Hashima, the Battleship Island
Off Nagasaki, a tiny island crowded with concrete apartment blocks has stood empty since its coal mine closed in 1974.
What was reported
Hashima, nicknamed Gunkanjima or 'Battleship Island' for its shape, was a coal-mining island only about 480 metres long. At its peak in 1959, more than 5,000 people lived there in concrete apartment blocks, one of the highest population densities ever recorded.
When the mine closed in 1974, everyone left within months. Its decaying buildings appeared in the James Bond film Skyfall.
Explanations offered
Hashima became part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2015. Its history is contested: Korean and Chinese labourers were forced to work in the mine during the Second World War, and South Korea has pressed for this to be properly acknowledged. Parts of the island can be visited by boat.
- When
- Abandoned in 1974
- Where
- Hashima, Nagasaki, Japan
- Witnesses
- Former miners and visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.