It used to be the most densely populated place on Earth. But decades later it is a real ghost town!

by Dan Bradford · October 25, 2017

Photo: By Jordy Meow (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Hashima is a small island located just 20 kilometers away from Nagasaki port. It is rather small, but still looks like a real fortress surrounded by the sea.

Years ago the life flourished in these tightly packed building: the island had the highest population density ever recorded worldwide. More than 5000 residents used to live on 480 meter long and 150 meter wide island home. The houses still are here, but the island stands neglected for more than forty years…

Photo: By Flickr user: kntrty http://www.flickr.com/photos/kntrty/ [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: By Jordy Meow (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: pixabay.com (CC0 Creative Commons)

The coal deposit was discovered here in 1810. In the early 1900s Hashima was purchased by Mitsubishi corporation. For the next hundred years the coal was harvested under the seabed. By 1941 about 400,000 tons of coal per year was produced on this tiny island. The mine has grown longer and deeper.

Photo: By Jordy Meow (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: By Σ64 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: By Jordy Meow (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Toomore Chiang/flickr (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)

To accommodate the workers (most of them were forced laborers from Korea), apartment complexes were built. Stairs, corridors and courtyards connected together this huge multi-layered labyrinth. The island came to resemble a massive battleship. It was even given a nickname “Gunkanjima” that means “battleship island” in Japanese. Also this place is known as “Midori nashi Shima” — the island without green. By the middle of 1950s almost six thousand people lived there. But soon the coal ran out…

Photo: By Hisagi (氷鷺) (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

In 1974 the mine was closed and the residents were forced to leave the island. Soon the houses started to dilapidate and the grass appeared in the courtyards. The place became neglected. The sea-breeze whistled through empty rooms and the old newspapers blew over the streets… And now, decades later, the island looks exactly the same as by the moment the residents left it.