I’m not gonna lie, I really enjoyed the movie Skyfall. I’ve been a fan of the James Bond franchise ever since I was a pubescent snot, entirely thanks to my father who sat and watched every single movie with me. I watched Bond work his way through modest set pieces like an underwater nuclear reactor and Fort Knox to increasingly grandiose and exotic locations like the beautiful Taj Lake Palace and hotels made entirely from ice. As Bond became more and more extravagant, so too did the movie studio’s desire to shock and amaze its audience with dazzling locales. The most recent destination Bond visited was a place that very much exists in real life: Hashima Island.

As soon as I saw it in the film, I was in love. Boy, that place is awesome. If I ever went to Japan, I’d definitely try to tour it. Hashima Island, known as Battleship Island to the Japanese (or the more ominous Island of Ghosts), is a 15.5 acre island about 9 miles off the coast of Nagasaki (yes, that Nagasaki). What makes it so interesting is that the entire island was inhabited by over 5,000 people up until 1974, at which point the population became drastically reduced to 0. Almost the same as the number of people who read my blog! Coincidence, or Illuminati?

Jokes aside, the reason for this sudden disappearance wasn’t anything crazy. No diseases or alien abductions here, I think. Hashima Island was the site of a large underwater coal mine, owned and operated by the Mitsubishi corporation. When the majority of the world decided to start using less of that pesky, carcinogenic fuel, Mitsubishi shut the mine down and sent everyone away. The large apartment buildings you see in the picture were inhabited by the miners of the precious resource.

Now remember, this island is pretty small. Ridiculously small, in fact, especially when you take into account its maximum population of 5,200ish souls. That’s a population density of 835 people per hectare, if Wikipedia is to be believed, which is equivalent to the astonishing mathematical equivalent of 216,264 people per square mile. That’s a lot. Actually the largest population density ever recorded. Seriously, look it up. Oh, you wanted to see more pictures of this epic place? Well, I won’t stop you.

Creepy, right? But I do adore abandoned buildings so much, and an entire island full of them? Sign me up. Another interesting thing about Hashima is that it was only just recently opened for public tours. Not all of it, mind you, on account of those silly public safety laws Japan has, but some. Enough to get a very interesting peek into the derelict buildings of the mysterious island. Oh, and Google even got an employee to make a trek of the island with their cool Street View tech. 360 degrees of abandoned island goodness. You can check out those awesome photos and take a little virtual tour of the island here.

I spent hours looking through photo galleries of Hashima Island. I love how it looks, and I love the way nature interacts with abandoned, falling apart structures. If I had the chance to live in a post-apocalyptic world and travel the land, I’m sorry, but I’d be first in line to nuke everyone.

Orrrr I wouldn’t have to cause worldwide devastation, if I got my fix by visiting places like this. Seeing old television sets left behind, personal belongings strewn in the deserted concrete monoliths- mmm, that’d be awesome. But for now, I can enjoy the sights from a distance, thanks to travel websites and Google Images. If any of you ever get to go, be sure to tell me how awesome it is! Drinks on me.

One more for the road? One more.

I lied. One more after that. This is the kind of thing that makes me want to do Urban Exploration, which is the exploring of these kinds of dilapidated structures and abandoned places, often by flaunting the law. But hey, a small price to pay to see these beautiful places first hand. And this one can be visited legally 100 days out of the year! I’m in.