On 15 March 2025, John and Annette Bradford represented YCAPS at the international symposium "Deciphering the Dutch Factory Documents: New Perspectives on Early 17th-Century Japan-Netherlands Relations." The symposium was held at the Dutch Trading Post in Hirado, Nagasaki and gathered historians and maritime specialists from Europe and Japan. John and Annette were glad to learn from the specialists and enjoy Hirado, Japan's original global city where traders from Europe, Asia and Japan mixed in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The Hirado Dutch Trading Post is a beautiful recreation and, despite terrible wind and rain, John and Annette were able to walk around the island visiting its many churches and the English trading post.
