Monday, July 07, 2008
Hashima Island - Gunkanjima - Battleship Island.
Nagasaki has sufficient sights to keep anyone occupied for at least a couple of days. On our last day in Nagasaki, we did some shopping before going on a boat cruise of Nagasaki bay. The goal of our boat journey was Hashima Island, more commonly known as Gunkanjima ("Battleship" in English). Gunkanjima is uninhabited and situated about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself.
The island is known for its coal mines, and Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 with the aim of retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. During the Second World War, many Korean and Chinese slave labourers did most of the work, but through most of the period through the closing of the coal mining facility in 1974, regular Japanese workers and families lived on the island. According to some sources, in the late 1950s the island had the highest population density in the world, and more than 5,000 people lived on this tiny spot in the ocean. The island was fully equipped with schools, bars, a movie theater, and other facilities.
However, after the closing of the coal mine in 1974, the island was completely abandoned, and today the island is uninhabited and travel there is not permitted.
According to our boat guide, efforts are being made to have the island included as a World Heritage Site, and it is certainly to be hoped that the island will be opened for tourism in a controlled manner. It is possible to sneak in though, as we saw a couple of people that had managed to enter after going to the island by canoes. Even when seeing the island from offshore, it is easy to understand why the island is being referred to as Ghost Island, and it certainly is not a place I would like to spend an evening or night by myself.
I used "The Rough Guide" Japan while in Nagasaki, but could not find Gunkanjima featured at all. My old Lonely Planet, admittedly an old version from 2000, bears no mention of the island either. It is all very odd. I have sent an email to "The Rough Guide" to see if they will consider including it in their next edition.
Apart from seeing Gunkanjima, we visited an Ukiyo-e exhibition in the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum. The paintings (mainly woodblock prints) were on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. During the Edo period, the Ukiyo-e paintings were apparently more popular in Europe than in Japan, which is why so many Ukiyo-e paintings are currently located outside of Japan.
The last sight we visited was the "Memorial to the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan".
While there today are not many Christians in Japan, the main reason is that most Christians were killed off after the ban of Christianity in 1597. Almost all of Japan's Christians were killed in various brutal ways, and among these martyrs were the 26 Franciscans that were crucified in Nagasaki in the same year. In addition to a memorial for the crucified Christians, there is a museum that commemorates and explains the role and history of Christianity in Japan and various parts of Asia.
Nagasaki has sufficient sights to keep anyone occupied for at least a couple of days. On our last day in Nagasaki, we did some shopping before going on a boat cruise of Nagasaki bay. The goal of our boat journey was Hashima Island, more commonly known as Gunkanjima ("Battleship" in English). Gunkanjima is uninhabited and situated about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself.
The island is known for its coal mines, and Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 with the aim of retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. During the Second World War, many Korean and Chinese slave labourers did most of the work, but through most of the period through the closing of the coal mining facility in 1974, regular Japanese workers and families lived on the island. According to some sources, in the late 1950s the island had the highest population density in the world, and more than 5,000 people lived on this tiny spot in the ocean. The island was fully equipped with schools, bars, a movie theater, and other facilities.However, after the closing of the coal mine in 1974, the island was completely abandoned, and today the island is uninhabited and travel there is not permitted.
According to our boat guide, efforts are being made to have the island included as a World Heritage Site, and it is certainly to be hoped that the island will be opened for tourism in a controlled manner. It is possible to sneak in though, as we saw a couple of people that had managed to enter after going to the island by canoes. Even when seeing the island from offshore, it is easy to understand why the island is being referred to as Ghost Island, and it certainly is not a place I would like to spend an evening or night by myself.I used "The Rough Guide" Japan while in Nagasaki, but could not find Gunkanjima featured at all. My old Lonely Planet, admittedly an old version from 2000, bears no mention of the island either. It is all very odd. I have sent an email to "The Rough Guide" to see if they will consider including it in their next edition.
Apart from seeing Gunkanjima, we visited an Ukiyo-e exhibition in the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum. The paintings (mainly woodblock prints) were on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. During the Edo period, the Ukiyo-e paintings were apparently more popular in Europe than in Japan, which is why so many Ukiyo-e paintings are currently located outside of Japan.
The last sight we visited was the "Memorial to the Martyrdom of the 26 Saints of Japan".
While there today are not many Christians in Japan, the main reason is that most Christians were killed off after the ban of Christianity in 1597. Almost all of Japan's Christians were killed in various brutal ways, and among these martyrs were the 26 Franciscans that were crucified in Nagasaki in the same year. In addition to a memorial for the crucified Christians, there is a museum that commemorates and explains the role and history of Christianity in Japan and various parts of Asia.
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