A tiny island in Nagasaki Prefecture, once prosperous for its coal but deserted for the last 30 years, is in the limelight again, thanks to its naming as a possible World Heritage site and rekindled interest in relics from Japan's first steps toward becoming a modern industrial power.
Hashima, 19 km southwest of Nagasaki port, is popularly called Gunkanjima ("Battleship Island") because its cluster of buildings looks like the former Imperial navy warship Tosa.
The 1.2-sq.-km island was uninhabited until the Edo Period (1603-1868), when coal was found, and became prosperous during the subsequent Meiji Era.