Review Travel｜Nagasaki Gunkanjima, Japan——The Future Prophecy of the Ultimate Urban Development

After writing this article, it was published in the simplified Chinese version of Lonely Planet magazine in March 2014.

 I was born on April 20, Showa 35 (1960), and I am 14 years old. Today is my birthday and the day we have to leave our home.

My home is in Hashima, and the address is the 5th floor of Building No. 30 Hashima, Takashima Town, Nishibeki County, Nagasaki Prefecture. People outside call this place "Battleship Island", and we call it that too, because the whole island looks like a warship. The lord said that the warship was called the Tosa.

Where I live is small. Not only is the house small, but the whole island is small. When the weather is nice, I can see the northernmost hospital from the southernmost point of the island—that's an exaggeration, of course, and there are many houses in between. But our island is so small, sometimes I sneak around the whole island, and it takes less than half an hour.

But there are a lot of people on our island, and almost everyone is black and dirty, including my dad. Because they all work in the mines. After my father finished work every day, he would take a shower in the nearby bathhouse before going home, otherwise he would not have to wash at home. There is a small steel ball shop near the bathhouse, as well as a movie theater and a drinking place. Sometimes my father will have a few drinks and come back, and then we will eat and watch TV.

We don't have to pay for electricity in our home, everyone is the same. Mom said it was because of our coal production here. My mother also told me that the year I was born was the most crowded and crowded time on the island, even more lively than the capital Tokyo. "Although the building we live in is very old now, when it was just built, it was the first reinforced concrete building in Japan." When my mother said this, she seemed a little proud.

But we had to move. Dad said, because the government doesn't want us to stay here and continue mining coal. Now that everyone is switching to oil, coal is worthless. Dad doesn't want to move, and I don't want to either. I haven't had time to lift the shrine at the Tenjin Festival, and I haven't participated in the marathon in the hell section. But many of my elementary and middle school classmates moved out one by one. They laughed at my dad's stupidity, because the sooner people move out, the better job arrangements and compensation they can get. But we were all born and raised here, and the island has everything, so why move? Dad also said that no matter how good the outside world is, it is not as good as your own home.

But still had to go, the boat was already waiting at the dock and was about to leave. I circled today's date on the calendar on the wall: April 20, Showa 49 (1974). I decided to leave this calendar here as a sort of pause. Maybe one day I can come back again, back to the home we left behind.

In the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, there are only about one hundred days to set foot on the warship island.

If you want to board this island located 17.5 kilometers southwest of Nagasaki Port in Kyushu, Japan, which is called the world's largest marine ruins, in addition to the pre-departure appointment and the signing of the agreement, the most important condition is probably the flight. Even in order to improve the probability of landing on the island, due to the normal wind direction and wave intensity, the pier of the warship island is built in the southeast of the island, but if the wind speed exceeds 5 meters per second, the wave height exceeds 0.5 meters, and the visibility is less than 500 meters, or When the captain judged based on experience that the passengers could not safely disembark, even if the ship had already crossed the sea and the island was in sight, the expectation of landing on the warship island was still in vain in an instant.

Luck is not only the most needed thing for travelers who are eager to visit this island in person, but also the key to the rise and fall of Warship Island in less than a hundred years. Gunkanjima, formerly known as Hashima, was a coal mining area that flourished in Japan between the 19th and 20th centuries. The island itself appeared in the national map drawn by the Edo Shogunate in Japan in the 17th century. Because of its remote location and located in the corner of the map, it was named "Hashima", which means its edge.

Hashima has been mining coal since the end of the Edo period in the early 19th century. At first, the fishermen in the Kyushu area, as long as they went fishing near Hashima, mined some exposed coal on a small scale and sold it back, which attracted attention, thinking that the island may be rich in minerals. In 1869 (Meiji 2), local companies in Nagasaki began mining coal in Hashima. However, once the typhoon hits the Hashima area, the losses are often quite heavy. The company was defeated by natural disasters and returned in a bad way. It only took a year. The three successive companies were also affected by the typhoon and were forced to suspend the coal mining business. But three years. In 1890 (Meiji 23), after Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation bought the mining rights of the entire Hashima reef and the mining area, the coal mining period of Hashima was officially launched.

