The Ghost Island of Hashima

Photo: Hisagi [Wikipedia]

The coal-mining colony of Hashima Island off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, is called the Battleship Island because of its high seawalls (doesn’t the photo above look like a battleship?). When oil replaced coal in the 1960s, Hashima fell into disuse and was abandoned, thus earning it another well-deserved nickname: The Ghost Island.

Dark Roasted Blend has a fascinating article about the island ruin:

Hashima is, for many ruin fans, the rotting and collapsing grail, the benchmark all other crumbling structures are measured against – and seeing pictures of the place it’s easy to see why. Not only is Hashima frighteningly preserved in some places, as if the residents had just stepped out as few minutes before, but it is also, contrarily, spectacularly falling down. Beyond its current awe-inspiring state of decay, the island’s dramatic isolation and its bizarre history make it the ruin of ruins.

Link, Via: Neatorama