulating Foreign Communities in Tokugawa Japan." ''Journal of World History'' 35, no. 4 (2024): p539.</ref>

Representatives of the Company journeyed to [[Edo]] to pay their respects to the [[Shogun]] once every few years, in a journey known in Dutch as ''hofreis''. Originally, from [[1633]] until [[1789]], they made this journey every year; from [[1790]] onwards, the journey was made only once every five years. This change in the frequency of the missions coincided with similar efforts to reduce the costs of receiving [[Korean embassies to Edo]]; from 1790 onwards, the VOC was to send three men, not four, and to bring only half as much gifts for the shogun and for other officials.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 106.</ref> According to the [[1826]] diary of [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]], they first traveled overland from Nagasaki to [[Kokura]], where they stayed at a specially designated lodging known as the Nagasaki-ya. They then spent a week at the home of the local elder (''[[toshiyori]]'') at [[Shimonoseki]], before traveling through the [[Inland Sea]] by ship, to the port of [[Murotsu]]. From Murotsu, they journeyed overland, passing through [[Himeji]] and [[Hyogo-no-tsu|Hyôgo-no-tsu]] on the way to [[Osaka]]. After three days at the Osaka Nagasaki-ya, they then spent six days at a lodging known as the Ebi-ya in Kyoto, before setting out on the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] highway for Edo. Once they arrived in the shogunal capital, they remained in Edo for two to three weeks, at a lodging specifically set aside for them, again known as the [[Nagasaki-ya]].<ref>Miyamoto Tsuneichi, ''Daimyô no tabi'', Tokyo: Shakai shisôsha (1968), 54-55.; Timon Screech. "An Iconography of Nihon-bashi." in ''Theories and Methods in Japanese Studies: Current State and Future Developments''. Bonn University Press, 2008. pp331-333.</ref> On the return journey, they set sail from Hyôgo, rather than Murotsu.<ref>Miyamoto, ''Daimyô no tabi'', 55.</ref>

Representatives of the Company journeyed to [[Edo]] to pay their respects to the [[Shogun]] once every few years, in a journey known in Dutch as ''hofreis''. Originally, from [[1633]] until [[1789]], they made this journey every year; from [[1790]] onwards, the journey was made only once every five years. This change in the frequency of the missions coincided with similar efforts to reduce the costs of receiving [[Korean embassies to Edo]]; from 1790 onwards, the VOC was to send three men, not four, and to bring only half as much gifts for the shogun and for other officials.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 106.</ref> According to the [[1826]] diary of [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]], they first traveled overland from Nagasaki to [[Kokura]], where they stayed at a specially designated lodging known as the Nagasaki-ya. They then spent a week at the home of the local elder (''[[toshiyori]]'') at [[Shimonoseki]], before traveling through the [[Inland Sea]] by ship, to the port of [[Murotsu]]. From Murotsu, they journeyed overland, passing through [[Himeji]] and [[Hyogo-no-tsu|Hyôgo-no-tsu]] on the way to [[Osaka]]. After three days at the Osaka Nagasaki-ya, they then spent six days at a lodging known as the Ebi-ya in Kyoto, before setting out on the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] highway for Edo. Once they arrived in the shogunal capital, they remained in Edo for two to three weeks, at a lodging specifically set aside for them, again known as the [[Nagasaki-ya]].<ref>Miyamoto Tsuneichi, ''Daimyô no tabi'', Tokyo: Shakai shisôsha (1968), 54-55.; Timon Screech. "An Iconography of Nihon-bashi." in ''Theories and Methods in Japanese Studies: Current State and Future Developments''. Bonn University Press, 2008. pp331-333.</ref> On the return journey, they set sail from Hyôgo, rather than Murotsu.<ref>Miyamoto, ''Daimyô no tabi'', 55.</ref>