1. Apple is everywhere – it’s staggering how over the past couple of years how the asian market has been transformed from a Galapagos island of feature phones made by Japanese and Korean titans to shear Apple domination. While affluent youngsters used to tout the latest from Samsung and LG all everyone now wants is iEverything. The appeal seems in equal parts about fashion and function with the clean lines and ease of use being a breath of fresh air where good design used to take a backseat. While most other manufacturers are jumping on the Android bandwagon they have a lot of catching up to do.
2. KakaoTalk is killing SMS – around the world SMS is rapidly being replaced by apps which send messages over the net instead of GSM. The main advantage of these apps are that messages are free (minus data costs) no matter where the recipient is in the world and you can do a lot more like send high-resolution photos, videos, share your location or group chat. While WhatsApp may be the darling of the west, in South Korea everyone with a smartphone uses homegrown KakaoTalk. The app is available for free on both iPhone and Android in Korean, Japanese, and English.
3. The Chinese are spending – like with many other countries the people spending the big money these days seem to be the Chinese. I’ve noticed an increasing number of stores actively advertising that they accept UnionPay (China’s equivalent of Visa) to attract Chinese tourists. The value of overseas transactions using the China Unionpay cards jumped 44 percent year on year (2010 – 2011) to 6.37 billion yuan (965 million U.S. dollars) according to the company. More proof that the communist party don’t need to invade other countries to still rule them!
4. Group buying craze – with over 400 competitors, the online group buying market in South Korea is pretty hot right now. The biggest players are Ticket Monster (recently acquired by LivingSocial), Coupang, WeMakePrice, and of course the heavyweight – Groupon. How well any of these will fare in the long-term is unclear but the rapid growth is very impressive. Seoul Space has some good coverage on the subject.
5. Still fantastically fast – while the western world happily sips from modest 3G mobile connections, South Korea is still outpacing anywhere else with the adoption of 4G WiBro (or WiMax) technology providing speeds up to 40.32 mbps on the go. That’s around 10x faster than 3G and better than what most Europeans and Americans can get over a fixed line to their home. The main use of all this bandwidth seems to be video-on-demand services such as streaming TV (a popular pastime for any Seoul commuter!).
6. Shopping on the metro – while I sadly didn’t get to see this in person Tesco, known as Home Plus in Korea, ran a very innovative promotion which allowed shoppers to use their smartphone to scan QR codes on pictures of products stuck on advertisements along metro station platforms (a virtual store if you like). After completing a purchase the groceries are then delivered to the persons home. During the period of the campaign, online sales increased 130% and registered users increased by 76%. The video below shows it in action:

And finally… the invasion of leggy girl and androgynous boy Kpop groups who look and sound almost identical continues unabated except for the occasional interruption by government censors slapping taste & decency bans on any who dare to bare more skin than bad tunes. Cover your ears…

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When asked why Hong Kong was chosen as the backdrop for the film Mamoru Oshii and his art designer, Takeuchi Atsushi, had the following explanation:

[Oshii] When I was in search of an image of the future, the first thing that came to my mind was an Asian city. At first I did not think it was possible to create a perfect cityscape for the future; and what was done in the past seems unconvincing to me now…. The only way, if one is to be true to the methodology of animation, is to use real streets as models, so I thought of Hong Kong. It is like the Los Angeles of Blade Runner; what has been achieved in that city set will be of use to later films.

[Atsushi] Ghost in the Shell does not have a definite chosen set, but in terms of street scenes and general atmosphere, it is obvious that Hong Kong is the model. Such a choice has, of course, something to do with the theme: on the streets there flows an excess or a flood of information, along with everything this excess brings out. The modern city is swamped with billboards, neon lights and symbols…. As people live in this information deluge, the streets will have to be depicted accordingly as being flooded…. There is a sharp contrast between old streets and new ones on which skyscrapers are built. My feeling is that these two, originally very different, are now in a situation where one is invading the other. Maybe it is the tension or pressure that is brought about by so-called modernization! It’s a situation in which two entities are kept in a strange neighboring relationship. Perhaps it is what the future is.

