Hashima Island is an abandoned piece of land in the East China Sea, about 15 km from the city of Nagasaki. In Japan, the island received the nickname "Gunkanjima", which translates as "cruiser", because because of the buildings it resembles a warship from the sea.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, it was an ordinary piece of rock, slightly overgrown with greenery, on which seabirds nested and which was sometimes used as a temporary refuge only by fishermen from Nagasaki and from the neighboring island of Takashima.
The island was settled in 1810, when coal deposits were found on it. Initially, it was just a rock in the sea and an island of 1 km², which was created artificially when mines were dug. By the 30s of the 20th century, Hashima had become a serious industrial center: in addition to mines, there were military factories. In the period from 1943 to 1945, Chinese and Koreans were brought here for forced labor in the Mitsubishi Corporation's underwater coal mines. Many of them died from harsh working conditions.
For the next 50 years, Hashima was the most densely populated place on the planet: in 1959, the island's population was 5259 people. But the minerals gradually began to dry up and every year the mines became less and less. By 1974, people had completely left the working town and it was left standing alone in the middle of the troubled water.
For many years, visiting the island was prohibited and punishable by deportation from Japan. These measures were taken to protect Hashima from black diggers. Items from the ghost town were in demand among wealthy collectors. But neither deportation, nor unkind rumors about the restless souls of the hard workers who died there did not stop the stalkers, who wanted to get hold of peculiar artifacts.
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Trophy hunters had their own beliefs. One of them said that the island must be left before midnight, so as not to cause trouble. Some brave stalkers used the cover of darkness as a protection from prying eyes, and many of them died or were injured for very banal, at first glance, reasons. But when an experienced climber, trying to climb into the window of a blocked floor of one of the buildings, fell off the roof and crashed, despite the safety rope, the black diggers staying here began to believe more willingly in omens.
At the moment, visiting the abandoned mining town is allowed, but tourists are only allowed access to a part of the island specially equipped for a safe stay due to the emergency state of most buildings. Any step away from the famous route is a chance to try your luck …
Hashima also left his mark on the film industry. In the 2009 series Life After People, the island was shown as an example of what will happen to a city abandoned by people 35 years ago. And in 2011, it filmed some episodes from the movie "007: Skyfall".