Welcome to GLOVER GAEDEN.

Commanding a stunning view of Nagasaki Harbour from its position on top of the hill of Minami-Yamate, this romantic area retains the atmosphere of a foreign settlement.

　Thomas Blake Glover, who travelled across the sea from distant Scotland, built his home here on Minami-Yamate hill in 1863. At that time, the town of Nagasaki was brimming with the enthusiasm of those dreaming of a new dawn for Japan.
　The merchants of the foreign country who have embreced the dream from other side of the sea, the patriots at the end of the Edo period who fervently aspired to overthrow the Shogunate, and the young men of Japan who aimed to learn the study of the West.
　More than a century later, mementoes of when the Glover family lived here survive unchanged, along with the residences of the traders who loved Nagasaki and made their homes here.

　Welcome to the good old days. Let’s join the Glovers for a stroll through their romantic history.

At the end of the Edo period, the hill of Minami-Yamate was a town of foreigners.

　In 1858, five years after Commodore Perry entered port at Urawa, a succession of ships from various countries arrived seeking trade, pressuring the Shogunate to allow foreign vessels access to Japan. Finally, the Shogunate took steps to open up the country. Five nations concluded trade and friendship treaties with Japan, starting with Britain and the United States.
　The following year (1859), the port of Nagasaki was opened along with Yokohama and Hakodate, and it entered an age of free trade with other nations.
　To ensure there was space for homes and bases of operations for foreign traders in Nagasaki, the Shogunate embarked on a hasty land reclamation and construction programme. The areas of Higashi-Yamate, Minami-Yamate, ?ura, Kozone, Sagarimatsu, Umegasaki, Shinchi and Dejima were transformed into a single district: Nagasaki’s Foreign Settlement.
　It was forty years until settlements were abolished and non-Japanese were able to live alongside Japanese throughout the country. During this period, Nagasaki flourished as a free trade port of the new era.
The foreign settlement was divided into three areas from the coast inwards: prime land, middle-grade land and low-grade land. Foreign traders established trading posts and storehouses on the high-rent prime land; the middle-grade land to the rear was filled with hotels, banks, hospitals and recreational facilities; and houses, churches, consulates and so on were built on the hilly low-grade land.
　Even in the hills, whilst Minami-Yamate was used for housing, Higashi-Yamate was at first called ‘Consulate Hill’ as it was the location of the Portuguese and Prussian consulate buildings, amongst others. In this way, a wide variety of Western buildings were constructed, and the settlement took on a unique form with ?ura Bund at its centre.
　In 1899 (Meiji 32) the foreign settlements were abolished, but the Western buildings remained, giving Nagasaki the feel of a foreign country. Many years later in 1970 (Showa 45), in an effort to preserve Nagasaki’s gradually-disappearing Western buildings, maintenance was carried out on the Glover residence and other buildings on Minami-Yamate hill. Many Western houses in the city were moved to Minami-Yamate, and Glover Garden was born. Since then, Glover Garden has remained a much-loved major tourist attraction in Nagasaki.

Access

By Japan Rail from Hakata: Special Kamome to Nagasaki Station(approx. 1 hour 55 minutes) By tram: Take line 1 (Shokakuji-shita) from Nagasaki Eki-mae to Tsuki-machi. Transfer to line 5 (Ishi-bashi) and take the tram to either Oura Tenshudo-shita or Ishi-bashi. (approx. 15 minutes) Walk to Glover Garden (approx. 8 minutes) * From Ishi-bashi, enter the garden via the Sky Road. From Nagasaki Airport: Airport connection bus (via Dejima road) to Nagasaki Shinchi bus terminal(approx. 35 minutes) Walk to Glover Garden(approx. 15 minutes) By car, from Fukuoka: Fukuoka IC → (Kyushu Motorway) → Tosu JCT → (Nagasaki Motorway) → Nagasaki IC → (Nagasaki-Dejima Road) → Glover Garden(approx. 2 hours) * Car Parking Information: Glover Garden does not have a car park.  Please use a nearby parking lot. Matsugae Municipal Car Park Map