Gunkanjima - Coal and Concrete
The boat rocks as it rides the waves while rain is splashing against the windows. In a typically Japanese display of customer service, a member of the tour staff is outside, cleaning the windows of the rainwater, only for them to be quickly covered in raindrops once again. Behind this exhilarating little spectacle, an island emerges from the fog. One could say that today's weather is fitting for this place, making the hulk of concrete and rock look even more gloomy. The island truly lives up to its nickname: it looks like a battleship.
Hashima (literally "border island") is a small, rocky island located 4.5 km off the west coast of Kyushu and 18 km from the port and city center of Nagasaki. As early as 1810, coal was discovered on the island, and while several companies attempted to establish mining operations without much success in the second half of the 19th century, the real rise of coal mining on Hashima began after Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890. Over the next decades, it became a central supplier of Japan's growing energy demands and the most densely populated place on earth.
Originally measuring just 320 by 120 meters, the island was expanded by landfills several times over the course of its industrial exploitation to its current size of 480 by 160 meters, resulting in an area of around 6.3 hectares. It is surrounded entirely by seawalls to protect the residents and mining facilities from the rough seas and regularly occurring typhoons. The island's nickname, Gunkanjima or "battleship Island" can be traced back to 1916, when a newspaper stated that Hashima's silhouette "looked like a battleship".
The boat circles around the island to provide views from all sides, while the tour guide talks about its history and points out some points of interest on the island. He soon switches the topic to instruct and prepare us for whats to come: in a few minutes, we will land and set foot on Gunkanjima. Much to the relief of everyone on board, the staff is handing out raincoats. While we are unpacking the coats from their bags and put them on, the rustling of plastic creates an excited atmosphere.
After the first wooden buildings were repeatedly destroyed by typhoons, a brand new modern building material was brought in to better withstand the forces of nature: reinforced concrete. It also allowed for the construction of high-rise buildings to house the rising amount of workers on the tiny island. In fact, Japan's very first reinforced concrete buildings were built here, with the first one completed in 1916. Referred to as building #30, it was originally a four-story residential block, but was expanded to seven stories shortly after completion. Over the course of the next decades, many buildings followed, including a school, shops, hospital, temple and a movie theater.
Hashima's population reached its peak in 1960 with 5,267 residents in which was at that time the highest population density in the world. The undersea mines reached a depth of around 600 meters and spread out in various directions under the seafloor. Yet after 1960, as Japan started to shift from coal to oil as its main energy source, the coal production on the island slowly declined, as did the number of residents. The end for the Hashima mines came in 1974. After their closure in January of that year, the last residents left the island by the end of April. Gunkanjima went dark and became a ghost island. In fact, as the island's illumination disappeared with the residents, a lighthouse had to be built to inform ships about its presence and ensure safe shipping routes.
After the island was abandoned and left to the elements, its structures quickly started to deteriorate due to the harsh weather conditions, exposure to salt water, lack of maintenance as well as the fact that the use of reinforced concrete was still in its infancy at the time of construction. Over the coming decades, some buildings partially collapsed. Today, the structures help researchers understand the impact of environmental effects on building materials.
The tour group is an amusing sight: around 80 people, all in similar transparent raincoats, waddling along the sightseeing path in the pouring rain. At each of the three observation spots, the group stops and the guides provide information about the surrounding area. The guides also make sure that the group stays together, nobody is supposed to wander off on their own. Around the pathway, the island's floor is covered in debris: massive rocks, concrete chunks and remains of brick walls. The third observation spot provides a good view of building #30, the aforementioned first reinforced concrete building on the island from 1916. Its windows a long gone and a part of its outer wall has collapsed over almost the entire height, affording a peek inside the building. It is an eerie but fascinating sight that is intensified by the gloomy weather and constant downpour.
After the island became part of the city of Nagasaki in 2005, the city looked into possible uses for tourism. The island had gained fame as a lost place and interest in its historical significance was on the rise. Since it was impossible to have visitors roaming freely on the island due to the danger of building collapse, an observation path was installed on the island. From 2009 on, specially licensed sightseeing companies were able to offer guided tours to the island.
Around the same time, a movement formed to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status for a number of sites around the country that played an important role in Japan's industrial revolution in the Meiji era in the early 20th century. Hashima was included on that list, but the bid met opposition by South Korea, North Korea and China due to the fact that before and during World War II, Korean and Chinese forced laborers were sent to Hashima to work in the mines, a historical detail that Japan denied. To advance the application, Japan agreed to cover this part of history in the Gunkanjima museum exhibition. In 2015, the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining", which include the Hashima coal mine, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Since then though, Japan has only very reluctantly implemented information about forced labor. This has remained a diplomatic issue between Japan and South Korea.
We return to the boat and hop on board, discarding the wet raincoats at the entrance. Another 45 minutes later, we arrive back in Nagasaki. 80 people leave the ship in need of a change into dry shoes and clothes, but probably nobody would complain, as we are all moved from this impressive and thought-provoking trip into Japan's industrial past.
Interested in another article on Japanese architecture by me? Check out my 2009 article about Nakagin Capsule Tower (which was unfortunately demolished in 2022).
Fastrak - Vanilla Speedmaps for Doom 2
Fastrak is a series of five vanilla speedmaps for Doom 2. This is an ongoing project, more maps may be added in the future.
- Maps use stock Doom 2 textures and assets only
- Maps are intended for pistol start
- Vanilla compatible (tested in Vanilla and Chocolate Doom), but a limit removing port is recommended.
For screenshots, head on over to my Doom 2 maps page.
