Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki Exploring Gunkanjima/Hashima Part 2

Continuing on our exploration on Hashima Island, after exploring one half of the island, we were lead to the other half of it, which looked more like a living quarters of the people here. 

Abandon building everywhere. 

The buildings looked quite modern actually. And to think they built all these in the past, must have meant this was such a modern and wealthy place. Based on the guide, everyone on the island actually owns a TV set at that time cause they were so rich. Also, there wasn't much to do on the island except work. There were schools and hospitals on the island, as well as shopping streets too. Even rice farming on the roof of the buildings, so that their children would know what rice plant looked like and how it's cultivated. 

Walking towards the other side of the island. 

More housing area. Lol. Now it just looked like Malaysia to me :P

Finally, it was time to go back to the boat. Our visit was over.

Bye bye Hashima. All in all, the whole trip maybe took 2 hours or so? So you could easily do it as a half day tour. And although the ticket is expensive, it is once in a life time thing. The ticket also came with a free entrance to the digital museum. I though that was just a bonus to get people to visit the museum, but when I did eventually went there after lunch (since we already paid for it), the museum was actually pretty cool!

On the boat ride back, I did a feedback survey for the tour and got a Gunkanjima mascot postcard! That is Gansho-kun! And I think he is so funny looking cause he looked like a piece of shit to me! Hahahahaha. But actually, he is the whole island, with the town on his head, get it? If you love him, there will be a post about him coming up!

Here is a selfie of me at Gunkanjima. Fun fact, two notable movies was filmed here: James Bond's Skyfall, and Attack on Titan! In 2025, I also visited Glencoe in Scotland, another site where Skyfall was filmed. I tagged Adele's music on my Instagram post for it. Man! I want to work on a James Bond movie team! They visit the coolest place on earth!

Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki Exploring Gunkanjima/Hashima Part 1

 

Well well well, it was our lucky day! Not only did we managed to get the last two seats on board Jupiter to sail here, but the weather was good enough for us to land on the island itself! I was so excited! Slowly, we were allowed to disembark from the boat and on to the very small rocky jetty to wait at the empty space for our guide to join us.

Yes, this is a UNESCO site. And even if it wasn't, I would still want to visit it. I've seen it featured in some of the Youtube clips before, and it was sooooo cool. Anyway, here is an official info for you to learn a bit more about the island.

Up close, the island did not disappoint. Large area of abandon concrete building, like ruins, but modern ruins. Almost an abandon waste land. Is this what our future would look like when it ends?

The island was not that big, but not that small. We weren't allowed to wander around as we pleased. We had to follow our guide, and there were only designated areas that we could visit. In fact, the tour boats that are allowed to land on the island are also controlled to avoid overcrowding, as well as to preserved this waste land.

Although I took a lot of photos, after a while, it does kinda looked like any construction site you will find. Especially in Malaysia where the construction has been abandon due to financial issues.

You could't get closed to the buildings, as the walk way was just a distance from it.

It was quite a cool place to walk around in. And many people walked as slow as possible to soak everything in. I am thinking to myself, Japan has got to be the coolest country to visit. They seriously have EVERYTHING!

At every designated stopping point, the guide (the guy in pink) would explained to us a little bit about the history and how people used to live here. He actually has a lot of photos with him, and he would show them to us as he tell his stories. The tour was only in Japanese, but the photos does convey the message too. So even if you can't understand, just go and observe!

The crowds from our boat. There was another tour group on the island too. But all in all, it was not too crowded and was a pleasant walk.

Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki Approaching Gunkanjima/Hashima

Ladies and gentlemen, Hashima Island. I prefer to call is Gunkanjima a.k.a Battleship Island, cause surely this can only come out from a sci fi fantasy story! So, the wonderful thing that I love about my travel is, it's like a fast track to learning history and culture of a country. Hashima Island was indeed a futuristic island long time back when coal was a thing. It was a high revenue generating place, and many people came here to live and work here. It was a whole town on that concrete piece of land. But soon, the coal ran out, or the demand went down, and soon it was abandon, with all it's buildings still intact. Like a zombie invaded land. Time stood still since then. Who knows how long it will remain like this. 

Our boat approaching the island. This was the most exciting part of the trip. Cause the captain has to judge whether it was safe for us to land. And I bet everyone of us wanted to land and set foot on that island! it was nerve wracking as the boat gets closer and closer to it.

Everyone was outside the boat, taking photograph, just in case the captain decided that nope, today was't the day! Hahaha. So close yet to far!

Here's a selfie of me, praying that we can land! 

