Google Street View arrives in Hashima, Japan’s ghost island

hashima island

According to the Huffington Post, Google has started displaying images of abandoned Hashima Island on its Google Street View service. More than 5,000 people came to live on the island before their evacuation.

The site, which inspired the film ‘007 – Operation Skyfall’, features huge concrete buildings that were abandoned in 1974 after a decision by Mitsubishi to end activities on the island.

“In 1890, during the industrialization of Japan, Mitsubishi bought the island and started the project for mining coal in submarine mines. Japan’s first large-scale concrete building was built on the site, an apartment block completed in 1916 to accommodate the ever-growing mass of workers. ”, Informs Wikipedia.

“Mitsubishi officially announced the end of its activities on the island in 1974, and the place was completely evacuated, becoming known as ‘Ghost Island’. Access to Hashima was not restored until April 22, 1999, more than 20 years after the closure. ”

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