2015年7月4日土曜日

Battleship Island (Gunkanjima)

Gunkanjima means Battleship Island in Japanese and its formal name is Hashima. The island is an abandoned island lying on about 15 kilometers off-shore of Nagasaki. The name, needless to say, comes from its appearance and it is formed by a lot of cookie-cutter apartments. These apartments were used as dormitory houses for coal workers. Since the discovery of coal there in 1810, Battleship Island had been exploited and producing large quantities of coals until 1974.


In its golden age of 1960, its population reached 5,267 and population density was whooping 83,600 per square kilometer, the highest in the world at that point. There were school, hospital, temple, barber shop, pub, and movie theater, functioning itself as an independent city. Since coal workers' salary were relatively high, they were able to possess television and refrigerator when those appliances were still expensive for average citizens. Today, however, there is no residents in the island. Battleship Island has been ruins since its closing in 1974.



In 2015, Battleship Island was nominated for world heritage and its registration was approved unanimously in July 5, 2015. That registration was for 23 institutions that were Japan's heritages of industrial revolution in Meiji Period, and the Battleship Island was one of them. The discussion for its approval had been facing troubles as South Korea argued that there were Korean laborers who had been forced to work in some institutions including Battleship Island.

The both sides, Japan and South Korea eventually reached the agreement to recognize the 23 institutions as a candidate for world heritage, provided that Japanese delegates make a statement that acknowledges there were Korean workers who were forced to work in those institutions. But unfortunately, a lingering bad feeling was left between both sides as a trivial difference of interpretation on that statement cause both sides to have respectively different views.  

While Korean delegates insisted that there were 'forced labor', Japanese delegates preferred and used the passage saying 'there were workers forced to work'. This difference was discussed between both sides before the ceremony and Korean made a concession, not using the word of forced labor. However, Japanese foreign minister stated after the ceremony that the word 'forced to work' does not mean 'forced labor' - it provoked resentment among Korean people, firing up social media networks.
Korean foreign affairs officer stated against their counterpart's statement that the important thing is how does international community take the fact based on its practice and standard. Having said that, Korean media, by and large, reported the series of affairs as their diplomatic success, saying Japan admitted the fact of forced labor in the scene of international relations for the first time. Furthermore, there seems to be a Korean movie director who are going to make a movie in which Korean forced laborers are rescued by special forces. 

Japanese government said that although there were certainly laborers brought from Korea in Japan during WWII, they were requisitioned in conformity to the National Requisition Ordinance as is the case of Japanese citizens - a case that should not be called forced labor from the point of the view of international law. Although that logic can make a sense as Japan had been annexing Korea during WWII, Korean national sentiment would not be able to accept it. 

However, there were positive aspects on the relationship between both sides that were brought about by the series of event. In fact, Korean foreign minister stated that we were hoping the progress of the Korea-Japan relationship, taking advantage of this peaceful settlement in which we only exchanged conversations. Also, Japan announced that it would construct an information center in relevant institutions to exhibit displays that expressed the existence of Korean laborers who were forced to work, enduring tough labor environment.



From architectural view point, Battleship Island is the first place where reinforced concrete construction method (SRC) was employed for residence. In those days of the 1960s, since Japan was in so-called high economic growth period, a lot of functionally efficient apartments were needed for employees and their families. Besides, increasing population due to post war baby boom required it, too. Therefore, numerous apartments were constructed during that period both privately and publicly. 

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