onedc SM Developer/Designer

Photograph: Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis

Hashima Island, Japan

Also known as Battleship Island (because of its
shape), this tiny former coal mining facility off
the Nagasaki peninsula is a haunting place
once populated by more than 5,000 people.
The facility, which has industrial and
residential sections, functioned from 1887 to
1974, when owner Mitsubishi officially closed
it as oil began to replace coal in Japan. It
remained closed for 35 years until the
government began to permit access again.
Among the looming concrete ruins are
deserted homes with dusty televisions and
telephones still in place. Two tour operators
now run boat trips to the island but you can
also explore from home thanks to a spooky
Google Street View project that mapped it last
year.