Nagasaki’s Battleship Island

I was reading an article on the refusal of Japanese corporations to apologize for the wartime use of forced labor when I came across this picture:

Hashima, an island located in Nagasaki Bay, is better known as Warship Island (Gunkanshima). The island was inhabited until the end of the 19th century, when it was discovered that the ground below it held tons of coal. The island soon became a center of a major mining complex owned by Mitsubishi Corporation. As the complex expanded, rock brought out of the shafts was used to artificially expand the island. Seawalls created in this expansion turned Hashima into the monstrous looking Gunkanshima; its artificial appearance makes it looks more like a battleship than an island.

During the Second World War, labor shortages plagued Japan’s mining industry. Luckily, Mitsubishi Corporation came up with a solution: foreign labor. Hundreds of Chinese and Koreans were brought to the island to work in the coal mines and many of them died from starvation and overwork. They have since been sued for compensation by survivors:

In startling closing arguments last September, Mitsubishi issued a blanket denial of historical facts routinely recognized by other Japanese courts, while heaping criticism on the Tokyo Trials and openly questioning whether Japan ever “invaded” China at all. Mitsubishi has ominously warned that a redress award for the elderly Chinese plaintiffs, or even a court finding that forced labor occurred, would saddle Japan with a “mistaken burden of the soul” for hundreds of years.

Pretty ridiculous. I could write a rant about how Mitsubishi should admit the truth and apologize/pay its former laborers, but it the article I linked above gives a better account of that issue. Instead, I will post write about Hashima.

After the war, the island returned to the use of paid Japanese workers and expanded along with Japan’s postwar economy. Apartment blocks sprung up on the island to house workers and their families and eventually shops, schools and a movie theater were constructed. Gunkanshima’s population peaked at over 5,000 residents during this period. According to wikipedia: “in 1959, its residential area population density was almost 14 people per acre (3460/km²), supposedly the highest population density ever recorded worldwide.”

Eventually the mine was depleted, and the island was abandoned in 1974. Setting foot on the island is prohibited, but occasionally photographers go there to explore the abandoned buildings and take pictures.

Here are some cool photos I found:

Kids on pre-1974 Hashima

The island today

Lookin’ like a warship

Links to more Photos:

Link 1: Color photos gallery

Link 2: Black & White photos, including pre-1974 island

Link 3: Project to provide virtual access to the island

If you want to see the island up close, there are tour boats available. I’ll definitely check it out of I am in Nagasaki any time soon.