The previous reviews have already covered the sites that I have visited, so I am not going to repeat what was already mentioned. But I'd like to add to the reviews by sharing how my day went when I visited the Glover House and Kosuge Slip Dock in July 2019.

My friend and I decided to do a day-trip to Nagasaki from Fukuoka on a Monday. We aimed to visit the Glover House and the area around the Peace Park, and nothing else. We sort of started the day out late, leaving Hakata Bus Station at 8am and arriving in Nagasaki around 2.5 hours after. After a late breakfast at a tiny café near the bus station, we headed straight to the Glover Garden. The ticket counter staff told us that entry to the Glover House was not possible as it is under renovation, which started in January 2019 and is expected to finish by November 2020. 

We started the visit on the top of the hill with the former Mitsubishi Number 2 Dock House, which has a decent informative museum showcasing the different properties inscribed under this WHS. We then continued down the hill to see the other houses/buildings, like the cute Former Walker House, Former Ringer House (probably my favourite) and the Steele Memorial Academy. Going around the area I felt like I was visiting a theme park. We then arrived at the Glover House, which was fully covered with construction tarpaulin and heaps of metal scaffolding! When the staff told us that entry to the property was not possible, I had the impression that the renovations were just inside the house. Evidently, I was sorely mistaken. I wouldn’t deny the fact that I was disappointed, but what could one do. We carried on, took some photos and tried to peer into some gaps in the scaffolding to get a glimpse of the house. The house was clearly in bad shape and the wall paints were either scraped or simply faded. We were told that the main goal of the renovation is to reinforce the house with earthquake-proof materials.

Leaving the Glover Garden made me feel uneasy—as if ticking this site as “visited” could never be justified by what I just saw. So I convinced my friend to visit another inscribed property 1.4km away. We walked for about 20 minutes and arrived at a bend on the road where the Kosuge Slip Dock is located. At first we were unsure whether we could enter freely since no one was there, but we proceeded, took some photos and stayed for a while. I couldn’t tell if the site is well-maintained, but I liked the authentic feel of it. After my friend finished his snacks we left the site, decided not to go to the Peace Park anymore, and laughed at the fact that we just did some sightseeing in an old, rusty dock site—all for the love of WHS.

Just a quick commentary—there is no doubt about the status of this site as a WHS, but I highly suggest that travellers must see several inscribed properties across different geographic locations to properly appreciate its OUV, in case one has the luxury of time.