After watching the Thai movie "Ghost Island," I had always been curious about Gunkanjima. I finally had the chance to visit the island in person this time, and it really felt like a movie scene had become reality!
Luckily, the day I visited happened to be one of the **days with a Chinese-speaking guide (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)**. Listening to the explanations along the way helped me better understand the island's story.
Before the boat even reached the shore, I could see the island's densely packed, abandoned large buildings from a distance. After landing and seeing the crumbling walls and ruins, at first glance it was easy to think this was some kind of postwar site.
But it actually isn't.
It has been about 50 years since the residents evacuated Gunkanjima. The island was once very prosperous, and around 2/3 of its area was even created later through land reclamation and expansion. After years of erosion from typhoons, sea winds, and rain, it gradually became the abandoned, historic-looking place it is today. The area you can actually visit isn't very large, but I felt the whole trip was well worth it. Standing among these ruins, it's hard to imagine that so many people lived here 50 years ago and that the island even had such complete amenities.
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