Photography
This Entire Japanese Island was Abandoned
It’s hard to imagine thousands of people living somewhere and then one day leaving it all behind never to return. But that’s exactly what happened to Ikeshima, also known as Ike Island in Japan. It formerly housed thousands of coal miners (some sources say over 10,000) during the height of coal production, from the 1950s well into the 1980s.
When the coal mine was officially shut down in 2001, the hundreds of tall apartment buildings, hospitals and offices were left to decay. Today, fewer than 200 people reside on the island.
