Gunkanjima Island

Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) is a once-populated island floating about 18 km southwest off Nagasaki Port. Its official name is Hashima, but because its shape resembles a battleship, it is called “Gunkanjima.” In the late Edo period, coal was discovered here, and in 1870 (Meiji 3) development began. For 104 years until the mine closed in 1974 (Showa 49), coal miners and their families lived on Gunkanjima, and today the ruins remain. The haunting sight of Japan’s oldest seven-story reinforced-concrete apartment building, long abandoned and seemingly on the verge of collapse, evokes the history of Japan’s modernization. In addition, the seawall and undersea coal mine tunnels built during the Meiji period, as part of Gunkanjima, are registered as part of the World Cultural Heritage site “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.” Individuals cannot land on Gunkanjima on their own, but it is possible by joining a tour operated by licensed local companies. Access to Gunkanjima (tour cruise departure point) by public transportation is from JR Nagasaki Station: take the tram from “Nagasaki Station-mae” stop on Line 1 bound for Shokakuji-shita, transfer at “Tsukimachi” to Line 5 bound for Ishibashi, get off at “Oura Kaigan-dori,” then walk to Tokiwa Terminal. By car, use the Nagasaki Dejima Road from the Nagasaki Expressway, park at the “Tokiwa Prefectural Parking Lot” near the Oura Kaigan-dori intersection, then walk to Tokiwa Terminal.