Black Sun - Three Maps for Doom 2
Right after the release of Yomi 2, I started working on new Doom 2 maps. The project's title is Black Sun. So far, the set consists of three maps, with the option to add more later.
For screenshots, head on over to my Doom 2 maps page.
NEWS
July 27, 2025: MAP03 has been released!
TRIVIA
Here's some trivia and tidbits about the maps and their creation:
MAP01 - "Kuroiki"
- The start room with the large window is from an unfinished map I built in 2013. When I showed that map to Pablo Dictter, it actually sparked the idea to create a sequel to "Hatomo Battles the Yomi Demons". In the end, that map didn't make it into Yomi 2 though. It gathered dust on my hdd until I reused the start room for this new map, almost 12 years later.
- This map actually started with the blue/yellow key room, which I built to test the new COMP texture I made. I liked the idea of having a double sided computer console, each side containing a key card. As a second step, I copied the start room mentioned above from the older map into this map. The room before the exit is from another unfinished map, and the room on the bottom right of the map containing the crates is from yet another older unfinished map. This crate room was severely shrunken in size though compared to the original one, but keept the same shape and the crates are actually identical. With these elements or cornerstones in place, I just went on from there. It's awesome to me how this very coherent map developed from so many different, older elements.
- Released on May 4, 2025
MAP02 - "Sludge Cistern"
- I wanted to make a map with burning barrels, since I rarely use that decoration.
- I also had the idea to make a brick wall with a grate that oozes sludge. In the end I made two variations of that texture.
- In the first version of the main cistern chamber, platforms would raise out of the sludge. I thought that was a bit too common und uncreative though, so I developed the idea of raising the sludge level to access the corridor leading to the exit.
- The idea behind the large switch room on the upper floor is that it has two sludge tanks and pressing the switch drains the tanks by pumping the sludge into the cistern, which raises the sludge level there, allowing you to reach the exit. As a neat little detail, the empty sludge canal outside the switch room then also floods, emptying into the cistern.
- The room right to the east of the start (specifically above the triangular steps) was where I first created the diagonally stepped brick ceilings, which then became one of the main architectural elements of the map and reappears in variations throughout the map.
- I really like how the switch room combat area turned out. When exploring beforehand, the seems like you'll be able to retreat into the small side corridors for a safe location, but since the tanks have grates there too, there's actually pretty much no escape from the mancubi. Even after building it and playing it over and over, I sometimes still find myself being blindsided by the disappearing cover.
- Released on May 4, 2025
MAP03 - "Purify"
- The leftmost part of the map (green BRICK10 corridor) is from the same unreleased 2013 map that the start room of MAP01 is from.
- Released on July 24, 2025
Hatomo Battles The Yomi Demons Yet Again
Do you remember "Hatomo Battles the Yomi Demons", the Doom 2 map set released in 2007 by Pablo Dictter and me? If not...well...we made a sequel anyway.
Welcome to Yomi 2, or "Hatomo Battles The Yomi Demons Yet Again"! Enjoy 17 new maps for Doom 2 (15 regular maps + 2 secret levels) with Music Composed By Damian Lee (Lexus Alyus) and Pablo Dictter. The project has been designed for any ZDoom compatible port (Zdoom 2.8.1 or higher). It's actually a mix of Boom and ZDoom (Hexen format) maps.
For screenshots, head on over to my Doom 2 maps page.
New Kojimatic album - "Press Start to Play"
Insert your cartridges and boot up your old consoles - here is a soundtrack straight from the gaming sessions of your childhood! The latest release of my music project Kojimaic (which has been renamed from Kenji Kojima for this occasion) "Press Start to Play" is pure chiptune goodness with catchy melodies that could come right out of a 80's or 90's console game.
The 5-track album is now available on my Bandcamp page at https://kojimatic.bandcamp.com and will is available on all major streaming and download platforms (like Apple Music, Spotify or Amazon).
Here's some trivia about the album:
- Inspiration for these songs obviously came from chiptune music and soundstracks of 80's and early 90's computer game music. The pixel artwork of the cover is a nod to that. The song titles also roughly resemble a game soundtrack.
- No real instruments, no vocals, just MIDI tracks with chiptune plugins - this project reduces music to the bare minimum. I always preferred working with real instruments, but here, not being restricted by my instrument skills when composing actually resulted in a lot of freedom in composing. It also sped up the process a lot, as these songs were much easier to mix since I didn't have to worry with several different recordings, instruments and vocals for each song.
- I actually never liked using MIDI that much and found working with it somewhat cumbersome. I thus used MIDI rarely before, mostly with plugins that simulated real instruments (like the cello in "Owaru Sekai" from my album "Atarashii Sekai"). When I started researching chiptune music, little did I know that it would spark a huge amount of inspiration. I had a ton of fun composing these songs and I think it shows.
- The first song I did for the project (that song later became the title track "Press Start to Play") was composed almost exactly one year ago in December 2018. After a longer break, I returned to the project in late summer and autumn 2019 to compose the other four songs. The last song I created for the album ("Cutscene") was actually composed just two weeks before the release and within three days.
- A lot of 80's and 90's game music makes use of weird time signatures and rhymthms. While this isn't prevalent in a lot of the songs from this album, "Cutscene" actually alternates between 3/4 and 4/4 signatures, with the main melody ending with a bar of 4/4 and then switching back to 3/4. You can find a few cases where a beat is added or removed in some of the other songs as well.
- The release date December 14 is not random. Three years ago on this date, my previous album "Atarashii Sekai" was released, so Happy Birthday to that album!
Looking for really old Kotogoto news? Check out the blog archives.