From sites and components that become the third industrial site which Japan nominated to become a World Heritage Site, I was fortunate to see at least 9 sites during my short visit to Kyushu especially in Kagoshima and Nagasaki. The city of Kagoshima welcomed me with the eruption of Sakurajima, its iconic volcano that erupts at least five times daily. One of the most significant tourist attractions of this Naples of Japan is the former residence of Shimazu feudal lord, the Sangen-en Garden. The residence and garden are really lovely with beautiful landscape design. Part of the Sengan-en, actually located directly at the main entrance, is the former site of Shuseikan which is considered the first industrial complex in Japan. There are 3 sites that still visible. The 1851 Reverberatory Furnace, to be true the site is really underwhelming, only the stone foundations have been preserved. Luckily that there is a smaller replica model nearby to show what it was in the old time. Then I saw 1865 Former Machinery Factory, this stone house which maybe the first western styled building designed by Japanese. Inside the building is the museum about Kagoshima and Shimazu clan’s part on country development and international trade and the old machine still on display. Another site is 1867 Engineer’s Residence; this one is the lovely western styled mansion with oriental touch on the roof.

I continued my travel to Nagasaki, at this city, the 1863 Glover House and Office was the first site I saw. The house is located in the lovely Glover Garden. The garden has collection of many colonial houses that had been relocated to this place for preservation, but the Glover House is the only one that located in the original place, so no problem of authenticity. Owned by the Scottish merchant Thomas Glover who play an important role of industrial development in Japan, the house is quite nice especially the veranda and its wood-framed ceiling and the view are really great as well as its status of the earliest Western-style wood-framed house in Japan. On my boat trip to Gunkanjima, I had a chance to see other three industrial sites; the 1905 No.3 Dry Dock, the 1909 Giant Cantilever Crane and the 1869 Kosuge Slip Dock of Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard. The Giant Cantilever is very easy to see from everywhere around the bay, I could see it even from Glover House. I am not sure that Kosuge Slip Dock and No.3 Dry Dock are opened to public or not but the boat trip intentionally slower for tourist to see them and explained their significances (in Japanese). For me, all these 3 sites are just typical industrial sites you can see around the world, dry dock and crane, their OUV are really depend on their roles as the first of their kinds in Japan.

The tour boat also passed Takashima Island where the 1869 Takashima Coal Mine located, but nothing can be seen from the boat. The final destination was the 1890 Hashima Coal Mine Island or commonly known as Gunkanjima or Battleship Island. From a far the whole island is really looked like very scary WWII battleship because of its high seawall. On the island I saw the ruins of the whole mining town. It was a scene of surreal apocalyptic world of debris and near collapsing buildings, a sad place to see, but really stunning! Its story is also interesting that in this small island more than 5000 people lived in its heyday. The island had everything from theatre, pub, coffee shop, school, childcare, market, Shinto shrine. The buildings were densely constructed and looked like little Manhattan. The subterranean mine complex was unbelievable that expanded from the island like a spider web, sadly that all of them already collapsed under the sea. The story of hardship of miners were told when we saw the building once was the miners’ bathroom. The guide said the water from the bathroom never stop and always black. Another interesting engineering fact is that one of the buildings in the island is the first reinforced concrete building in Japan and maybe in the Far East! At one point the guide showed us the picture of sea wave hitting the island, it was truly unbelievable that the waves in this area in certain season are very high and can cover the whole island, and one of the activities of islanders was to be on top of the buildings to see this high wave covered their home! Unfortunately, that only small area is open for visitor, and the images shown in tourist brochure and documentary are from the closed area, but the island is really impressive to see and give me the idea of how the cities will be if human gone, and maybe one of the best sights of Kyushu and highlight of this nomination!

During my 2013 trip around Mt. Fuji and Izu, I unknowingly visited the 1857 Nirayama Reverberatory Furnaces near Mishima City in Shizuoka Prefecture, very easy to be here from Tokyo. At that time my friend took me there and I really did not know what these four big chimneys are, at first I thought it was some kind of art! Since I am not a great fan of industrial heritage sites, most of them are not beautiful nor are appealing to visit, I really have no idea of how I should admire even I really appreciated its significance for industrial development in Asia. Glover House is maybe the only nice place for casual tourist to visit and enjoy, and possibly also the Kagoshima’s Shuseikan since these sites are in the same area with lovely Sengan-en Garden. However, If I have to recommend, I suggest Gankunjima, it was something extremely different from anything you see in Japan, not exactly Dark Tourism in usual sense like in Hiroshima or Urakami. Is it deserving of World Heritage Site? Probably!

UPDATE: Despite protest from South Korea and some counties in Asia, these industrial sites have been inscribed with promise that Japan will revise the site interpretation to cover events until WWII to include story of Koreans who were forced to work. However, in my opinion, the inscription gave us an image of more superior of Japanese diplomacy to make sure that the committee will not involve or protest the ICOMOS decision. And the official statement not only protects Japanese interest but insist on the claim that during war time Japan as the state had right to force its citizen which including Koreans to work, a very complex and really ugly but impressive work for legal interpretation. Ironically China aggressive expansion in South China Sea is another thing that helps Japan to reinforce security tie with the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia who were under Japanese occupation during WWII and WHC committee to keep silence. In my perspective this nomination is not only show the history of Japanese technology but also its current influence in regional matter and diplomatic competition between Japan, Korea and China very well.