[Atsushi] In the midst of the profusion of signs and the heat of the messy urban space, the streets are remarkably chaotic. Passers-by, shouts, cars, all kinds of mechanical noises and human “sound pollution,” all merging into one, forcing itself into humans’ central nervous systems through their ears. But why do people succumb to this “destructive” environment? Now that the artificial has replaced the natural, humans are like animals in the past, deprived of the characteristics of being human as a whole. Pulled directly into the whirlpool of information through the stimulation of visual and auditory senses, their feelings are henceforth numbed. On the other hand, countless mutually interfering and uncertain data pass through cables at light speed. This is the way informatics continues to expand its domain.

While the real Hong Kong may not be literally submerged in water (despite being surrounded by it), in nearly every other respect both the imagery and soulful mood depicted in the film mirror reality very closely – especially when contrasting the modern skyscrapers of Central with some of the older neighbourhoods in Sheung Wan and Kowloon. There is simply no other city like it.

After getting my new Lumix GF2 earlier in the year I went out on a number of evenings (spanning March – June 2011) to shoot various scenes of everyday life in Hong Kong (mostly around Mong Kok) and have tried to assemble them in as a simple homage to Ghost in the Shell. Bear in mind that I’m not a professional videographer but I hope it evokes a similar atmosphere…

In many ways I feel that the intensity of living in Hong Kong has a numbing effect on its residents who try to insulate themselves from both the physical and mental demands of a city where money rules and personal space comes at a high premium. It’s no wonder that young people here struggle to get a foothold on happiness despite economic prosperity.

Hong Kong is the ultimate abstraction whereby our lives are no longer dependant on mother nature but on artificial life-support systems which feed off mass-produced assemblies of raw materials processed out-of-sight and out-of-mind. As a vision or model of a future city it’s both enthralling and frightening.

More Comparison Shots

Update (7/8): The reaction to this has been fairly overwhelming – many thanks to Tim Maughan, io9, Crunchyroll, Reddit, and Gadżetomania for the support!

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In addition to this they often fail to take advantage of the additional possibilities these devices bring. An iPad can do so much more than just display text, pictures and videos since it has a constant connection to the internet with the wealth of information and social connections that it brings. To date the way in which I’ve seen the technology harnessed is simplistic at best (Wired, Project) and a hinderance at worst (The Daily).

While there have already been lots of discussions about the shortcomings of current implementations I’d like to focus on eBooks in particular which I feel are the worst offenders and what I’d like to see in future eBook readers:

1. Better layout and typography - some eBook readers are better at this than others but there are still clear issues with the display across different devices with various screen resolutions. I don’t want to see scanned copies of type headings or other elements which should be vectorized.
2. Unlimited lending – you should be able to share books your own for unlimited periods to one person at a time. While someone else has your book you obviously can’t read it but can recall it at any time (ala Lendle but built-in).
3. Collaborative reading – you should be able share your reading list, progress, and notes with friends who might be reading the same thing. This would be especially helpful for students or book groups.
4. Copying & sharing – you should be able to copy paragraphs of text for the purpose of quoting or sharing a link to a particular place in a book on Twitter / Facebook etc. This provides another way to drive sales also.
5. Interlinked information – you should be able select a character name, place, or term you’re interested in and it will present you with background information, similar to a normal hyperlink but semantically generated.
6. Portability – if you buy a book in one eBook store you should be able to transfer and read it on any device without being limited or locked to a particular provider. If I buy a book it should be mine to do with as I please in so far as I don’t distribute copies to others (like an MP3).
7. Automatic revisions – when a new edition of a book you own is released it should automatically get updated in your library similar to when you update an app to a new version. Some publishers may want to charge for this which is fine as long as it’s fairly priced (see next point).
8. Fair pricing – at the very minimum an eBook should never be more expensive than its paper counterpart, and considering the savings in terms of manufacturing it would be good to see modest discounts. As the Apple AppStore has shown, when you lower the price people are more likely to make impulse buys and less likely to pirate.
9. Paper trade-in (bonus point) – it would be super cool if a company allowed you to trade in / recycle your old paper books for eBook replacements or discounts [hat tip @WildPixels].

eBook readers like Kindle, iBooks, and the like have been making advances in this direction but they’re moving at a tortuously slow pace. It would be great to see a startup or a company such as iA Japan, who seem to get it, tackle this space and help push the industry forward to a position where it can once again thrive.

