one at Dejima was François Caron, who oversaw the transfer in 1641. However, modern research indicated that this incident might actually have been an excuse for the Shogunate to take the Dutch trade away from the Hirado clan. The stone warehouse from 1639 that was torn down was reconstructed back to its original form in 2011. During the Edo period, Hirado was the seat of the Hirado Domain. Hirado Castle is today a historical and architectural landmark. The island was the namesake of IJN cruiser Hirado. The modern city was founded on January 1, 1955. The city expanded by merging on October 1, 2005, with the neighboring towns of Tabira, Ikitsuki, and the village of Ōshima. The local economy is dominated by agriculture, fishing and food processing. Climate Hirado has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen:Cfa) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is much higher in the summer, although the relatively low latitude and its coastal location the city receives snow in small quantities but enough to "mark" the winter every year despite being in 33 ° N receives intrusions from the Arctic cold of the Siberia air combined with the humidity of the Sea of Japan. Notable residents William Adams (1564–1620): Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura"), an English navigator, was the model for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel Shōgun (1975). Died in Hirado. Camillus Costanzo (1571–1622): Italian Jesuit martyr. Burnt alive in Hirado. Willem Verstegen (1612–1659) :merchant of the Dutch East India Company Tagawa Matsu (1601–1646): wife of Zheng Zhilong, mother of Koxinga and Shichizaemon Zheng Zhilong (1604–1661): Chinese merchant and pirate, father of Koxinga Koxinga (1624–1662): hero in mainland China, Taiwan and Ming general. Born in Hirado. Shichizaemon: second son of Tagawa Matsu Inagaki Manjiro (1861–1908): Diplomat. Born in Hirado. Ryusaku Yanagimoto (1894–1942): captain of the Sōryū in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II Kazuya Maekawa (1968–): former football player and current coach International relations Twin towns – Sister cities Hirado has one sister city in Japan and one sister city and one friendship city outside Japan. Zentsūji, Kagawa, Japan (sister city) Nan'an, Fujian, China (friendship city) Noordwijk, South Holland, Netherlands (sister city) (used to be with Noordwijkerhout, which lost its municipal status in 2019 when it merged with Noordwijk) Gallery Notes References de Winter, Michiel. (2006). "VOC in Japan: Betrekkingen tussen Hollanders en