Warship Island

By Michael Gakuran | | Other | 10 Comments |

Just spotted this haikyo news article in the Japan Times. Apparently a 35-year landing ban has been lifted on Hashima Island, better known as ‘Gunkanjima’ or ‘Warship Island’. The 480×160 metre long island was abandoned in 1974 after its coal mine collapsed.

gunkanjima What interests me is the haikyo potential of this place. But now that it has been opened to the public, it will to get busier, meaning less infiltration and photography amonst its quiet grey walls and more hustling tourists eager to cruise round it in boats and along the concrete walkways Nagasaki is building around the island. :( Wish I’d known about it sooner.

gunkanjima2

Image from: Jref

Safety and risk assessments and everything considered though, I don’t think the city of Nagasaki would take too kindly to people branching off from its carefully placed walkways and exploring the ruins. But that’s half the fun of haikyo; nervously tip toeing through and experiencing the desolation, decay and eerie structures being re-claimed by nature…

Oh well, maybe a night mission is in order ;)

I will post some of my recent haikyo in the coming weeks. I’ve been really getting into it around Britain!

*Edit* Just found this site which has pictures taken by some people who visited the island secretly:

Viceland

10 comments on “Warship Island
  1. r_nobu says:

    I visited Gunkanjima island on December 29, 2012.
    Please see pictures of Gunkanjima island on my site below.

    http://nobuneko.com/blog/archives/2012/12/gunkanjima_concierge.html

  2. Gakuranman says:

    Hi Craig. Yea, Gunkanjima is no secret, which is why this is just a note about it being featured in a newspaper article. I hadn't heard of it before then and certainly don't claim to have discovered it.

    As for other haikyo, I disagree. Many of the people on the Japanese side of the internet go to great efforts to protect the location of places to try to ensure their survival. Often when place names and locations get released on the internet, somebody with too much time on their hands decides it will be fun to ransack the people, spray graffiti everywhere and ruin it. I've seen it happen several times already, so I have decided not to disclose locations or names on the internet. It's not meant to be a one-upping thing to stop others enjoying these places, it's purely to try and protect them. Anyone with enough willpower and knowledge of Japanese can find the same information I did, so it's not impossible.

  3. Craig says:

    Folks have been going here for years and openly let others know of the location,you might like to do the same with what you have “found”.

  4. rudy says:

    It really is a great place for many historic reasons. Photographers love Gunkajima
    http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/great-photos-of-abandoned-island-gunkanjima-%E8%BB%8D%E8%89%A6%E5%B3%B6-by-yuji-saiga/

  5. rudy says:

    It really is a great place for many historic reasons. Photographers love Gunkajima
    http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/great-photos-of-abandoned-island-gunkanjima-%E8%BB%8D%E8%89%A6%E5%B3%B6-by-yuji-saiga/

  6. Hummy says:

    It’s a fascinating place, JPG Magazine did an article on it a while ago.

    http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/593

  7. Hummy says:

    It’s a fascinating place, JPG Magazine did an article on it a while ago.

    http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/593

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