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Ruin of a Japanese WWII Shipyard

The Kawaminami shipyard was opened in 1936 and went bankrupt in 1955. It had four huge bays and two large factory buildings. Through the war years it served as both a munitions factory, a drydock for construction of cargo ships, escort ships, and kaitens, and possibly also as a Prisoner of  War (POW) slave labor camp.  By some accounts up to 4000 POWs were forced to work here during wartime.

The main factory hall.

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Ruin of a Japanese `kaiten` suicide boat base

Towards the end of World War 2 the Japanese military created and employed the `kaiten`, a manned suicide torpedo designed to blow up American ships with great accuracy. At that point in the War Japan had suffered severe losses, was experiencing rapid decline in its industrial capacity compared to the US, and American troops were closing in on the home islands. Surrender was out of the question, so Kaiten (along with kamikaze planes) were brought in to help tilt the balance.

Kaiten facility observation point.

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Ruin of a century-old Japanese prison

Kyu Nagasaki Prison was built in 1907, one of five `ultra-modern` Meiji-era prisons built throughout Japan. Its Victorian design is attributable to a research mission to study European prisons conducted by the Meiji government. Within its five meter-high red brick wall, a five-pointed prison block held up to 800 high-security prisoners. The prison went out of use in 1992, becoming  a haikyo. 15 years later the wall and most of the interior complex were demolished after complaints from the growing number of housing developments being built in the surrounding area. Now only the abandoned front gate and gatehouse remain.

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Gunkanjima Opens

Gunkanjima opens to the public! The famed ‘Battleship Island’, properly Hashima island- formerly a haikyo Holy Grail, has now been opened to tourists to ‘explore’ along a specially built walkway. The cost of the trip is 4,000yen, including the ferry ride out to the dilapidated island. Tourists have up to one hour (weather permitting) to wander the walkway before they have to re-board the ferry and leave.

This is great in some ways- the island will be preserved, vandals will be stopped from gaining access as security will be doubtless beefed up. But for the same reason, any proper exploration of the island will now be virtually impossible. It’s a live site again.

UER has a ton of photos and text about this place- including many more photos by Kuroneko, amongst others. The following text by

‘As days passed on the island, my impression of it began to change greatly. The innumerable articles left behind, all shrouded in dust, rusted,to me at first seemed merely drifting toward death. Yet, from one point in time, they started to look vivid, and beautiful. I thought perhaps the island, while appearing to fall deep asleep, had gradually commenced to awaken, the day it was deserted.’

Video from Dotokou, a man who grew up on the island, and revisits before it was opened to the public. Haunting. English subtitles.

Brian Burke-Gaffney writes a great article on Gunkanjima.

The Gunkanjima ferry info can be accessed from this site.

Thanks to Miki for tipping me off on this.