Dream Land and Ruined Ghost Town

In order to maximize the business value of coal mining and accommodate more manpower to increase production, Hashima, which was originally only 320 meters long from north to south and 120 meters wide from east to west, began to reclaim the land, and finally reached 480 meters long from north to south and 120 meters wide from east to west. It is 160 meters wide, covers an area of ​​about 63,000 square meters, and has a perimeter of 1,200 meters. However, the result of such a huge project is only three standard sports fields of 400 meters in size. Even so, in its heyday, Hashima had a population of 5,267 people, or 83,600 people per square kilometer, nine times the density of Tokyo at that time, and the most densely populated island in the world. In response to coal production, Hashima built its own thermal power plant to supply electricity for the whole island free of charge; there are also kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, markets, pubs, playgrounds, cinemas, hospitals, shrines, etc., from life to death, food, clothing, housing, transportation, entertainment All kinds of leisure and entertainment activities such as festivals and competitions are also available. It can be said that it is a sea kingdom with complete daily functions. At that time, not only was the life of the local islanders prosperous, but Hashima also attracted many temporary employees from the Japanese mainland with a prepayment of 2,000 yen and a daily salary of 500 yen per day to build the dream of "black gold".

The coal quality of Hashima is quite good, and it is mainly supplied to the Yawata Steel Works in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Together with the nearby Takashima Coal Mine, it has become the cornerstone of Japan's modernization. Hashima was a highly developed industrial island city, and in many ways became a pioneer in Japan at that time. In 1916, Hashima built the first reinforced concrete building in Japan, "Building 30", which was seven stories high. Afterwards, cement buildings sprung up on the island. By the time the gymnasium was completed in 1970, there were 30 reinforced concrete buildings on the island, the highest of which were nine stories tall, clustered together into a rather astonishing scale. Looking at the warship island from the sea, it looks like a huge concrete fortress, with rigid, square and neat lines, standing upright in the middle of the sea.

However, the prosperity of Hashima began with the coal mine and ended with the decline of the coal industry. With the discovery and exploitation of oil resources, its value is far greater than that of coal, and the coal mining industry has fallen from heaven to hell almost overnight. On January 15, 1974, the Hashima Coal Mine was officially closed, and all residents were evacuated on April 20 of the same year. Hashima went from a living area surrounded by thousands of people to a ghost town-like ruin in an instant.

In 2001, Mitsubishi Materials Corporation transferred Hashima to Takashima Town for free; in 2005, cities, towns and villages were integrated, and Takashima Town was merged into Nagasaki City. On August 23 of the same year, this increasingly forgotten island was opened for media interviews for the first time. , became famous through reports and once again became the focus of the world. On January 5, 2009, Hashima was listed as one of the "Kyushu. Yamaguchi Modernization Industrial Heritage Group" and became a quasi-world heritage site; on April 22 of the same year, Nagasaki City officially opened Hashima sightseeing, and the number of people who have visited the island has exceeded 400,000. , which has created about billions of yen in economic business opportunities for the local area, and has also become a new tourist attraction in Nagasaki City. However, whether it is "black gold" or "tourism wealth", the ill-fated Hashima seems to never be able to control his future.

Visit Battleship Island

Before setting off for Gunkanjima, I told my friend that no matter what, I hope to take a picture of the whole island with my own hands, overlooking Gunkanjima from the sea. Even if you type "Battleship Island" on the Internet, there are hundreds of photos of the same style that come out casually, but what you can take is different. I believe this should be the dream of all Gunkanjima fans.

I heard about Gunkanjima from a friend who is also passionate about ruins. At that time, we often took our cameras and wandered aimlessly. Alleys and alleys, flat and low houses, the more dilapidated the place is, the better our hearts are. My friends like to take pictures of the remains after the demolition of buildings, and imagine the past life scenes from them; I like to take pictures of trivial corners, typo signs, or unowned cats and dogs. Ruins are mysterious treasures that you never expected to find, and you never know what you'll get there.

I forgot when, a friend told me that there is an island in Japan, because of the coal mines, but also because of the decline of coal mines, if you compare the location of Taiwan, it is like Jiufen on the sea. He said that the island was only a tiny bit big, but a lot of people lived there. But he didn't give me any actual numbers, he just told me the name of the island, it's called Gunkanjima.

