The abandoned Hashima Island also known as Gunkanjima, which was once an important economic center for the Japanese, today it is a ghost city that shows a terrifying face, explicitly revealing a bit of its gloomy history.
The history of the Hashima Island dates back to the end of the 19th century, its importance lay in its underwater coal deposits, a vital natural resource in the industrial revolution that Japan experienced.
mitsubishi was the company in charge of developing said mining project, which brought multiple fruits to Japan. The island grew rapidly and miners’ families began to live on it. At its peak, more than 5,000 people lived in Hashima.
Why was Hashima Island abandoned?
The cultural magazine National Geographic explains that With the arrival of World War II, the Japanese army required a lot of coal, so the exploitation of the mine in Hashima was exaggerated.Japanese miners experienced severe labor exploitation, to the point that they even died either from the exhausting work or from poisoning.
However, production required more personnel, so, The decision of the Japanese army was to take thousands of Chinese and Korean prisoners of war to said island for forced labor in inhumane conditions. This brutality became known and Hashima was named the “Armored Island.”
Hence The island witnessed war crimes not to mention the violation of labor and human rights of Japanese miners. This represented only the beginning of Hashima’s decline.
The exploitation of natural resources was such that, By 1960 and 1970, there was no longer anything to exploit on the island, coupled with the constant hurricanes that hit the island. By 1980 there were no longer any inhabitants in Hashima, leaving a small ghost town with bleak stories.
In 2002, Mitsubishi stopped owning the island and since 2009, Hashima Island has become a site of so-called “black tourism”, as it has aroused the intrigue of thousands of tourists from all over the world.