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Gunkanjima

Cruising around Gunkanjima, Japan’s otherworldly “Battleship Island”【Photos】

Our Nagasaki native gets her first up-close look at the whole-island ghost town.

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You can build Japan’s hauntingly beautiful Gunkanjima as a papercraft kit【Photos】

Putting together “Battleship Island” gave us a new perspective on what life was like for the families that lived there.

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10 places in Japan so beautiful it’s practically hard to take a bad picture while you’re there

Nine locations to visit right now, and one to save for the spring.

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50-year-old video of Japan’s Battleship Island shows life in the deserted isle’s glory days 【Video】

Japan’s most famous urban ruins weren’t always deserted, as shown in this video from the 1960s when Gunkanjima’s ghost town was still alive and well.

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Gunkanjima and 22 sites of Japan Meiji Industrial Revolution up for World Heritage award

Congratulations, Japan; you’re on your way to being awarded yet another UNESCO World Heritage honor!

This time around the honor will be going to “Sites of Japan Meiji Industrial Revolution,” which includes Nagasaki’s legendary (and awesomely spooky) “Battleship Island” among others, granted it passes the final approval stage.

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Check out this absolutely stunning drone video of Nagasaki’s Battleship Island in Ultra HD

Nagasaki is known for having a lot of history, being the only port open to foreign trade during Japan’s long isolation in the Edo Period. But one of Nagasaki’s most captivating tourist attractions really isn’t that old – Hashima Island, better known as Gunkanjima, or Battleship Island. It’s eerie existence brings haikyo (urban ruins) fans from all over the world. If you can’t make it to the island yourself, or are unsatisfied with the limited visibility from the tour, wait no longer. Thanks to “Gunkanjima Archives,” an organization run by Nishi Nihon Newspaper, which is dedicated to bringing you photos and videos of the desolate island, you can now take an Ultra HD drone tour of the island in a spellbinding video.

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Live-action Attack on Titan film casts lead role, sets filming location and start date

Despite being filled with man-eating giants and heartless bureaucrats, people around the world can’t get enough of smash hit anime and manga Attack on Titan. But while fans wait patiently for the rumored continuation of the animated TV series, production is moving ahead on the franchise’s live-action theatrical feature, which now has a filming location and an actor chosen to play Titan-hating protagonist Eren Yeager.

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Unfortunate Google employee forced to wander alone on eerie abandoned island for Street View photos

Google Street View seems to have its priorities all out of whack. While only just getting around to snapping the more remote areas of mainland Japan and having yet to cover the majority of Canada, Google sent out one intrepid employee to explore the completely abandoned Japanese island of Gunkanjima.

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Battleship Island: Five Reasons Why More Movie Villains Should Live Here

Hashima Island, better known as Gunkanjima (lit. Battleship Island) due to its warship-like silhouette, is a small island off the coast of Nagasaki with a remarkable history. Owned by Mitsubishi as a coal mining facility from 1887 to 1974, this was once the most densely populated place on the planet, with more than 5,000 inhabitants crammed into its 6 square-kilometre dimensions. Now, the place is deserted and all that’s left of the once-bustling metropolis is an eerie landscape of crumbling, grey buildings.

When the Bond villain Raoul Silva chose the island as his secret lair in the latest 007 movie Skyfall, Gunkanjima received worldwide attention. But did Bond’s nemesis know that the island is home to Japan’s first-ever multi-storey concrete reinforced apartment block? We visited the island and checked out areas off-limits to the public to find out more about what makes this the perfect villain’s lair. Take the full virtual tour and see our photos after the jump.

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