So I started to look for the information on Gunkanjima, and I was fascinated by it. If you find anything, throw it to your friend, and discuss with him all day long how to get on the island: Is the whole island really closed? Are there controls? Is it strict? Is it possible to invite a fishing boat to take us up to take a look? If not, is it alright to go around in a circle?

At that time, we never thought that there would be the possibility of open sightseeing on Gunkanjima, let alone. Just sitting there like this, the longing for the ruins at sea, but also because there is no way to land on the island, it slowly becomes a dream, and only occasionally comes to mind. It wasn't until one day several years later that I searched the Internet for news about Gunkanjima, and reviewed all the information about it. Only then did I find that Gunkanjima reopened in 2009 after being closed for 35 years.

Although my friends and I are equally embarrassed that I did not know the news in the first time, I am really a fan of Gunkanjima; we also understand that the probability of successful landing on Gunkanjima is too low. In this regard, we really do not have such financial resources. Just flying to Japan for Gunkanjima is not necessarily enough. But one day, we will all go to Warship Island. And when I finally had a purposeless trip to Japan, Gunkanjima became my purpose.

Getting to the Battleship Island is easier said than done. Everything must be planned and reserved in advance, and cannot be improvised; you must sign up for the itinerary of the shipping company, and you cannot leave the team, let alone travel alone. It is said that when it first opened in 2009, there were only two shipping companies that offered one-day tours to Warship Island, but now there are five, each with one boat in the morning and one in the afternoon. In all, there are less than 450 places to land on the island a day; if the weather is bad, no one will be able to get on the island.

Before boarding the boat, you must sign the cut-off letter to ensure that you follow the instructions and do not run around. If you violate the rules, you will be responsible for the accident. Some shipping companies’ itineraries will first go to Takashima on the way to visit the Coal Stone Museum, where many cultural relics from the coal mining era are collected, including the shrine in Hashima Shrine. From Takashima to Gunkanjima, the boat journey takes about 10 minutes. The staff of the shipping company know how important it is for some enthusiasts to witness the outline of the warship island, so even if the wind and waves are too strong, as long as it is still within the range of protection, they still agree to let the visitors climb on it. On the top of the ship on the second floor, against the strong wind, waiting for the appearance of this sea giant.

It was a very shocking and indescribable moment. When the silhouette that had been described thousands of times in my mind actually appeared in front of my eyes from far to near, for a moment, I almost thought it was a mirage. Everyone grabbed their cameras and tried their best to stabilize their bodies as the ship swayed, hoping to capture the panorama of Gunkanjima they dreamed of.

The closer to the island, the more the ship swayed and the more nervous the crew on board. Traveling in Japan, no matter what means of transportation I take, I have never been rushed, except here. When the boat docked at the pier located in the southeast of the island, the people of the shipping company had already positioned themselves one by one, and quickly set up the ladder bridge and laid the tarpaulin. I asked everyone not to hesitate, but to go ashore quickly, as if the wind and waves would change in an instant. He turned his face in between, forcing the trip to the island to be interrupted.

This is a complete island of cement. The ones under foot, the ones in the eyes, and the ones supported by the hands are almost all constructed manually; weeds struggled out from the cracks of the bricks and tiles and the rock wall, which is the only life on the island. The general impression of the edge of the island is nothing more than a long sandy beach or a rugged rocky shore, but this is not the case. The edge of the warship island is completely flat and sealed with thick concrete walls. It was caused by reclamation and soil expansion at the beginning, making the whole island like a solid sea fortress. "Similar image.

Passing through a dark tunnel, the decadence after the prosperity unfolds in front of you. It is not difficult for you to recall the glory of Warship Island from these dilapidated and weathered buildings. The coal production of Gunkanjima reached its peak during World War II in 1941, which is only more than half a century ago. However, after the island was closed, the strong winds and the rolling waves made the collapse of the warship island faster than expected. Today, the only area open for sightseeing on the island is the southern section of the island on the left after landing on the island; and in order to ensure the safety of visitors and the remnants of the buildings on the island at the same time, a visiting area with a length of no more than a few hundred meters has been renovated. Visitors can only walk on it, across the metal railings, to see and imagine the highly industrialized life of the island.

