Hashima Island in the Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, was once a thriving arm of the country’s industrial revolution – but beneath the veneer of high salaries and economic power, lurked a much darker reality. Today, the battleship-shaped land mass sits completely abandoned on westcoast Japan – with tourists drawn from far and wide to explore its eerie ruins.
Initially a small-scale coal mining operation, Hashima Island became rapidly industrialised in the late 19th century after it was bought by the engineering giant Mistubishi in a bid to exploit its underwater coal reserves. A community sprung up shortly afterwards, with a school and other amenities built on the island, alongside towering concrete blocks of flats designed to withstand its extreme weather, including strong winds and typhoons. Workers employed by Mistubishi moved into the buildings and were paid significantly higher salaries than people on the mainland, to account for the sparse amenities available to them.
In its heyday, they are thought to have earned more than executives in Tokyo, with all homes decked out with the latest satellite TV.
High salaries may also have helped offset – for a while at least – the gruelling health impacts of the island’s cramped living conditions, mine fumes and humidity, exacerbated by the harsh sea air. In 1959, it was reported to be one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with over 5,000 inhabitants.
After the coal reserves ran out in the mid to late 20th century, however, residents began to retreat back across the East China Sea. When Mitsubishi closed its coal plants in 1974, the last stragglers were forced to return to Nagasaki, leaving the shell of a once-busy and wealthy town in their wake.
It was handed by the company to the city of Nagasaki in the early 2000s, and, after a clean-up and reinforcement effort, opened to visitors through twice-daily boat tours.
Hashima Island’s mining history and gradual exodus may be intrigue enough for so-called dark tourists – with one of the creepiest of its attractions a long staircase running from its highest point deep down into the earth, reportedly nicknamed by locals the “stairway to hell”.
But when UNESCO debated designating it as a World Heritage Site in 2015, an even bleaker story emerged.
The suggestion was vehemently opposed by South Koreans, whose ancestors had been confined on the island during World War 2 and forced to carry out hard labour. It was granted World Heritage status – but the topic remains a source of tension between South Korea and Japan.
The island was also featured in Sam Mendes’ James Bond film Skyfall in 2012, with the filmmaker using its stark landscape as the backdrop for a barren wasteland during a confronation between 007 and his chief antagonist.
And modern-day sightseers have attested to the atmosphere of its dark history. “It’s a haunting, eerie island, even in the daylight,” one recent visitor wrote on TripAdvisor. “I’m not sure I’d like to visit at night.”