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Consisting of a large number of extremely small coffin-like “rooms” big enough for  a single person to sleep in, Japan’s first capsule hotel made its appearance in Osaka in 1979. They have a bit of a grim reputation for their chicken-coop approach to habitation but in 2009 Tokyo-based Cubic Corp decided to take a fresh approach to this uniquely Japanese mode of accommodation.

Their collaboration with Fumie Shibata of design studio S resulted in the development of nine hours (9h) in Kyoto, located on Teramachi street, two minutes walk from Kawaramachi station. Having already won multiple design awards I decided to check out what all the fuss was about…

Upon arrival the first thing you do is place your shoes in a numbered locker and give the key to reception while checking-in; I doubt they get many people running off without paying the bill!

A night at 9h costs ¥4900 (£38) and the hotel’s philosophy is indicated in its name: 1 hour to shower + 7 hours to sleep + 1 hour to rest = nine hours (although guests can stay up to 17 hours if they wish). Everything is literally black and white.

The lobby also provides a functional lounge area for guests to use the free wi-fi and relax before sleeping. The no-clutter effect verges on being clinical but overall quite soothing (although I think I’d go manic trying to keep the place clean).

Female and male capsules are provided on separate floors with segregated lifts servicing each.

Clear bilingual signage is provided throughout the hotel with your navigation through the complex clearly defined as a step-by-step process designed to be as effortless as possible.

Your next stop is the locker and washroom where you can get changed and shower. All-black sleep wear is provided.

I was a bit disconcerted to see rows of security cameras in the locker room, presumably for the security of your possessions, but slightly creepy.

Everything is extremely minimal and a perfect balance has been struck between function and style; only the necessities are provided. No more, no less.

Individual body soap, conditioner, and shampoo sachets uniformly arranged.

High-quality white towels left, showers right.

Have you ever seen a more beautifully sculpted sink?

After washing you head down the stairs to your allotted sleeping floor. By this point I was convinced I’d entered a certain Stanley Kubrick movie.

In stark contrast to the bright white everywhere else the only light on the sleeping floors came from the glowing capsules which are stacked two-high along one side of the corridor.

Inside the capsule the white moulded plastic shell is interrupted only by the ambient LED light and simple control panel.

Created by Panasonic the alarm clock emits no noise and instead controls the light, slowly dimming when your ready to sleep, then gently rising like the sun at the time you determine to wake.

At the entrance is a simple blind to enclose yourself in the pod. Far from being cramped like I had imagined there is enough room to stretch out and sit up. In no way did I feel claustrophobic or uncomfortable; in fact quite the contrary.

I’m a light sleeper who is easily disturbed by noise but I managed to sleep right through the night with interruption. I’m not sure if the capsules are soundproofed but they certainly seemed near silent.

I can honestly say that I got one of the best nights sleep in the capsule that I’d had in a long time. Whether it was the feeling of enclosure or the gentle alarm system I’m not sure (perhaps a psychologist could provide some insights here). I quite fancy the lighting system for my bedroom.

Booking a stay at 9 hours is simple through their website and I’d highly recommend it if you’re in the Kyoto area; it’s worth it for the sci-fi (verging on monastic) experience alone. Below are a couple of video’s to give you more of a flavour of what’s in store.

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To get to MEGA WEB take the automated Yurikamome train from Shimbash (新橋駅) on the mainland to Aomi Station (青海駅) which is directly connected to Palette Town where the exhibition is. It’s opens 11am – 7pm daily.

I visited early on weekday when there was hardly anyone else there except some foreign businessmen from Toyota on an official tour which I tagged along behind. This turned out to be a lucky move since otherwise I would have missed many of the demonstrations. First up was a humanoid “partner robot” which could fairly convincingly play the trumpet (see video below).

It has artificial lungs, lips and fingers which allow for a natural, if pre-programmed, performance. The way its limbs moved was creepily human although seeing a guy walk out a control booth at the back rather dispelled the illusion! Toyota hopes that similar robots can be used to assist elderly and disabled people – an acute problem in Japan with its shrinking and aging population.

