Reading about a deserted island in Japan ahead of our trip there, pretty amazing stuff.
This little island (Hashima) was once the most densely populated area in the world: it was about 400m by 140m, and at its peak housed 5,259 people – coal miners and their families. When the coal mine was closed in 1974, it became deserted almost instantly.
It’s nicknamed Battleship Island (Gunkanjima) because it looks like an island – so much so that American submarines torpedoed it during WWII.
The island has been deserted and decaying since 1974, and was even featured on “Life After People” in 2009, to show what the world might look like after all humans are gone.
Madness! Can’t wait to get to Japan 
There’s a nice documentary here on Vimeo if you’re interested, including commentary from a man who lived on Hashima as a boy.
Photo by Chad Chatterton.
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