Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Port
Megami Bridge White tower and Nagasaki Port after dark, seen from the walkway
Megami Bridge is enjoyable to cross by car, and its pedestrian path makes for a nice stroll, too. On an early-October night, the white main tower looms overhead, its diagonal cables seeming huge from below. Take a short walk during your drive and take in the harbor lights.
Read about the view I found at Megami Bridge around 19:30 in early October and the trip that brought me there.
AutumnEarly October, around 19:30
White tower above the walkway, Nagasaki Port after dark
Around 19:30 on an early-October night, I left the car in the car park at Megami Bridge and headed for the walkway with my friend. The bridge stood out even from a distance, but once we stepped onto the walkway, the main tower seemed to loom right over us. Ahead, the path stretched straight toward the white-lit tower.
As soon as we left the car park, my friend and I started talking about what the view might be like from the walkway. Once we set off, a breeze came in from the harbor. I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked up.
I traced the cables fanning diagonally out from the main tower. The ones nearby looked thick; farther away, the lines looked thinner and overlapped. 'We could never take this long to look up if we were driving across,' I said to my friend as we paused on the walkway. The white tower seemed to float in the night sky.
When I turned toward the harbor, the lights of the city on the opposite shore stretched along the water. The bridge lights felt close; the city lights seemed far away. It was different from taking in the whole city from an observatory. Here, I was looking out over Nagasaki Port from right beside this huge bridge. After gazing over the railing, I found myself looking up at the tower again.
We'd been talking in the car park about the champon we wanted to try on our next drive around Nagasaki. Next time, I'd like to eat in Chinatown first, then come walk this bridge. Instead of deciding on dinner and the night view as separate stops, thinking through the whole evening made the next trip feel more real.
I wanted to linger on the walkway, where the main tower looked huge overhead, rather than cross the whole bridge. As my friend and I retraced our steps, I took another look at the nearby cables and the harbor in the distance. Once we were back in the car, I planned to put on WANGAN -ZQQ LIMITER- for the drive home. It looked like I'd enjoy the whole night out, including the drive after our walk.
The story sections are fiction inspired by this location. For accurate information, please consult official tourism and information websites.
Local specialty
Nagasaki champon
A bowl of champon in town before heading out to see the night view sounds like a lovely plan. Kōzanrō in Nagasaki Chinatown is noted for its deluxe champon, too. Next time, I'd like to start with dinner and then take a walk along the bridge.
Highlights
Look up at the main tower and cables
Megami Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge, with angled cables running from its tower to support the deck. At night, the main tower and cables are lit, making it easy to take in their shape from the pedestrian path.
Take in Nagasaki Port from the bridge
Look out over the harbor from the walkway and enjoy the lights on the opposite shore. Linking the southern and western parts of Nagasaki City, the bridge is also a place to pause and take in the view.
Road and walkway details
Nagasaki Megami Bridge Road (Nagasaki South Loop, a major local road)
- Total road length
- 1.9km (total road length)
- Clearance beneath the bridge deck
- 65m
A road linking Kibachi-machi and Tomachi in Nagasaki City. You can look out over Nagasaki Port from the walkway.
The 1.9km figure is the length of the entire toll road, not the distance I walked. The 65m is the clearance from the sea surface to the underside of the bridge deck, where ships pass.
More Spot Guides
If you enjoyed this story, you might like these places too. I've gone back to each of them in different seasons, again and again.
