Hashima: Ghost island of Japan.

Hashima Island

An island near Nagasaki was once an active coal mining site with an extremely dense population despite its size. However, now the island stays abandoned with all of its structures left behind. This island is called Hashima, and it is also known as the Battleship island. Today we will look into the long past of this location.

The Battleship Island

Hashima Island

In Japan, off the coast of Nagasaki, resides an island long since uninhabited. The island of Hashima, known in Japanese as 端島, is a small island, yet with a lot of structures and a long history. Due to the shape of this island, Hashima is also known as Gunkanjima, or 軍艦島, which means Battleship Island.

Despite the island's small size of only 16 acres, it was an important coal mining site alongside many other structures and has a significant amount of population. In fact, it was home to more than 5,000 people at its peak! The island's undersea coal mines operated during the industrialization of Japan, helping fuel the massive amount of resources required.

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The Coal Mines

Coal Extraction

After coal was discovered in 1810, the island became a coal mining facility from 1887 to 1974. Japan extracted Hashima's vast amounts of coal. More than 15 million tons of coal were extracted on this island!

The 7-floor apartment on Hashima.

The structures

More than the coal mines

In 1916, a 7-floor apartment was built on this island, housing the increasing amount of workers. This apartment was the first large reinforced concrete building in Japan! As time went on, more and more structures were built here, from education such as kindergartens and schools, to entertainment such as clubhouses and stores. After all, there were lots of people living here! All of the structures was amusingly crammed onto this 16-acre piece of land. However, not everything was so cheery about this island.

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The Labour

Hashima during the World War

During World War Two, conscripted civilians and captured enemies from other countries, specifically China and Korea, were forced to work in the mines on this island in harsh conditions. The dangers of the coal mines combined with other factors such as malnutrition caused numerous casualties. This, expectedly, is a reason of much controversy regarding the island later on, and caused struggles with getting Hashima approved as a World Heritage Site, especially with disapproval by China and Korea. Despite this, it has been approved and is now considered a World Heritage Site.

Hashima becomes abandoned

End of the coal era

With the decline of coal as a source of fuel, other types of fuels such as petroleum increased in popularity. After being a major coal mining location for so long, the mines of Hashima became abandoned,. Its mines officially shut down in 1974. Soon after, the island's population moved elsewhere, and left the Battleship Island behind.

Hashima Today

The structures on Hashima Island weren't demolished. Rather, they were left there abandoned, withstanding the weather of the surrounding seas. Access to the island was restricted for a while, but nowadays it has became a tourist site, with tour guides taking people around the island. However, not all parts of Hashima are open for tourists due to safety concerns. People from different locations comes there to explore its old abandoned structures and its long, controversial past. Some also comes to Hashima believing it is haunted, exploring the supernatural.