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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| "Battleship Island" (Gunkanjima) to become a "World Heritage Site"? |
| 2008-11-20 |
| Asahi Shimbun Dilapidated buildings and piles of rubble greet participants on a recent media tour to Gunkanjima (battleship island), an abandoned former coal mining community in Nagasaki. The island has been included in a tentative list of candidates for designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site by the Cultural Affairs Agency, along with other former industrial sites in surrounding prefectures. Officially known as Hashima island, it was a major source of coal until the mine closed in 1974. In its heyday, more than 5,000 people inhabited the island, whose contours resemble a battleship. While Hashima is currently off-limits, the city of Nagasaki plans to open it to the public next spring. Gunkanjima at one point had the highest population density in the world, but now it is a ghost town. Wikipedia article here; slideshow of very evocative photos taken just before abandonment here; another slideshow by the same photographer showing the island in recent years here. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #7 I am |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-11-20 22:31 |
| #6 Looks like it needs to have all the concrete buildings torn down and then the island given back to the pelicans...... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-11-20 19:21 |
| #5 Ima not a world heritage site, either. Ima just a part time RB Imam. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-11-20 19:19 |
| #4 Don't know but the Pentagon is undergoing a huge cyber attack at the moment as well. Hope it is not a precurser to some other... even more serious situation. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-11-20 19:13 |
| #3 Hey - how'd my name get in the bottom of the post there? :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-11-20 19:02 |
| #2 I had nothing to do with this one either. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-11-20 18:53 |
| #1 Folks, i don't know who the 'Mike Kozlowski' listed in the posting info is, but it ain't me. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-11-20 18:51 |