Nagashima Town

Ferries hit their limit; a bridge came.

Kuronoseto Bridge, Five Bridges

Photo by 690 Noda (CC BY 3.0)

01 ／ Sasue Tumuli

Chambers of flat shore stonescrowd together, about 140 mounds.

At Sasue on the main island of Nagashima, about 140 mounds stand in a cluster on a seaside hill about 180 m long. The town website writes that the chambers were built densely by piling flat stones from the shore, that they are estimated to date to the latter half of the 6th century, and that the form is very rare even in all of Japan. The town website lists it as prefecturally designated.

Seaside hill about 180 m long
Tumuli cluster of about 140 mounds
Estimated 2nd half of 6th century

02 ／ Birthplace of the Unshu Mandarin

Siebold's pressed leafwas labeled Nagashima.

The town website writes that a German physician, Siebold, who came to Nagasaki in the late Edo period, made a pressed leaf of the Unshu mandarin and labeled it Nagashima, which became evidence that Nagashima is its birthplace. An old tree at Takanosu was estimated to be 300 years old but died during the war; a fourth-generation grafted tree now grows, and the site is a town-designated cultural property.

Takanosu 489
Siebold's leaf labeled Nagashima
Town-designated cultural property

03 ／ Fossils of Shishijima

From a coastal stratum on Shishijima,a long-necked reptile's fossil emerged.

The town website writes that fossils of fish, shellfish and ammonites can be seen across Shishijima, famed as an island of fossils. In 2004, on a Shishijima coast, a fossil of a long-necked plesiosaur (an elasmosaur) was found in a Late Cretaceous stratum (98 million years old). The photo shows a statue of a plesiosaur and an ammonite on the island.

A Shishijima coast
Late Cretaceous stratum (98 million years old)
Town-designated cultural property

Living here

65 minutes by bus from Izumi Station, to Kuranomoto Port.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

Nagashima has no railway station, and its gateway is Kuranomoto Port. A shuttle bus takes 65 minutes from Izumi Station on the Kyushu Shinkansen. The main island of Nagashima is linked to the Kyushu mainland by the Kuronoseto Bridge.

People living here: 9,705people
Area: 116.19km²
Households: 3,981households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 9 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2006-03-20 に新設合併（東町）。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —5 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Nagashima Town in Japan32.199°N 130.177°E

to IzumiLocal bus65min

Travel times follow 島の町・駅の無い町の決め（町内の玄関口へ乗り換えなしで着く船・バスの起点を都市名に。小値賀・上島町・山都町と同じ）。①三和フェリー（牛深港〜蔵之元港）：事業者公式 https://ezax.co.jp/time/ の時刻表で、牛深港発 07:00・08:20・09:40・11:00・12:40・14:00・15:20・16:40・18:00、蔵之元港発 07:40・09:00・10:20・11:40・13:20・14:40・16:00・17:20・18:40 の各9便。『牛深港⇆蔵之元港までの所要時間30分』（同ページの原文）。連絡時刻表 https://ezax.co.jp/connect/（2026年10月1日改正版）に牛深港発07:00→蔵之元港着07:30。②出水・天草ロマンシャトルバス（出水駅〜蔵之元港。運行は南国交通）：運行協議会公式の2026-09-01告知の時刻表画像（令和8年10月1日改正）で、蔵之元港発 7:40→出水駅着 8:45、出水駅発 9:00→蔵之元港着 10:05（65分）。1〜4便は毎日、5便（17:15・17:20発）は土日祝・お盆・年末年始のみ（2026-10-01 から平日は1日4往復8便）。運賃は大人1,300円。公式トップの説明『鹿児島県長島町の蔵之元港と九州新幹線出水駅を65分で結ぶシャトルバス』 (checked 2026-10-07). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 0 municipalities.

Territory of Nagashima Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

24.9km

Nagashima Town isthis kind of town.

01Kuronoseto Bridge, a 502 m steel truss bridge over the Kuronoseto Strait, opened on April 9, 1974, and became toll-free on September 21, 1990
02About 140 tumuli cluster on a seaside hill at Sasue, an old tree at Takanosu once showed the Unshu mandarin's birthplace, and a long-necked reptile's fossil was found on Shishijima's coast
03Nagashima is a town in Izumi District made up of the main island, Shishijima and other islands, and merged with a neighboring town in 2006

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nagashima Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