Hashima, the abandoned Japanese island that wasn't always so

What about going to an abandoned island, thousands of kilometers away, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, all alone? Tempting, isn't it?

The Geneafinder team takes you to an island in this article, this island is indeed deserted and you will be completely alone there... But this deserted island wasn't always that way; it was even widely exploited. Today, nature is trying to reclaim its rights, and the remnants of recent habitation are struggling against the numerous typhoons. It's Friday, November 9th, and we're heading to Hashima Island, in Japan. 

From increased exploitation...

Migrations and travel are very common in genealogy and reflect certain eras and policies. Many of our migrant ancestors left with their wives and children to seek fortune in a new city, region, or even a new country. This was the case for the many workers who came to work on Hashima Island. 

For the record, this Japanese island is also known as Gunkanjima (battleship island – due to its shape like a battleship from the 1920s). It was truly deserted until 1810 when an important coal deposit was discovered there. A few years later, the Mitsubishi group decided to exploit this deposit and bring many workers from Japan. Hashima Island was constantly expanded until the 1930s to accommodate all these immigrant workers, and a real town was built with buildings, schools, shops, restaurants, a pool, cinema, hospital, and prison... The island was later heavily marked by the presence of some 800 Korean and Chinese workers who were forcibly migrated by Japan during World War II. Many of them succumbed to misery, deplorable living conditions, and torture for those who tried to escape. 

...to sudden decline 

1960s – the golden age of Hashima Island. The population exploded, with over 5,000 people living on just over 6 hectares. This population density was the highest in the world. A paradox for an island that would later become a ghost island... Ten years later, oil became the new black gold, and mining activity was no longer profitable. It stopped at the beginning of the 1970s, and the inhabitants, who had nothing left to do, were sent back to their country in 1974. The island became deserted again. 

Several years later, in 2009, the island was renovate to open its doors, in a limited way, to tourists and urban explorers. You can, by the way, visit it comfortably from home thanks to Google. Hashima fascinates today, both for its history linked to labor migration and for what remains, a landscape worthy of post-apocalyptic films.