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Battleship Island is an English translation of the Japanese nickname for Hashima Island, "Gunkan-jima". The island's nickname came from its apparent resemblance to a battleship, or "gunkan" (jima/shima meaning island) due to its high sea-walls. It also is known as the Ghost Island. It is known for its coal mines and their operation during the industrialization of Japan. Mitsubishi bought the island in 1890 and began a project, the aim of which was retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. They built Japan's first large concrete building, a block of apartments, in 1916 to accomodate their burgeoning ranks of workers, and to protect against typhoon destruction. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Gunkanjima Island (軍艦島) is one among 505 uninhabited islands in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. ... The Mitsubishi companies, or the Mitsubishi Group of Companies or the Mitsubishi Group is a large group (keiretsu) of independently operated Japanese companies which share the Mitsubishi brand name. ...

In 1959, its residential area population density was almost 14 people per acre (3460/km²), supposedly the highest population density ever recorded worldwide.

The movie "Midori Naki Shima" ("The Greenless Island", 1949) was shot there.

As petroleum replaced coal in Japan in the 1960s, coal mines began shutting down all over the country, and Hashima's mines were no exception. Mitsubishi officially announced the closing of the mine in 1974, and today it is empty, bare, which is why it's called the Ghost Island.