Where is desolated battleship island?
It’s abandoned, undisturbed and is rotting away in the middle of an ocean. Fifteen kilometre off the coast of Nagasaki is Hashima island, also known as Gakuranman or Battleship Island.
It recently featured in the Bond flick, Skyfall, as villain Javier Bardem’s secret lair.
Once a flourishing mining town, it was abandoned by inhabitants in the 70s when Japan’s reliance on coal crashed. Now, the island is deserted, decayed and has nearly crumbled into the sea. It is easily the most desolate place on the planet — population zero!
The island was made entirely out of concrete and features Japan's ever first block of concrete apartment buildings. It even has a huge concrete wall protecting it from the powerful waves of the Pacific Ocean. But despite being off-limits to travellers, due to crumbling structures, the island has become an inquisitive area for urban explorers. Many who reach the island do so illegally and mask their faces to avoid identification, and a prison term.
The 15-acre island was populated between 1887 and 1974, reaching its peak in 1959 with 5,259 inhabitants. Japanese heavy-machinery firm, Mitsubishi even bought the island. But as petroleum replaced coal during the 1960s, Japan’s mines were hit by closures, which eventually reached Gunkanjima island.
The following ‘exodus’ of workers was over in days with people leaving behind their livelihood and food inside cupboards.
Now, 35 years later, it’s even illegal to dock fishing boats. There’s virtually nothing on the island and inquiries at Tokyo tourism centres are returned with silence or blank stares. just location, location, location.
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