Hashima Island, Japan


Hashima Island has two nicknames. The first is Gunkanjima (Battleship Island), because of its distinctive shape. The second is Ghost Island. For around 100 years, Hashima was densely populated, as a coal mining facility. Apartment blocks were built as homes for the growing numbers of miners and their families, and with them came hospitals, schools, and restaurants. At its peak, Hashima had over 5,000 full time residents, all living in the tiny 16-acre space. Then, in 1974, the coal ran out.

 The mining facility was closed and workers were told they could keep their jobs if they returned to the mainland, but it was on a first-come, first-serve basis. So the families left – and fast. ‘They left coffee cups on the tables and bicycles leaning against the walls,’ remembers one man who lived on Hashima as a child. For 30 years, the island crumbled to ruin, abandoned and ignored, but in 2009, it was re-opened to tourists. It was also used as a set in the 2012 Bond film, Skyfall.

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