In science fiction and anime you often see fictional bipedal vehicles known as ‘mecha‘ that approximate the shape of a human who sits inside to pilot them (think Aliens or Matrix Revolutions). The i-Foot is about a close as you’ll get to seeing the real thing and while it isn’t quite as cool the 7 ft. high, two-legged, walking machine can even climb stairs. Unfortunately with a top speed of only 1 mph don’t expect it to replace the bullet train anytime soon.

The real star of the show was the i-Real ‘Personal Mobility Concept’ which is a 3-wheeled battery-powered one-passenger vehicle – you might remember it from an episode of Top Gear last year. Check out the video below to see it and other Toyota robots in action:

In low-speed mode the vehicle is upright and moves around at walking pace among pedestrians, without taking up a large amount of space. In high-speed mode it extends in length by leaning back and extending the single rear wheel to improve aerodynamics and stability, thus being able to achieve a speed of 18.6 mph. It leans into corners to prevent it tipping over.

At the end of the demo both the presenter and the i-Real gave a cute little bow but it remains to be seen whether something like this will ever catch on in the real world or end up as a niche product like the Segway. Nissan have developed a slightly larger two-person New Mobility Concept vehicle which goes a lot faster.

Not included in the exhibition but worth a mention is the HRP-4C, a walking, talking humanoid fashion model fembot developed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Those hands are the things nightmares are made of!

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The most scenic route to Odaiba is via the Rainbow Bridge on the automated Yurikamome transit system from Shimbash. Ironically its very similar to the DLR in London which connects the city center to Canary Wharf that was equally beleaguered when it first opened.

To raise itself from ground level to the bridge the train makes a dramatic 270-degree loop, providing panoramic views of both mainland Tokyo and Odaiba. Since there is no driver you can stand at the front of the train and get a pretty good view the whole way.

One of the crazy looking buildings you’ll first encounter is the Fuji Television studios which looks like it might have just landed from another planet. The colossal ball on top of the building is made from titanium and apparently weighs over one thousand tons!

It’s hard to imagine exactly what the architect, Kenzo Tange, was thinking when he designed it but bear in mind he was also responsible for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building and a pioneer of brutalist architecture I guess it isn’t surprising. From afar it resembles a giant mechano to me.

As well as replica of the Statue of Liberty and a number of science orientated museums you’ll also find more shopping malls than you can shake a stick at. One of the largest is Venus Fort which is an elaborately Venice-themed complex, complete with marble fountains and artificial sunsets every 30 min. It’s enough to make any man run a mile.

I was forced inside by a shopping list given to me by a Chinese friend who insisted that Japanese cosmetics were cheaper and better quality so I was dispatched to buy a years supply of goodness knows what – I just handed the list to a shop assistant who found it all for me! As with everywhere in Japan the staff were in a terminally cheery mood.

From anywhere on the island you can’t help but notice the enormous 115-metre tall Daikanransha (大観覧車) ferris wheel which was once the worlds tallest. The view is supposed to be especially good at night but I didn’t have time to ride that day.

Between Venus Fort and the ferris wheel is Toyota’s MEGA WEB car technology showcase within which you can learn about what Toyota is up to (past, present, and future) and even test drive various cars if you have a suitable driving license. They also have a number of concept robots which I’ll be writing about in my next post.

Probably the most outlandish and visually distinct building on Odaiba island is the Tokyo Big Sight (東京ビッグサイト) International Exhibition Center. Shaped like an upturned piece of Toblerone the conference tower appears as a set of four inverted pyramids mounted upon large supports.

Odaiba isn’t necessarily a must-see but for anyone interested in futuristic technology or architecture its an interesting area to wander around. I only had a morning to explore but you could easily spend the whole day there.

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How it used to be - the internals of a 1960's Robers Radio

When I interact with my iPad I am focused on a single flat surface which is made up of a large touch screen with a discrete black border. The interface dynamically adjusts around the tasks which I wish to perform; nothing is static except the window itself. While something like a radio was a single-function device what the iPad and similar devices can do is only limited by the imaginations of the developers writing applications for them. One moment you could be writing an email, the next remotely piloting a flying quadricopter.

Contemporary vs Classic - modern devices do a whole lot more

While Apple should be praised for its incredible industrial design it’s the operating system which is the real star of the show. It provides support for these rich interactions and transparently manages everything under the hood without requiring the user to get involved. Google’s Android OS takes this metaphor one step further as it’s totally divorced from the hardware and can be poured into any compatible container by anyone with the right skills. Not only has function been separated from form but continuous software updates allow the functionality to evolve and improve over time.

