Nagasaki City: Bridges, islands and local landscapes
Names for Nagasaki's bridges and islands carry traces of very different centuries, from the monk credited with building a stone bridge in the 1630s to the people who once lived on a crowded undersea coal-mining island. This guide traces where and when each name came from.
Meganebashi Bridge, said to have been built in 1634, is considered Japan's oldest stone arch bridge. Gunkanjima, better known by its nickname than its official name, Hashima, was, until it closed in 1974, one of the most densely populated places in Japan. Even within the same city, these names come from very different eras and tell very different stories.
This article works through eight names — Meganebashi Bridge, Nakashima River, Mount Inasa, Glover Sky Road, Gunkanjima, Hashima, Nagasaki Lantern Festival, and Nagasaki Ropeway — anchored to the dates and facts behind each.
Bridges, islands and local landscapes: Meganebashi Bridge and Nakashima River
Meganebashi Bridge is said to have been built in 1634, while Nakashima River is the urban river that carries it along with several other stone bridges.
Meganebashi Bridge
Meganebashi Bridge is said to have been built in 1634 by Mokusu Nyojo, a Chinese Buddhist monk who headed Kofukuji Temple at the time, and it is considered Japan's oldest stone arch bridge. Its name, meaning "glasses bridge," comes from the way its two arches reflect in the water to look like a pair of spectacles. It is designated an Important Cultural Property, and though a 1982 flood partially destroyed it, the bridge was later restored.
Nakashima River
Nakashima River runs through central Nagasaki and is known for the stone bridges that cross it, including Meganebashi, collectively called the Nakashima River stone bridges. The same 1982 flood that damaged Meganebashi also caused the river to overflow, affecting other bridges along its banks. Where Meganebashi is a single bridge, Nakashima River is the waterway that carries the whole group.
Bridges, islands and local landscapes: Mount Inasa and Glover Sky Road
Mount Inasa rises 333 meters above the city, while Glover Sky Road is an inclined elevator that opened in 2019.
Mount Inasa
Mount Inasa rises 333 meters on the western side of the city, overlooking Nagasaki Harbor, and is known for the night view from its summit. In 2012, a night-view summit held in Hong Kong named it one of the "New Three Great Night Views of the World," alongside Monaco and Hong Kong itself.
Glover Sky Road
Glover Sky Road is an inclined elevator that opened in 2019, built to help residents move up and down the steep hillside neighborhoods near Minami-Yamate. Unusually, it is classified as a road under Japan's Road Act rather than as a conventional lift, a very different kind of structure from the 333-meter mountain covered above.
Bridges, islands and local landscapes: Gunkanjima and Hashima
Gunkanjima is the nickname, and Hashima is the official name of the undersea coal-mining island once run by Mitsubishi — the two names refer to exactly the same place.
Gunkanjima
Gunkanjima is the nickname for Hashima, an undersea coal-mining island off Nagasaki Harbor, so called because its dense cluster of concrete buildings resembled a warship (gunkan) from a distance. Around 1960, the small island packed in enough residents to reach an extraordinarily high population density for its size.
Hashima
Hashima is the official name of the island popularly known as Gunkanjima, home to an undersea coal mine operated by Mitsubishi. When the mine closed in 1974, its residents left, and the island has stood uninhabited ever since. Mining-related structures on the island became part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2015.
Source:Hashima — official reference
Bridges, islands and local landscapes: Nagasaki Lantern Festival and Nagasaki Ropeway
Nagasaki Lantern Festival grew out of a Lunar New Year celebration in Chinatown, while Nagasaki Ropeway is a cable car to Mount Inasa that opened in 1959.
Nagasaki Lantern Festival
Nagasaki Lantern Festival began as a Lunar New Year celebration held within Nagasaki Chinatown, and expanded into its current citywide scale in 1994. It's known for filling the streets with lanterns during the Lunar New Year period.
Nagasaki Ropeway
Nagasaki Ropeway opened in 1959, connecting Fuchi Shrine Station with the summit station on Mount Inasa. Unlike the Lantern Festival, which lights up the city for a set stretch around the Lunar New Year, the ropeway runs year-round as a way up to Mount Inasa's night view.
FAQ
What is a useful route for this theme in Nagasaki City?
Walk along Nakashima River to see Meganebashi Bridge, then ride Nagasaki Ropeway up Mount Inasa — a route that moves from a 17th-century stone bridge to a modern night view in one outing.
Should these names be memorized in isolation?
For a nickname-and-official-name pair like Gunkanjima and Hashima, the one thing worth fixing in mind is which is which: Gunkanjima is the nickname, Hashima the official name.
Where should visitors verify the details?
Each entry links to a first-party source — the Nagasaki City tourism site, the prefectural tourism federation, or the ropeway's own website. Confirm operating hours and fares on the official page before visiting.