Out in the sea off Nagasaki, a low island called Takashima was the place where modern Japan dug its first Western-style coal shaft. In 1868, in the very year of the Meiji Restoration, the Scottish merchant Thomas Glover went into partnership with the Saga domain to sink a shaft here using steam-powered machinery from Britain. The mine later passed to Mitsubishi and became one of the pillars of the company's rise, fuelling steamships, factories and the rapid industrialisation of the country. Takashima is now part of the Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution, listed by UNESCO in 2015.
There is not much left of the early workings, but the site of the original shaft and a small coal museum tell the story, along with the island's own memories of mining life. The mine closed in the 1980s, and like the other coal islands off this coast, the population fell sharply afterwards. From Takashima you can see Hashima, better known as Gunkanjima or Battleship Island, an abandoned undersea coal mine whose concrete apartment blocks still crowd the rock like the superstructure of a ship. The history of these mines includes the forced labour of Korean and Chinese workers during the war years, a part of the story that remains sensitive and worth reading about before you go.
Takashima is reached by passenger ferry from Nagasaki port, so most riders will leave the bike in the city for the half day. The mainland ride compensates. Route 499 runs south from Nagasaki along the Nomozaki peninsula, a coastal road of headlands, fishing villages and long sea views, with good vantage points facing Gunkanjima offshore. The road is narrow in places and can be busy at weekends, but early on a clear morning, with the sun behind you and the islands sharp on the horizon, it is one of the loveliest coast rides on Kyushu.
Nagasaki itself is a city of steep hills and a deep harbour, with a history unlike any other in Japan: centuries of contact with Portuguese, Dutch and Chinese traders, a hidden Christian community, and the atomic bombing of 1945, remembered at the Peace Park and museum. Fuel and food are no trouble. Eat champon, a hearty noodle soup with seafood and vegetables born in the city's Chinese quarter, and take a slice of castella sponge cake for the road.