Hey everyone! I recently went to see “Skyfall” in the theater (gr8 movie), and to my surprise, Hashima Island (also known as Gukanjima or Battleship island) was a location.
For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Gunkanjima was a tiny island off...

Hey everyone!  I recently went to see “Skyfall” in the theater (gr8 movie), and to my surprise, Hashima Island (also known as Gukanjima or Battleship island) was a location. 

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Gunkanjima was a tiny island off the coast of Japan.  It was surrounded by underwater coal mines (Japan’s main export at the time), and so became home to thousands of workers and their families.  These workers were forced into very close quarters, the concrete apartment blocks crammed together on the tiny island. The island’s weather is incredibly hostile, and for a good portion of the year, the island is flooded because of large waves. 

As of 2009, ships are allowed to dock on Hashima’s shores, but you have to have special permission to get closer to the buildings, as many of them are falling apart.