Former Pattern Shop / Shipyard History Museum, in Nagasaki

The Former Pattern Shop has been registered on UNESCO World Heritage

as Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution.  The Former Pattern Shop was built in

1898 to produce wooden patterns for castings and is the oldest factory building in the

shipyard. It is a two-storied brick building with a timber roof truss. There is a U-shaped

rail on the ceiling to transport materials. The building was refurbished to the Shipyard

History Museum in 1985 and is open to the public.

Hashima Coal Mine  /  Gunkan-jima island

Hashima coal mining island is an artificial reclaimed island and the site of Japan’s first major

undersea coal exploitation (1890) pioneered by Mitsubishi – and host to one of the world’s

most extraordinary former mining communities. Hashima Island is located 3 km southwest of

Takashima, and it was the success of Takashima that led Mitsubishi to purchase this island – both

islands giving access to the same undersea coal deposit. Now Hashima is a ruin called “Gunkanjima”,

so called after its resemblance to the silhouette of a battleship.

Giant Cantilever Crane

The Giant Cantilever Crane is the first electric-powered crane of its type in Japan, imported from

Scotland in 1909, which is the oldest surviving one in operation in the world. It can still lift a load

of 150 tons and is used to ship heavy goods.

Mietsu Naval Dock, in Saga

Before Meiji Restoration, the Mietsu Naval Dock served as a venue for naval drilling

and maintenance of Western-style ship, as the naval base of Saga Clan. Japan’s first

practical steam ship, the Ryofu-maru was constructed there in 1865.

The site has been registered on UNESCO World Heritage, Site of Japan’s Meiji

Industrial Revolution. 

Tsukiji Reflectance Furnace, Saga

This is the Japan’s first constructed Reflectance Furnace. In the late Edo period when the

necessity of maritime defence increased, the Saga clan built the Tsukiji Reflectance

Furnace for making cast iron-made Western cannons and completed in 1850. And then,

the cast iron cannon was manufactured the first time in Japan in 1851. The reflectance

furnace was greatly contributed for initial stage of Japan’s Industrial Modernization.

First Head office of the Steel Works, in Kitakyushu-city

The the building for the Head office of the Imperial Steel Works was constructed in 1899,

two years before commencement of Japan’s Steel Industry.

The design of the building is a harmony of European and Japanese architectural styles.

The construction of the structure below the roof is a European style and uses red bricks

for the outside walls.

Aiming to symbolize a Good future for Japan, the roof was designed with a traditional

Japanese triangular shape and Japanese tiles were used to complete the roof. 

The building was initially used as a Head office until 1922, however with the expansion

of production facilities, the Head Office was moved to another place due to lack of space.

After that, the building was used for various purposes such as a Research and Developing

Center for Steel Products.

Kurogane Railway, in Kitakyushu-city

Dedicated Railway for Yawata Steel Works. The railway connected between Yawata and

Tobata, construction work took three years, and completed in 1930. The most difficult

and hard work was making Miyatayama tunnel with a total length of 1180 m due to suffering

from floods. The gates of the Miyatayama tunnel are decorated with stately designs.

Onga River Pump Station, in Nakama

Built in 1910 on the east bank of the Onga River. It served, and still serves, to deliver 

industrial water to Yawata via an 11.4 km pipeline. This supply is integral to the steel 

production process and was necessary to cope with the 1st phase expansion of the 

Imperial Steel Works. The site has been registered on the UNESCO World Heritage,

Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution 

Minami Kawachi-bashi bridge, in Kitakyushu-city

Higashida No.1 Blast Furnace, in Kitakyushu-city

Equipment and tools which were actually used are exhibited in the square, and you can see

the iron-making process from the raw material （ore and coke）to production of pig iron.