Nagasaki Dejima Wharf For Food and Nightlife

Above, the Nagasaki Dejima Wharf. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If you should find yourself in Nagasaki on the island of Kyushu and spent a day (or two) touring the city, visiting the Nagasaki Peace Park and Museum or even a boat ride to Gunkanjima (Hashima Island), that was featured in the latest James Bond thriller, Skyfall, you might want to unwind over dinner and drinks at the Nagasaki Dejima Wharf.

Above, great views of Nagasaki's harbor can be seen from Nagasaki Dejima Wharf. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Nagasaki Dejima Wharf is a fairly recent development at Nagasaki Harbor. It is a two-story facility with several seafood restaurants, bars, cafes and shops. It has great views of the harbor and Mt. Inasa. It is close to Dejima, an artificial island that was frequented by Dutch traders during Japan's Edo period. It is also near the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum.

Nagasaki Dejima Wharf is also known for its nightlife at its several clubs and bars.

Here is the official Nagasaki visitor's guide.

Take A Tour of 007's Hashima Island With Google's Street View

Above, using Google's Street View, I got myself over to this spot on Hashima Island.

Hashima Island was once home to a coal mining facility until coal mining declined in the 1970s. The island was abandoned and its buildings were left to decay.

Not too many people heard about Hashima until the James Bond movie, Skyfall, used it for villain Raoul Silva's headquarters. Thanks to the movie, people are curious about the island and want to see it.

Now they can without leaving their living rooms.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Google Street View will now "take visitors" on a walking tour of the island.

They wrote:

Now Google has documented Hashima with its Street View imagery technology, shown above, and the company was even allowed to go into parts of the island that are off-limits to tourists.

Hashima is off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan and opened to tourists in 2009. I was in Nagasaki in 2007, but I never heard of the island until Skyfall. The island was still off-limits at the time of my Nagasaki visit anyway.

To read more and take your own tour of Hashima, go here.

Japan Location In "Skyfall"

Above, tour boats at Nagasaki Wharf.  Do these take visitors to Hashima Island?  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

While watching the end credits for Skyfall, I noticed that Japan was listed as a location used in the movie.  I didn't remember any Japan locations in the movie, so I was puzzled by this.

Today, however, I saw an article at News On Japan and the "mystery" has been solved.  The location used was...

Hashima Island, also known as Gunkanjima (meaning "Battleship Island" for its silhouette that resembles a warship) is a 60,000-square-meter cluster of concrete ruins in the sea off Nagasaki, Japan.

This was the place where the villain Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem) set up his headquarters.  The place did have an interesting look to it, but I would never have associated it with Japan.  I visited Nagasaki in 2007, but I saw nothing there about Hashima Island.

One place in Skyfall that did leave a big impression on me was Shanghai, China.  The aerial shots of the city at night were beautiful.  I was thinking at the time that a visit to Shanghai would be interesting.

For more on Hashima Island, go here.

UPDATE:  Here's a link to a tour boat line that will take visitors to Hashima Island: http://www.gunkan-jima.net/.  Thanks to Thomas Patrick for the information.