Korean wartime labor rulings spark debate
The 2017 South Korean film, "The Battleship Island," has yet to receive a theatrical release in Japan, even though it's set on Hashima, more commonly known as Gunkanjima, a former mining complex off the coast of Kyushu and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Given ...
A dystopian future set in the present aftermath
With "Homo Sapiens", director Nikolaus Geyrhalter paints a haunting dystopian vision of civilization minus its creators. This unique documentary consists of nothing but steady, perfectly framed wide-shots of abandoned structures and wastelands. Imagine Wes Anderson doing location shots for "The Walking Dead" and you'll ...
The lure of Japan's mysterious ruins
Abandoned sites offer explorers a numinous mix of history, mortality and a sense of the passage of time
Listening to the wind on Battleship Island
As if from a dream, the island floated over the sea like a terra-cotta dreadnought from a century ago. I'd arrived at Gunkanjima, or Battleship Island, and its profile was unmistakable from the deck of my ferry battling high waves and winds. Formally known as ...