The team leader arranged by the shipping company dutifully introduced the history of Gunkanjima. When he said that Gunkanjima was "a possibility after the ultimate development of one place" and "the future of Japanese cities", everyone fell silent. An island that is only 160 meters by 480 meters after expansion, is a real "small land"; it takes an hour to travel by boat from the nearest city of Nagasaki. It is so narrow and remote, but because of the prosperity of coal mines, the power of "black gold" is enough to support this place into a self-sufficient country, and even once was Japan's most progressive, modern, and most crowded and prosperous city. But when the charm of black gold is no longer, the whole island is empty overnight, and the hurried noise returns to silence in an instant, leaving nothing but emptiness.

In its heyday, Gunkanjima was a place where the Japanese yearned for gold mining? People who lived on the island in the past left their homes voluntarily or involuntarily, and could not return for more than 30 years. How do they miss home? If the occurrence of Battleship Island affects the city where you and I live—we use our living places and resources to the extent that they are almost useless, will the outcome of Battleship Island be as the team leader said? Is it actually the prophecy of all cities?

How to get to Hashima (Battleship Island) (This is 2014 information)

01. To go to Gunkanjima, you must first arrive in Nagasaki, Kitakyushu, Japan, and then depart from Nagasaki Port. You can choose to take a flight to Nagasaki Airport, or transfer to the Shinkansen at Fukuoka Airport. If you enter from Kansai Airport, you can take the night bus from Osaka, which leaves at 9:00 pm and arrives at Nagasaki City at 9:00 am the next day. Tickets need to be reserved two weeks to one month in advance. The fare varies with each bus company depending on the boarding date, starting from about 5,500 yen.

02. At present, there are five shipping companies that provide warship island itineraries in Nagasaki: やまさ Shipping, Takashima Marine Transportation, and Yuniba サルワーカーズ． Gunkanjima Konsiljiュ, シーマン Chamber of Commerce, Baba Hirdoku (アイランド), etc., all need to make reservations online or by phone in advance until the seats are full. The fee varies depending on the itinerary and each shipping company, with a minimum of 3,000 yen and an additional 300 yen for the landing fee. It should be noted that the warship island itinerary provided by some shipping companies is divided into "Battleship Island Tour コース" and "Battleship Island Land Tour コース", the former only goes around the island for one week; the latter can only land on the island, and the cost is slightly higher. If you are unable to land on the island due to weather conditions, the fee will not be fully refunded, so you need to be mentally prepared.

03. All shipping companies are located near the Nagasaki Port Terminal, not far from Nagasaki Station. You can take the streetcar in front of the station, head towards "Zhengjue Temple", arrive at "Dabozhi" Station (about 3 minutes), and then walk there. Can. If you do not purchase a one-day ticket for the Nagasaki Tram (500 yen), the fare is 120 yen regardless of distance.

04. From Nagasaki Port to Gunkanjima, the boat journey takes about 50 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the wind and waves of the day. The boat travels fast, so you need to pay attention to seasickness and keeping warm. Be sure to arrive at the shipping company more than half an hour before departure to go through the relevant procedures for landing on the island, and do not be late to cause trouble. As soon as the boat leaves the port, there will be no rest facilities, so please be sure to prepare yourself.

05. For the currently provided warship island landing itinerary, the visit time after landing on the island is only about 40 minutes, and the group needs to enter and leave the group. The buildings on the island are severely weathered and may collapse at any time. If there is no special permission, you must not leave the team to avoid danger.

Recommended Reading｜ 1972 Youth Battleship Island

Written by Hiroshi Ohashi / Translated by Peng Yingzhen / Published by Facebook / November 30, 2013

The prosperous exit of Battleship Island was too hasty, and the appearance of life at that time was hard to find. Japanese photographer Hiroshi Ohashi, a year before the closure of Gunkanjima, wandered here because of fate, working as a temporary miner to make a living. The negatives that were taken at random during his residence were 32 years after he left after living there for half a year. In 2005, Hiroshi Ohashi re-examined this batch of negatives in generally good condition, and decided to develop them all and compile them into a book, which became a rare daily record on Gunkanjima. What is fixed under the lens is his own youth and the twilight of Warship Island.