Glover Garden, Nagasaki | Japan is Nippon

Nine late Edo and Meiji-era Western houses on a hill above Nagasaki Port, including the World Heritage Former Glover House, Japan's oldest wooden Western-style house.

Two-story white Western-style house with long verandas on the hillside at Glover Garden — Photo: mayatomo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Meiji-era Western-style house with verandas and a garden path at Glover Garden — Photo: Benford Choi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Western houses from the old foreign settlement of a treaty port

In 1858, Japan signed treaties with five Western countries, and Nagasaki, along with Yokohama, Hakodate and other ports, was opened to foreign trade. A foreign settlement (a district set aside for foreigners to live in) grew up on the hills overlooking the harbour, and merchants built Western-style houses there to live in.

Glover Garden opened in 1974. It brings together the Western-style houses that still stand on Minamiyamate hill and others that were moved here from elsewhere in the city and rebuilt. There are nine buildings in the garden, and three of them, the Former Glover House, the Former Ringer House and the Former Alt House, are national Important Cultural Properties.

Glover and the World Heritage Former Glover House

The garden is named after Thomas Blake Glover (1838-1911), a merchant from Scotland. He came to Nagasaki after the port opened, set up Glover and Co., and brought shipbuilding and coal-mining technology to Japan. He married a Japanese woman named Tsuru.

Built in 1863, the Former Glover House is the oldest surviving wooden Western-style house in Japan. In 2015 it was inscribed as a World Heritage Site as one of the components of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution". A Western-style building topped with a Japanese tiled roof is typical of the houses in the old settlement.

Harbour views and things to enjoy in the garden

From in front of the Former Glover House you can look out over Nagasaki Port, Mount Inasa and the other surrounding mountains, and the town spreading up the hillsides. The veranda of the Former Mitsubishi No. 2 Dock House is another good spot for harbour views.

Right next to the Former Glover House is a bronze statue of Miura Tamaki, put up in 1963. Miura Tamaki was a soprano who became world famous for singing the title role in the opera Madama Butterfly, which is set in Nagasaki, 2,000 times before the war. The statue shows Madame Butterfly with her young child, gazing out at Nagasaki Port. The garden also offers retro costume rental, guided tours and a café.

Getting there

From Nagasaki Station, take the tram, change at Shinchi Chinatown, get off at the Oura Tenshudo (Oura Cathedral) stop and walk for about 7 minutes. You can also get there by bus from Nagasaki Station. The Glover Sky Road (an elevator that runs diagonally up the hillside) is another way up to the garden.

Every year from around mid-July to early October, the garden opens in the evening and the Western houses are lit up. Check the official website for opening hours and admission fees.

Tips

The garden sits on a hillside with lots of slopes, though there are escalators and moving walkways. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
The Glover Sky Road was out of service for a while in 2026 but has been running again since 14 August. Check the announcements on the official website before you go.
Several heart-shaped stones are hidden among the paving stones in the garden. Looking for them as you walk around is part of the fun.
Some buildings may be undergoing conservation and repair work.