HASHIMA
“By 1959, over 5,000 coal miners and their families occupied these drab apartments, making the island — the size of 12 football fields — the most densely populated place on Earth … During the 1960s, Japan gradually switched from coal to petroleum for its fuel needs. As a result, coal mines across the country closed. Gunkanjima was no exception. In January 1974, Mitsubishi held a ceremony in the gymnasium to officially close its mining facility. With no reason to live on the island anymore, all residents abandoned their homes for the mainland within two months. Gunkanjima has been uninhabited ever since. Decades of typhoons, wind, rain, and seawater have caused massive degradation to the monolithic buildings. Wooden planks regularly fall from the disintegrating balcony railings, landing on the piles of crumbled concrete below. Contorted steel beams and rusted iron frames protrude from the walls. Hints of domesticity remain: a teacup; a tricycle; a television manufactured in the 1960s. The only sounds on what was once the world’s most crowded place are the whipping wind and crashing waves.”
✖ 12 notes ⟲ Reblog
