<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > a real ghost island, deserted for decades, but there are always people who say that they will see lights, figures, and strange things at night. </h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > here are buried the crimes of Japanese militarism, but also buried the dead bones of Chinese and North Korean laborers, this island shaped like a warship, silent in the sea. </h1>
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Gunkanjima: The place where Chinese laborers died, Japan refused to admit to the atrocious crimes, and the souls of the wronged could not rest in peace
The abandoned buildings look like ghosts during the day. The dappled walls, the peeling paint, like blood that hadn't dried up yet. Overgrown with weeds, only plants can show vitality in such a hellish city, this is Japan's Gunkanjima Island, where behind all the scenes of the end of the world, there is also a dirty history that the world despises.
In the sea, 15 kilometers southwest of Nagasaki, Japan, there is an island that looks like a warship. From the plane, you will see the undulating school buildings and buildings, but if you land on the island, you will find that it has long been empty, only some circling seagulls, emitting hoarse names, and sporadic wild cats, this desert island is one of the 505 desert islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, before it was deserted, he had a loud name, called Hashima, also called Gunkanjima. The island has been abandoned for more than 40 years. Although the island is only 0.063 square kilometers, it is a small island that cannot be smaller, but what happens here is not small at all.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > black coal-red blood</h1>
In 1810, Japan discovered coal mines on Gunkanjima Island, and it would be nice to have some resources for Japan's land area. The coal mine on Managaha Island is like a hair on the top of a rabbit's head, and it looks so precious. With coal mines, there are naturally very large commercial interests behind them. In 1890, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries spent a lot of money to buy the entire island, preparing to mine coal on the seabed, and also built a seawall to reclaim the sea and land. This sesame green bean-sized island has become about the same size as it is now.
They also built four mines here with a depth of more than one kilometer, and since they have all the means of production, who will do the work? Originally, when the coal mines here were not mined on a large scale, that is, the fishermen around them, they turned back a little. This amount is far from enough to support ambitious Japan.
In fact, many people wanted to buy this island at the beginning, but considering the cost of mining and the money in their pockets, they finally chose to give up. However, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries came up with a solution, that is, to adopt a housing system for workers on the island. In fact, this system is very similar to pyramid schemes, which kills the miners on the island, so there are more and more people mining here, and the output of coal mines is getting higher and higher.
In 1916, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries pondered that since workers had to take boats to and from work, it was inconvenient and safe, so don't leave work, and all workers were uniformly arranged on the island. So they built Building 30, Japan's largest reinforced concrete building at the time, and dozens of staff dormitories on the island.
These 9-storey dormitory buildings, at first glance, are carved out of a mold, the rooms are densely arranged, and the bathrooms and kitchens are communal. This is a typical tube building, which is not suitable for long-term residence.
From the 1930s until the end of World War II, the workers here were no longer domestic workers. During this time, Japanese men went out to fight, but the coal mines could not be stopped. Labor became the best choice for these Japanese capitalists, especially the Chinese and Koreans who had been oppressed by them. It was a real event that the Japanese sent more than 40,000 of our compatriots to Japan as war laborers during World War II, where 3,765 Chinese were assigned to the Mitsubishi Corporation and 1,300 North Korean laborers were hired. These people were sent to Gunkanjima Island. Imagine the size of the island and you'll see how crowded it will be.
Moreover, Gunkanjima island is surrounded by the sea, and for the Chinese and North Korean laborers on the island, it is a maritime prison that makes people unable to afford to escape. The whole island is surrounded by towering cement walls, where you look into the distance and you can't see your hometown, only the vast sea. A North Korean survivor named Sun Jong-woo later said: "I have tried to commit suicide by jumping into the sea countless times. Managaha Island, an island of despair.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > despair and numbness</h1>
Thousands of people were all crowded in dense dormitories. These buildings are all painted with cement on the outside, but if you go inside, you will find that the inside is very simple, like a very Japanese tone, on the surface full of benevolence and morality, behind the back of the belly of a man and a prostitute. The cracked walls inside the building were everywhere, dirty, and there were seven or eight people living in each small room, and each person's space was only a few steps wide.
These laborers gathered together, and a bed was to be shared by a dozen people, and if there was to be a name for the system, it would be a shared bed. All people can only sleep at the specified time, sleeping late and then sleeping with another person, due to extremely poor sanitary conditions, the beds are full of lice, mosquitoes are so many that people's scalps are numb.
And Mitsubishi put these into these buildings, and had the purpose of having them serve as flood control embankments. Hashima is hit by typhoons all year round, and these miners' buildings are also built to protect themselves from the sea breeze.
The laborers were unclothed, hungry, allowed to wear only one pair of underwear, and worked in the underground mines for more than 12 hours a day, a luxury to see the sun. There was no time to rest except for sleeping, let alone salary.
In addition to the okara, they eat sardine minced rice mixed with brown rice, and these laborers suffer from diarrhea every day. The crazy labor at the cost of life is exchanged for such a pitiful amount of food, I am wrong, only the overseer there will call this thing food.