Hardware as a vase into which functionality is poured

Hardware has become a vessel that is brought to life by the OS and applications which give life and personality. The internet provides an omnipresent and omniscient brain which is as ubiquitous and light as the air we breath yet as powerful as a raging storm. That which was expensive and exclusive ten years ago is now cheap and available to virtually everyone. The fact that what we can hold in the palm of our hands today is many times more powerful than what originally took man to the moon is mind-blowing.

In the world of smartphones we can already stereotype the personalities of the main vendors; Apple is the beautiful perfectionist, Android is the tech savvy geek, Blackberry is the boring business man, and Nokia the ugly but reliable European. These devices have become extensions of our own personalities which mirror our desires and aspirations. It seems that as with art mirroring life and visa versa, technology is also evolving in a similar vein (I’ll leave philosophical discussions about the mind-body distinction to someone else).

So where does this leave us? Today you can no longer tell exactly what something is capable of just by looking at it but you know how to use it instinctively. Touch-screens combined with a multitude of other sensors have given rise to almost Harry Potter-esq magical experiences which are as easy to use as they are powerful. It’s an exciting time to be living in!

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Evolution

Whilst I’m sure it has a few iterations left in it, I’m convinced that the writing’s on the wall for the venerable Mac OS X. I believe it will be slowly phased out over the next 5 years as iOS becomes more sophisticated and mobile hardware becomes more powerful. This is not because Mac OS X has anything wrong with it but that the UI simply isn’t built with touch in mind. This is the very same reason Microsoft is falling into obscurity and will be reduced to a niche legacy player (unless something miraculous happens).

“iDevices” like the iPhone and iPad will evolve to be able to carry out all the power-hungry tasks that we rely on laptops and desktops on for today. We can already see this beginning with the introduction of iMovie, Keynote and Pages apps which will surely be followed by the complete iLife suite over time. While they may not yet have all the functions of their parents they will very soon.

Cloud Services

The current generation of Apple iDevices require that you sync them with your main computer to transfer music and movies etc through iTunes. This is all going to change. With bigger hard disks, better batteries and faster network connections it will no longer be necessary – everything will sync wirelessly with cloud services operated by Apple, Google and others. All of your iDevices will transparently kept updated ensuring you have access to all your data from anywhere.

External Devices

When it comes to interacting with external devices like digital cameras and printers this will also be done wirelessly. Companies like HP and Nikon are already providing wireless options on high-end models of their products and once the communication protocols are standardized this will be built in as standard to iOS and competing platforms like Chrome OS.

Tactile Feedback

A big complaint some people have about touch screen keyboards is that they don’t provide any tactile haptic feedback like a physical keyboard does, making fast typing tricky. This issue will be resolved with technologies which will allow specific areas of the surface of the screen to dynamically raise and lower creating a virtual physical keyboard (or any other interface). It sounds pretty sci-fi but prototypes and patents already exist. Innovations like this will be augmented further by sophisticated voice control (and possibly other forms further down the road).

Conclusion

In 2007 Apple caught the rest of the industry off guard with the launch of the iPhone and while they maybe currently leading the charge there’s a long way to go. While the era of traditional laptops and desktops is far from over the transition to new touch-based form factors is definitely underway. With better hardware, richer apps and sophisticated cloud services the future is looking pretty exciting.

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For future reference I want to let it be known that there’s an uncanny resemblance between Foxconn’s line of business / logo and that of Terminator’s “Cyberdyne Systems” AKA “Skynet” (the system that spawns killer robots which take over the earth). Let’s take a look at the evidence:

1. Both are in the high-tech manufacturing business
2. Both have huge armies of robots at their disposal
3. Both use the same font in their logo (see below)
4. Both have troublesome killer tendencies
5. You’d probably not want to work at either

Logo Comparison

As you can see it doesn’t take a great leap of faith to make the leap when viewed side-to-side:

I’d say the evidence is pretty damning for Foxconn. It’s only a matter of time before someone sticks arms, legs, and a head on an iPad and then we’re in big trouble -

