JapanSugoi

Hashima Island 端島 ( meaning “Border Island”) is one of the 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. The previously inhabited island was commonly called Gunkanjima 軍艦島 meaning “Battleship Island” because of it’s resemblance to a battleship due to its high sea walls.

The island (more a large reef) was owned by Mitsubishi from 1890 and used it as a coal mining facility (to mine coal from the bottom of the sea) during Japan’s industrialization. Mitsubishi built Japan’s first large concrete building, a block of apartments in 1916 to accommodate their workers and to protect against typhoon destruction. During World War 2, the island used forced labor from China and Korea to work in the mines.

During its peak in 1959, the island had almost 5,000 residents (0r 1,391 people per hectare) making it one of the mostly densely populated places on earth. The island had it’s own schools, theaters, shops, restaurants and playgrounds.

However as oil began to replace coal in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s as the main energy source, Mitsubishi officially announced the closing of the mine in 1974. The island became a decaying ghost town (it’s now often referred to as Ghost Island) and all travel to Hashima was and still is currently prohibited. However, since January this year, there has been some restoration work on the island and it is expected that some parts of the island will be opened to the public in mid 2008.

This island continues to fascinate people and has become a tourist attraction. Japanese photographer Yuji Saiga was able to capture the island’s closing in 1974 and again 10 and 20 years later and has some amazing black and white photos of Gunkanjima here and here.

Japanese movie fans might recognize Gunkanjima as the location reference for Wild Seven’s stronghold in the 2003 blockbuster movie Battle Royale II: Requiem and gamers who play Killer 7 might see the resemblance of the island in the final level.

Other great photos resources of Gunkajima here, here and here.

Gunkanjima Videos

part 1

part 2

sea tour around the island

video montage