The mine is located below sea level, the size of the pit is equivalent to a larger hole, and the workers must squat to work. Because the mine is not ventilated, the temperature inside is 45 degrees, and the air quality is also very poor. Without even the most basic equipment, not even towels, the workers had to wipe their faces with dusty hands, and their eyes were almost blind. They use the simplest tools to dig coal, gas can be sprayed out of the crevices of the rock at any time, and dim electric lights can cause explosions with just a little spark. Their whole body was dyed black with coal, and only the eyeballs were white, and one survivor later said: I was still very young and very hungry, but I was asked to complete the work of adults, and the headlamp battery on the helmet alone weighed 4 kilograms.
If they are lazy, behind them are overseers with katanas. Many died in coal mine accidents, or could not withstand the darkness of labor to jump into the sea to commit suicide, or died tragically under the knife and gun of the military police.
At one point, more than 200 people were buried by a mine collapse, but Mitsubishi did not launch any rescue, but chose to directly close the tunnel where the accident occurred. These laborers were used as beasts. At its peak, Managaha Island's coal production reached 410,000 tons. You must know that these are all chiseled down piece by piece by hand by hand and broken with their bare hands. Every piece of coal is the color of blood.
They work hard every day, not for money or anything else, just to one day get back to their hometown alive. In the end, in the day-to-day labor, living became a numbing luxury. In the occasional rest time, under the faint light, it is the black pressed building, the undulating sea, and perhaps just a gentle sea breeze will make these people think of suicide.
But at the same time, there is another way of life on this small island. The Japanese live in luxury apartments on the island and do not often go to dance halls, and they are even more dismissive of the suffering workers outside. The ship in charge of supply will come up with a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, grain, and fine wine from a long time, which are exclusive to the Japanese.
Throughout World War II, 1,300 Chinese and North Korean laborers were killed here. At that time, the total population of the island was only 3300 people. And this harsh period of brutal abuse of foreign workers is one of the most significant collective crimes in Japanese history.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > the afterglow of the setting sun</h1>
Gunkanjima Island, 15 kilometers from Nagasaki, at 11:02 a.m. on August 11, 1945, the sun was still so poisonous, but another light illuminated the place. The atomic bomb explosion in Nagasaki looked to the laborers of Gunkanjima like the afterglow of the setting sun. They didn't know that after the light was extinguished, they could go home.
After the end of World War II, the laborers were repatriated to their homeland. But the island's dark history was buried by the Japanese. In order to fill the vacancies, the Japanese advertise that this is a new world city. Even to convince the people, the Japanese built schools, hospitals, daily necessities stores, snack bars, movie theaters and bathhouses here. It was as if it had truly become a new world. Under the propaganda of Japanese public opinion, a large number of Japanese workers really came to Gunkanjima with their families.
But here they are treated very differently from the Chinese and North Korean people who have become laborers. Not only have wages gone up, but you can also enjoy the entertainment facilities here. In the eyes of Mitsubishi, these Japanese miners simply came for a vacation. Yes, they came with a vacation mentality, and the Japanese who lived on Gunkanjima many years later thought it was the happiest place they had ever lived. They don't know the history of the place, and they don't know anything about the tragedy that happened here. In 1960, the island's population reached 5,200, nine times that of Tokyo.
Split? In such a small piece of land, people will feel extreme pain and ultimate happiness. Nationality is not the basis for dividing species, but it is true that certain people in certain countries, because of their deeds, have given their people the name of animals and can no longer be counted as human beings.
After 1960, coal mines ceased to be the main resource, and the amount of mining on Gunkanjima was much lower than before, and the coal mines were closed.
In 1974, the former hell island of Chinese and Korean laborers was abandoned, thousands of Japanese left, and the government banned the landing of the island as a ghost island.
In 2003, Japan applied to the United Nations for The island to be inscribed as a World Heritage Site, but the World Heritage Committee made a condition that Japan must tell a complete account of the history of Gunkanjima, and it was only then that Japan recognized everything that happened here.
In 2009, hashima opened some areas to allow visits.
In 2015, Gunkanjima was listed as a World Heritage Site as a symbol of Japan's entry into the Industrial Revolution.
In 2019, Due to the detection of excessive asbestos in the air, because this is the first class of carcinogens, It is temporarily banned from tourists, and when it will open is far from being opened.
Speaking of this, Lao He felt a hint of sadness. This island undoubtedly exists like the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan. Does he symbolize Japan's Industrial Revolution? It represents the suffering of our country and the Korean people during the war. Isn't it sad to make the once Island of the Dead a place of interest?
Of the survivors, only 6 North Korean laborers are still alive, but neither they nor those who have died have received a single apology from Japan.
The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was certainly deadly and injured, but the mushroom cloud was the dawn of mankind's victory against fascism. Even though we pity the innocent people of the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we must not forget that on Gunkanjima Island, across the sea, our compatriots are also suffering from human suffering. The evil in the human heart, at different times, has a different name, and this time, it is called militarism. Gunkanjima is destined to be a sunken ship carrying Japan's evils into the abyss.
We will not hate history, but we will become stronger because of history. Hopefully, these dead compatriots can rest in peace.