   thumb|hashima from the sea, 2012 , commonly called gunkanjima (è»è¦å³¶; meaning battleship island), is one among 505 uninhabited islands in nagasaki prefecture about 15 kilometers (9&nbsp;miles) from nagasaki itself. ==history== the island was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility. the island's most notable features are the abandoned and undisturbed concrete apartment buildings and the surrounding sea wall. the island has been administered as part of nagasaki city since the merger with the former town of takashima in 2005. it is known for its coal mines and their operation during the industrialization of japan. mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and began the project, the aim of which was extracting coal from undersea mines. they built japan's first large concrete building (9 stories high), a block of apartments in 1916 to accommodate their burgeoning ranks of workers. concrete was specifically used to protect against typhoon destruction. in 1959, the  island's population reached its peak of 5,259, with a population density of 835 people per hectare (83,500 people/km2, 216,264 people per square mile) for the whole island, or 1,391 per hectare (139,100 people/km2) for the residential district.{{cite news | title = japan's 007 isla
Empire_of_Japan Geography_of_Nagasaki_Prefecture Ghost_towns_in_Japan Islands_of_Japan Mitsubishi Modern_ruins Nagasaki Postwar_Japan Uninhabited_islands_of_Japan