I had an extra free day on my Nagasaki trip. I went to the port and saw a cruise ship going to Gunkanjima. So I bought the 500 Yen ticket and thought that the trip to that island would be interesting. The island’s real name is Hashima Island, but it was more famous with the name Gunkanjima. This means Battleship Island because of its resemblance to a Japanese battleship.

The abandoned island is about 9 miles away from Nagasaki. It functioned as a coal mining facility from 1887 to 1974, a former symbol of Japan’s rapid industrialization. Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and began extracting coal from undersea mines. Japan’s first large concrete 9-storey building and a block of apartments were built on the island to accommodate the workers. However, Hashima mines were closed in 1974 when petroleum replaced coal in Japan.

I was the only foreigner on the tour, so an English-speaking Japanese volunteer tour guide was assigned to me. We toured the island, looking at the overgrown industrial sites and semi-ruined concrete workers’ quarters.

The eerie ambiance of the island adds up to its dark history. Over 1,000 workers died on the island between the 1930s and World War 2. They suffered from unsafe working conditions, malnutrition, and exhaustion. Enlisted Korean civilians and Chinese prisoners of war were exploited for forced labor on the island.

In the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, the island inspired the lair of villain Raoul Silva. Nonetheless, filming did not take place on the island itself.

In July 2015, the island received formal approval as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is part of Japan’s sites during the Meiji Industrial Revolution.

I felt that I was so lucky to have the chance to visit Battleship Island.