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ABSTRACT
Gunkanjima Island (Battleship Island) is an abandoned coalmine and community off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. At its peak, the island was fuelling the industrialisation of modern Japan, home to a community of over 5000 residents with one of the highest population densities in the world and the site of early modern concrete high-rise buildings. With the shift to oil, the island soon became abandoned going into decay. A recent rise in media attention and the inclusion as a 2015 UNESCO World Heritage Site has generated interest in industrial heritage tourism on the island. This paper explores the rise and fall of the island as a coalmine and the transition to an industrial heritage tourism site. A framework is presented illustrating the transformation of industrial sites into industrial heritage tourist attractions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Atsuko Hashimoto is an associate professor in the Department of Tourism Management at Brock University, Canada. Her areas of research include human aspects of tourism development.
David J. Telfer is an associate professor in the Department of Tourism Management at Brock University, Canada. His areas of research include tourism planning and tourism in developing countries.
Notes on contributors
Atsuko Hashimoto is an associate professor in the Department of Tourism Management at Brock University, Canada. Her areas of research include human aspects of tourism development.
David J. Telfer is an associate professor in the Department of Tourism Management at Brock University, Canada. His areas of research include tourism planning and tourism in developing countries.