Gunkanjima island Cruise Experience | Nagasaki, Japan

Very good tour but pity it is all In Japanese despite availability of English guide book

It's worth a try. There is an audio guide, but it's not very good.

Gunkanjima is a place of great historical significance. We were lucky enough to go to the island that day. The waves were not too big. Although most of the people were Japanese, the tour guide was also Japanese and I couldn't understand it very well. There was a Chinese tourist guide that gave a detailed introduction to the history of Gunkanjima. Although the area that can be walked on the island is not as large as imagined, it is still worth a visit!

There is only Japanese commentary, but there is a Chinese and English guide (the noise of the boat is too loud to hear clearly, but there is text content to read). The display content along the way is also quite interesting. The voyage (40 minutes) is not short but not boring.

It was easy to book the Gunkanjima ticket. The weather was good that day and we landed on the island smoothly. Unfortunately, no certificate of successful landing was provided on that day. It may be related to the shipping company connected to the KKDAY platform. If you mind this, please pay special attention to it.

The service staff is attentive. It is recommended to arrive early to check in and get a number. Get on the boat according to the number. There is a guide machine available for borrowing, which has Chinese in it. It may not be able to get on the island. It is recommended to be mentally prepared. It is recommended to learn about the history of Hashima before departure so that you don’t know what you are doing. It is also recommended to go to the digital museum upstairs early to learn about the history before boarding the boat (you can’t finish it even if you read it carefully for 1 hour).

It happened to be a sunny day, and the waves were calm. There was a guy who could speak English and took the initiative to introduce and explain the process. The honey ice cream cake on the boat was delicious. With the coupon, you can also visit the digital museum for free, which is great.

The weather was very good this time. The boat first circled Gunkanjima before landing on the island. I really wish my Japanese was better so I could understand the Japanese explanation as much as possible, but I think it was a very informative introduction with a high standard. I started early in the morning and went to the digital museum where there were a lot of things to see. I gathered at the plank road before 13:30.

KKday has two plans for Gunkanjima Light Island. Even after asking customer service, I still don’t understand the difference. The seats we were assigned to this plan were in the outdoor rear deck area with sunshade. We went there in summer. Although it was very hot outside, You won’t feel stuffy when sailing because of the wind. We were very lucky to land on the island this time. It was very hot after landing. Please be sure to prepare sun protection measures and replenish water and cooling tools at any time. On the way to Gunkanjima, there will be on-site commentators who will play the slideshow and explain it in Japanese. However, they are very considerate and will provide foreigners with a translation manual, which will explain the contents of the slideshow in Chinese or English with pictures. Unfortunately, The tour guide after landing on the island is in Japanese with pictures, which may be a bit boring for people who don’t understand Japanese. Before landing on the island, you will go around Gunkanjima Island, where you can see the whole picture of Gunkanjima Island. After landing on the island, there will be a lottery on the return trip, and the numbers on the identification cards will be drawn to give away souvenirs. There are value-added services on the island and on the return ship. You can buy gold-engraved fans to cool down, and you can buy ice cream in the shape of Battleship Island as an incentive, which is very delicious. Battleship Island has many Japanese innovations at that time, but it does not mention the historical blood and tears of the Chinese and Koreans who were forced to labor at that time. The whole journey is very interesting and informative, and it also makes people reflect on history.

The museum is very big, and the staff are very kind and polite. Because the wind and waves seemed to be relatively strong the day before, the tour guide said in advance that it might not be possible to land on the island and there might be seasickness. But I was lucky enough to be able to land on the island today!! I took a lot of beautiful photos.