I have a thing for ghost towns.  There’s something fascinating about the way they’ve been preserved since their last inhabitants left, almost like you can still feel their presence.  Japan’s Battleship Island, as it’s called, has got to be one of the biggest and most impressive.  Here’s an account of a visit Alex Hoban paid to the off-limits Battleship Island.  Very cool.

A former coal mining facility owned by Mitsubishi Motors, it was once the most densely populated place on earth, packing over 13,000 people into each square kilometre of its residential high-risers. It operated from 1887 until 1974, after which the coal industry fell into decline and the mines were shut for good. With their jobs gone and no other reason to stay in this mini urban nightmare, almost overnight the entire population fled back to the mainland, leaving most of their stuff behind to rot.