They’re an intuitive bunch the Japanese. They’re so tapped into the zeitgeist (or the Viceland server) that 48 hours before we do it, they know that we’ve got a piece coming up on their secret hidden monster island, they jump to and re-open the place to the public. They may be taking boats to Hashima Island, but they haven’t landed yet, which officially makes us still tougher than a load of school children and old people. Anyway, we were there first. Here are some more photos depicting Battleship Island’s beatific isolation, look at them quickly before they build a gift shop and your mum goes on holiday there.
Posts Tagged ‘Battleship Island’
Battleship Island - Japan’s rotting metropolis
These days the only things that land on Hashima Island are the shits of passing seagulls. An hour or so’s sail from the port of Nagasaki, the abandoned island silently crumbles. A former coal mining facility owned by Mitsubishi Motors, it was once the most densely populated place on earth, packing over 13,000 people into each square kilometre of its residential high-risers. It operated from 1887 until 1974, after which the coal industry fell into decline and the mines were shut for good. With their jobs gone and no other reason to stay in this mini urban nightmare, almost overnight the entire population fled back to the mainland, leaving most of their stuff behind to rot.
Today it is illegal to go anywhere near the place as it’s beyond restoration and totally unsafe. The Japanese Government aren’t keen to draw unwanted attention to this testament to the hardship of the country’s post-war industrial revolution either. Read more »
