congenitaldisease:

Hashima Island is an abandoned island which lies approximately 9 miles from Nagasaki, Japan. It was once a bustling mining community, with undersea coal mines. From 1930 to the end of the Second World War, prisoners of war were sent to the island and forced to mine coal under harsh conditions. It’s estimated that approximately 1,300 prisoners perished on the island. When the coal reserves dissipated in 1974, the mine was closed and the island left abandoned.