Gunkanjima: Undersea Entrance No. 3

Collapsing coal mining facilities on the island ruins

Takako Sakamoto Oct 14, 2014 - 2 min read

<p>The General Office Building; this brick building was once the nerve center of the coal mine</p>

<p>Most of the coal mining facilities are decayed and collapsing, reminding me of some ancient ruins in foreign countries</p>

<p>Coal mining facilities about to collapse to the ground</p>

<p>A white tower and a water tank stand on a hill; They used to extract drinking water from seawater at first, but later, drinking water was carried to the island and stocked here in the tank</p>

<p>No. 30 and 31 Apartment Buildings; these seven-story buildings are the oldest high-storied buildings in Japan</p>

<p>The stone stairs which connect to the Second Mine (main mine of the island) still remain</p>

<p>The drinking water carried to the island by water tank ships was stocked in the water tank on the hill, then was delivered through several water pipes to each building</p>

<p>In the General Office Building there was a large communal bath for miners, which was always black from the coal dust on the miners' bodies</p>

<p>The entrance of the Second Coal Mine seen from the third public view point</p>

In the last story of this series on Gunkanjima, which I visited on New Year's Day this year, I will focus on the island's history.

Coal was first discovered on this island in 1810. As coal output increased, the population on the island also did, and the first concrete high-rise apartment buildings were built on the island. At its peak, about 5,300 residences lived here, and the population density on the island became nine times as high as in Tokyo. When demand shifted from coal to oil, the coal output diminished, decreasing the population on the island as well. Thus, the coal mines here were closed in 1974, and Gunkanjima was deserted.

The view of the island, on which many high-rise concrete apartment buildings still stand, resembles the Japanese battleship 'Tosa', which earns the island the nickname, 'Gunkanjima, Battleship Island'.

Here, I can trace the footsteps of Japan's industrial revolution.

Undersea Coal Mine Island, 'Gunkanjima' 1. Gunkanjima Perspective - No. 1 2. Ruins on Gunkanjima - No. 2 3. Gunkanjima: Undersea Entrance - No. 3

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Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...