Battleship Island Japan

Battleship Island (also known as Hashima or Gunkanjima) is located 15 kilometers off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and it was used as a coal mining facility up until 1974. Japan's first large concrete buildings were built here at a height of nine stories. These were a block of apartments in 1916 to house the thousands of workers. A 50-minute direct service by boat was offered twelve times a day to get to and from the island. In 1959 the islands population rose to 5,259 people and was crowded for only 16 acres. Concrete was widely used to protect against typhoons. Petroleum replaced coal throughout the country in the sixties and the island was officially closed in 1974.

Thirty-five years later on April 22, 2009 it reopened for tourism. You only get to walk through the industrial side, which consists of three viewing platforms. I should also point out that the tour is in Japanese only but you do get a binder with some information in English. Water conditions are notoriously rough and boat access is achieved less than 160 days a year.

One section of the island was recreated and used in the James Bond film "Skyfall". You can also take a virtual tour of the island on Google maps. But do yourself a favour and go there in person, Japan is incredible. I've included the link for the tour company. Hopefully this is appropriate for the site, as I wanted to share my favourite abandonment with you.