Gunkanjima: UNESCO World Heritage site?
The Asahi Shimbun has reported that some want Nagasaki’s “Battleship island” to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
The island has been included in a tentative list of candidates for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site by the Cultural Affairs Agency, along with other former industrial sites in surrounding prefectures. Officially known as Hashima island, it was a major source of coal until the mine closed in 1974. In its heyday, more than 5,000 people inhabited the island, whose contours resemble a battleship. While Hashima is currently off-limits, the city of Nagasaki plans to open it to the public next spring.
While looking for some information about Hashima, I came across this short documentary on YouTube. It was made in 2002 by filmmaker Thomas Nordanstad and follows the story of a man who was born on the island and wants it to be turned into a museum.
Part 1
Part 2
More information on the island can be found at:
- Wikipedia
- Color photo gallery
- Black & White photos, including pre-1974 island
- A virtual tour of the island
- Aerial view on Google sightseeing
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This is insane. The more things that get added to that list (and is there any benefits other than increased tourism?) the less value being a World Heritage site will be. Some recent Japanese proposals are laughable.
I still don’t understand why these sites have to be added to the UNESCO list.
If the Japanese find it valuable and worth preserving, they don’t have to get the permission from a largely indifferent world to go ahead and take measures to protect it. (Although, the tendency for any action in Japan to be triggered from outside sources *is* a common trait…)
I think it should be added to UNESCO list. Great place. Hope it will be open for tourists
Can you give any convincing reasons why a dirty old coal mine should be considered a heritage for future generations of the world? In what way has this at all made a relevant impact on the world? Will you sit by the fire telling your children, “There are so many wonders in this world – The Great Pyramids, The Palace of Westminster, The Statue of Liberty, The Forbidden City, and an old coal mine off Nagasaki.”
I agree with Overthinker and helical – Pretty soon we’re going to be more impressed with places that aren’t world heritage sites.
I could give reasons why a dirty old coal mine should be a World Heritage Shite, but not this particular one. For example, the coal mine that Robert Louis Stevenson got the steam engine working properly in, perhaps. Gunkanjima is a bizarre place, possibly even unique, but there are a lot of unique places on Earth. A lot of recent Japanese WH site proposals have been dodgy though. Iwami Ginzan is nice – I recommend you visit the lovely old town, which is well worth the detour – but a globally significant heritage site? Some of the natural ones are a bit iffy as well, and I would love to know the backdoor dealing that went on deciding which of the Kyoto temples and shrines were to be listed.
However, often calls for WH status are not serious attempts, but rather meant to focus national or even just regional attention on a preservation issue. A sort of use of ‘gaiatsu’ imposed by the Japanese themselves, if you want to take helical’s suggestion. I definitely think Gunkanjima should be preserved, and opened. But I also think that WH status should be for the truly iconic.
BTW, not too far from where I live is a very nice area that got WH status about ten years ago. And then all of a sudden they put up carparks and charge parking fees whereas before you could just pull over to the side of the road and wander in. It’s all about how much the rest of the world recognises it. This is not a new phenomenon in Japan – The Big Three XXX concept dates back a couple of centuries.
Nagasaki’s “Battleship island” is not only a dirty abandoned coal mine but also a stuff which represents an ugliness of human greed. If the place were to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its system would be in such a shame.
I guess those who want to make it happen seem to be just interested in making money by that, because they think World Heritage Site means more tourism.
Maybe it would be easier to get there then, people go to Chernobyl so why not here? People also go to “haunted” places. I know now you can only go there illegal or by with special permission.
The photos of the inside of Battleship Island has some hauntingly beautiful sights.
Yes it’s a dirty coalmine on a tiny island, but I personally believe it’s worth saving for the sights if not anything else. I share the view that there’s a certain kind of aesthetic in derelict, long-abandoned buildings and facilities, sort of like how Chernobyl is today or how the Kowloon Walled City was before it was torn down.
I believe the term is “廃墟萌え”, related to the recently conspicuous “工場萌え” where people see beauty in massively complicated and inorganic industrial complexes.
That being said, I still don’t think it should be counted as a World Heritage Site since those are supposed to be places of “Outstanding universal value”, while abandoned coalmine cities are still likely to be a rather niche taste.