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the battleship island

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Nagasaki, 2024.09.28

Today I visited the ruling queen of 'haikyo' in Japan: abandoned sites. It's the island now known as 'the battleship island' due to its appearance, but it was formerly the mining town of Hashima. It was, for some decades, the home of 5,000 people as the coal mine below the island expanded. And by "expanded", I mean the mining tunnels connected with those of other nearby sites and also to a depth of 1,100 meters.

Gunkanjima

rand()m quote

The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.

—Carl Sagan