gunkanjima
This “Gunkanjima” – meaning battle ship island, the American Navy actually bombed mistaking it a battle ship during World War II, nick name for looking like it (real name is Hashima) - took my breath away completely, I literally stopped breathing.
This existence of powerfully beautiful ghost island after official closure in 1974.
If I summarize info I found, this island was populated 1887 to 1974 for coal mine (Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890). People came here to work & live.
It’s only 1.2km round island size that they built higher & higher without even lifts (They built Japan’s first large concrete block of flats 1916). Apparently there’s a primary school on lower floors and a junior high-school on higher floors, they had dates on the rooftops…it’s like seeing a futuristic film.
Had been very busy and lively having all the entertainments like Tokyo or even more.
The person who had lived there as a kid said when they go to public bath by the sea line, they had to wait for big wave splash timing or open an umbrella not to get wet.
Now this whole island is on the tentative lists of UNESCO world heritage and even you can visit to land as tour (had been completely shut).
Amazing how much THINGS can get rotten away…another way of saying that how much effort is needed to maintain the THINGS.
Amazing how people leave their stuffs behind when they moved out – I saw TVs, sewing machines, electrical piano…
Amazing that everybody had left, absolutely no-one’s left after nearly 100 years of civilization history there.
The information can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashima_Island.
Tags: gunkanjima, hashima, 軍艦島