Battleship Island (Hashima Island)

Hashima is a small island off Japan’s far southwest coast, some ten miles from Nagasaki. Its dark, battleship-like silhouette earned it the nickname “Gunkanjima” (Battleship Island). During the industrialization wave of the 19th century, coal seams were discovered on the island, and the Mitsubishi company opened a coal mine there. Workers settled on the island and the population grew rapidly. The small mining town quickly developed into a modern and self-sufficient community. In the 1950s, Gunkanjima became one of the most densely populated places in the world, with over 5,000 residents. But after an accident and the restructuring of Mitsubishi's mining projects, the coal mine closed in January 1974. The last residents left the island, and ship connections to the outside world were severed. Gunkanjima has been a ghost town ever since. Marchand and Meffre documented the island photographically between 2008 and 2012.