According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, comprising a plurality of memory strings, each of the memory strings being constituted with a plurality of electrically erasable memory cells being serially connected each other, the memory strings comprising: a columnar semiconductor layer perpendicularly extending toward a substrate; a plurality of conductive layers being formed in parallel to the substrate and including a first space between a sidewall of the columnar semiconductor layers; and characteristic change layer being formed on the sidewall of the columnar semiconductor layer faced to the first space or a sidewall of the conductive layer faced to the first space and changing characteristics accompanying with applied voltage; wherein the plurality of the conductive layers have a function of a relative movement to a prescribed direction for the columnar semiconductor layer.