I do think the island is so beautiful. I mean, it's all concrete and without any colour. But there is just something very surreal about it. Something mysterious. Something sad and haunting. 

Our boat went closer and closer, and we could see the building clearer. Clearly abandon. Stones and metal could be seen exposed. Streets empty. Not much vegetation on the island. Windows, dark and hollow..... 

Imagine..... there once was a vibrant community here....

Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki Gunkanjima/Hashima Via Jupiter Boat

This is Jupiter, the boat that was going to take us to the cool island. I saw people boarding it, so we went to ask how to get tickets. The guide there told us to walk to the digital museum just a short distance away to enquire about tickets, so we did. This was the boat I wanted to take to Gunkanjima! Which translate to battleship island, or it's real name Hashima.

Lucky us! We got the last two tickets to board the morning boat ride. I was actually ok to wait for the afternoon ride, but the lady at the ticket counter told us that we can make it, and that the weather was good in the morning. So the thing about these boat ride is, they only sail if the weather is good. And to actually get to land on the island to explore it, you have to have good weather without strong wind or tide. So she told us we should go now since the weather in the afternoon trip is not guaranteed. So we got our tickets, and ran all the way back to the pier to board the boat! Yay! I was so high on adrenaline! I was gonna get to see the cool island I wanted after all! The ticket price wasn't cheap either, almost 30sgd? But it was one of those places that only exist here and now..... so YOLO!

As the boat sailed out from the harbour, we were allowed to wander outside the boat to look at the view. 

We saw the cool bridge that we saw early on our morning walk too.

As well as some Easter Island looking figurine at some of the land area. I thought that was rather hilarious and freaking cool! 

But I thought these shipyard was really cool. I've never seen so much metal on the water before. And we get to see them quite up close too. When I saw these, my mind was racing on about sci fi anime. So this is where it was all based on! Imagine watching an anime, or reading some Japanese fiction where you can only imagine it in your mind, and then finally getting to see something similar to it in real life. It was like fantasy coming to life! A very surreal feeling, at least for me :P

The shipyard forms a very large area, and has been there for a long time.

Some of the ships kinda looked like battleship. So fitting since we were headed to battleship island! All the metal and fire going on out there to build all these gigantic floating tin cans! Lol. Almost Lord of the Ring vibe where the Orcs were building an army, with weapons from fire and steel!

It was just a short ride, maybe 40minutes? And we soon spotted the surreal island. 

Kyushu 2023 - Nagasaki Port Morning Walk

 

Nagasaki first morning, waking up to this view from our Dormy Inn Hotel. I didn't have much planned, except to walk to the harbour area, and maybe try getting a ticket to see a cool island. I have been trying to get tickets to the cool island, but there was no reply to my email or messages. I guess in Japan, they still prefer people calling. Anyway, let's go try my luck.

It was a nice morning for a walk, the weather was quite cooling and not much sun in the sky. I walked towards the sea side and went pass Nagasaki Bizport. Saw some yellow tulips growing there that they looked almost unreal.

Reached the harbour area in good time, so we admired the view and read up a bit about the history of Nagasaki port, especially during the industry revolution of Japan.

We could see views of another town just cross the waters. It looked kinda like Urakami too. Perhaps all the town in Nagasaki is on a slope like these. It does made a very memorable landscape.

Saw this cute little train on the pedestrian path at Nagasaki Bizport. I thought that with all the train spotting and train rides that we have been doing, it was appropriate for me to include this in my collection of train photos too! 

Walking further along, we saw some cool buildings in front, with cool waterways along the path.

I really like the vibe of the place. The architecture of the place was very neat and concrete, yet there were flowers and water surrounding the area. It was industrial chic, yet oddly natural. A very unique Japanese style which I am totally in to! I guess it was the use of space. It wasn't overly cluttered. Everything was neat and clean line, modern yet traditional. 

I love the use of glass in their buildings too. And how some of the buildings were built across the waters. I think that was one of the museum or art or something. I didn't visit it. I'm particular about the museums I visit since it takes so much time to really enjoy a good museum. 

Here is a closer view of the architecture. Even if you don't appreciate buildings, surely you can appreciate the beauty of your surroundings?

A great balance of water, nature and concrete in this space.

There were stone steps where you could walk down to the waters too. This was roughly the end of the seaside walk, as we later turned into a small town area near Chinatown to look for my ferry ride to a cool island. How cool? Wait and see in upcoming post!

In case you would like to replicate my walk, here is the map I used. It was quite a short walk, but seems longer when you stopped and admire everything you came across. When I travel, I don't really spend a lot of money on public transport, especially when it's such a pleasant area to walk in :)