Mitsubishi bought a reef and built it out into an artificial island, a kilometer long, so the company would have a base for undersea coal mining operations in the area. And for many years, it was the world’s most densely populated place, with 85,500 people per square kilometer in 1959 — and 135,000 people per square kilometer in the densest areas.
The name, Gunkanjima, is Japanese for “Battleship Island,” because the artificial island resembles a battleship when seen from the ocean. The island was completely closed down in 1975, when the coal ran out, and now it’s quite possibly the world’s largest ghost town. It looks like a dark fortress, its shadowy walls looming like death.
