Inside world’s ‘creepiest’ abandoned island where thousands starved to death & homes were left to rot off Japan coast
THE world’s most creepy island saw thousands starve to death and abandon their homes.
Hashima sits just off the Japanese coast and is a tiny piece of land plagued by death and with a dark and twisted past.
Thousands of Korean and Chinese prisoners were forced to work in underground mines on Hashima from 1930 to just after WWII – and some never left.
Established in 1887, at its peak 5,200 people were squeezed into a space of just 480-metre-by-160-metres.
It is thought more than 1,300 workers lost their lives from starvation, exhaustion and malnutrition.
Heavy sea air mixed with fumes pumped out from the mines meant severe respiratory sickness was a common killer.
Those who survived later shared that their experience living on Hashima was so horrific they referred to it as “Jail Island” or “Hell Island”.
Following the war many Japanese people relocated to the island to work there themselves and were cramped into just 5ft of living space.
After the coal supply ran dry the islands were shut down in 1974 – leaving Hashima deserted and untouched for 40 years.
The island isn’t only famous for its mines but has a unique shape making it resemble a Battleship and is the most famous of Nagasaki’s 505 uninhabited islands.
Now, chilling images show a desolate wasteland which has been littered with rubble and left to rot.
Buildings can be seen crumbling down with shattered glass windows and weeds encroaching as nature reclaims the landscape.
Towering concrete buildings on the land were first built in 1916 – by Korean and Chinese prisoners who faced horrific conditions.
The little island was first inhabited in 1887 and was purchased by Mitsubishi in 1890.
The manufacturing giants populated the island, fortifying its walls and building apartment blocks, a school, communal baths, a pool, gardens, a clubhouse and even a pachinko parlour – a popular Japanese pinball game that was enjoyed by the people of the island.
It then went under the ownership of Nagasaki City – which was absorbed into Takashima Town in 2005.
The island made for the perfect lair of a James Bond villain in the iconic 2012 film Skyfall.
The government eventually chose to open the site to the public, also propping up or replacing walls that were on the verge of collapsing, in an attempt to discourage people from going there themselves and potentially getting hurt.
Some thrill-seekers have even camped on the island after its troubled past seemed to entice them.
In 2015, Hashima was approved for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list; the eerie island today resembling a concrete jungle of deserted high-rises, surrounded by a massive seawall.
Japan acknowledged the survivors of forced labour who inhabited the island, stating: “there were a large number of Koreans and others who were brought against their will and forced to work under harsh conditions in the 1940s” at Hashima Island.
History of the island
Hashima island is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture and was established in 1887.
Hashima used to be used for coal mining and once housed roughly 5,200 residents in 1959.
Many workers died on the island from causes such as malnutrition, exhaustion and underground accidents and one estimate stated that 1,300 lost their lives.
In 1974, with the coal reserves nearing depletion, the mine was closed and all of the residents left, leaving the island abandoned for the next three decades.
Interest in the island re-emerged in the 2000s after people became interested in its undisturbed historic ruins.
Hashima was reopened to tourists on 22 April 2009