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'Hashima has gone. This place is dead': Among the ruins on Japan's deserted Battleship Island, the ghostly speck of land that time forgot

 

Friday 13 June 2014 16:05 BST
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(Mark C O’Flaherty)

The official name for this tiny speck of land – the size of 12 football pitches – is Hashima, but few call it that. In English, its most commonly used name means "Battleship Island" and, viewed from a certain angle offshore, its silhouette is uncannily dreadnought in nature. It was a mining facility until 1974, when it was abandoned to the elements, before partially reopening as a tourist attraction in 2009.

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