Japan's four main
islands — Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido — comprise 97% of it’s total
land area, as well as most of the people, but there are actually about 6,800
islands in Japan, though approximately 430 of these are inhabited. You may not
have ever heard of them, but many actually have quite an interesting history.
Gunkanjima Island, also known as
"Hashima" or "Battleship Island", has been entirely
abandoned and now is a ghost town that has been completely uninhabited for over
forty years, left to crumble and fade away, even if it's at just an hour sail
from Nagasaki. At the start of the 1900s the Mitsubishi Corporation discovered
that the island was sitting on an underwater coal deposit, and therefore built
a mine that for a very long time worked greatly. By 1941, 400000 tonnes of coal
were produced. Though the ones working there like slaves were from Korea.
Ten-storey apartments were built to
accommodate the miners working there, as well as schools, restaurants and
gaming houses. In 1955, it was considered the place with highest population
density, with nearly 6 thousand people living there. When the coal ran out,
there was no point in staying there, so practically in just one night everyone
left and the island was abandoned.
Since 1974 it was illegal to visit Hashima
because the place wasn't safe. If you were caught there, the punishment would
be 30 days in prison followed by immediate deportation for us tourists, but in
2009 the island re-opened and tours were organised.
Miyakejima in one of Japan's Izu Islands just
south of Tokyo. It is situated upon an active volcanic chain that has already
erupted six times in the last century. Apart from this, another danger is the
concentration of poisonous gases that comes out through the ground, mostly sulphur.
In the year 2000, all the habitants of the island were asked to evacuate due to
these gases after eruptions from Oyama-san (the main volcano of the island),
but they were allowed to return to their home after eight years with the
condition that they had to carry a gas mask with them at all times, once the
high levels of sulphur lowered.
Miyakejima might not seem like a very
attractive place to visit, but it is open to tourists and visitors and you can easily
buy a gas mask at one of the shops upon arrival. They say the scuba diving is
great and you can swim with dolphins there.
February 11 of 1933 was the day 21 year old
Kiyoko Matsumoto started the trend of committing suicide by throwing herself
into Mount Mihara's crater, the volcano of the island Izu Oshima. She did this
because she had fallen in love with another girl, Masako Tomita, and lesbian
relationships were taboo at the time. People started to travel to Mount Mihara
to suicide themselves (or commit shinjuu - couple suicide) or simply to see
people jump. In 1993, 944 people jumped into the crater. Luckily this has
ended, since Mount Mihara now has enhanced security and you cannot travel to
the island with a one-way ticket. 
No comments:
Post a Comment