Coming to an Apple Store near you soon…

There are two places in particular which I feel epitomize this existence of extreme population density – one has been demolished, while the other is abandoned, but both are haunting examples of communities built under conditions which required the creation of new social structures and ways of life…

Kowloon Walled City

Although sadly bulldozed in 1993 Kowloon Walled City is the stuff of legends. The 7 acre outpost existed as a lawless world-within-a-word situated inside Hong Kong while under British rule -

A former watchpost to protect the area against pirates, it was occupied by Japan during World War II and subsequently taken over by squatters after Japan’s surrender. Neither Britain nor China wanted responsibility for it, so it became its own lawless city. Its population flourished for decades, with residents building labyrinthine corridors above the street level, which was clogged with trash. The buildings grew so tall that sunlight couldn’t reach the bottom levels and the entire city had to be illuminated with fluorescent lights. It was a place where brothels, casinos, opium dens, cocaine parlors, food courts serving dog meat and secret factories ran unmolested by authorities. It was finally torn down in 1993 after a mutual decision was made by British and Chinese authorities, who had finally grown wary of the unsanitary, anarchic city and its out-of-control population.

At its height the city contained over 30,000 inhabitants and was considered so dangerous that outsiders rarely ventured inside. At various times Triad gangs exerted a degree of control over its running but in general it existed as an almost entirely autonomous community with water being sourced from home-made wells and electricity illegally siphoned from the Hong Kong grid.

There were only two guidelines for construction in the city: the height of apartment structures could not exceed 14 stories because of its presence on Kai Tak’s flight path, and apartments had to be wired with electricity, to prevent the use of open flames.  Beyond that, there was no governing body or police force; it was run by drug lords, organized crime syndicates, and unlicensed dentists that held practice in cramped apartment spaces.

Little video footage of the city exists but in 1989 a documentary about life inside the city was made  - although it’s in German you can still get a flavor of the dark and dank atmosphere within (parts 1, 2, 3, 4) -

In addition parts of the films Long Arm of the Law (1984) and Bloodsport (1988) were shot within the city but probably the most definitive depiction is to be found in the book “City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City” which is full of amazing photos and well worth a read if you can get your hands on it.

After its destruction the site was turned into a traditional Chinese park with only a few of the original foundations providing any hint of what lay there before, in a way cementing the status of Kowloon Walled City in legend forever. While it may be easy to over-romanticize what it might have been like it clearly earns a place as a truly self-regulating, self-sufficient, and self-determining modern society which despite its dark sides managed to thrive. (Sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

If you visit Hong Kong today and want to get a flavor for cramped and dangerous dwellings check out Chungking Mansions which has often been compared to the walled city with a reputation as a centre of drugs, petty criminals, scammers, and Indian restaurants (I have yet to visit!).

Hashima Island / Gunkanjima (Battleship Island)

A little way off the southern coast of Japan lies Hashima Island or Gunkanjima, literally meaning “Battleship Island”. From 1887 to 1974 it was home to a coal mining facility and while at one time it was the most densely populated place on Earth today lies derelict. The island gets its namesake from the high concrete wall which surrounds the perimeter and tightly packed concrete buildings on top giving it a battleship-like appearance from outside.

Below its monolithic exterior the coal excavated from under the sea in no small part attributed to Japan’s early industrialisation and subsequently fueled their aggression during World War II. At this time the government forced prisoners from Korea and China to work in the mines – many perished in the harsh conditions -

The island was surrounded by high concrete walls, and there was ocean, nothing but ocean, all around. It was crowded with concrete buildings as high as nine stories…. We Koreans were lodged in buildings on the edge of the island. Seven or eight of us were put together in a tiny room, giving each person no more than a few feet of space.

The mine was deep under the sea, the workers reaching it by elevator down a long narrow shaft. The coal was carried out from a spacious underground chamber, but the digging places were so small that we had to crouch down to work. It was excruciating, exhausting labor. Gas collected in the tunnels, and the rock ceilings and walls threatened to collapse at any minute.

After the war conditions improved considerably under the management of Mitsubishi and at its height the population density of the residential district reached a staggering 1,391 people per hectare which remains the highest ever recorded in the world. For a small island which was devoid of soil and relied totally on the mainland for all of life’s essentials (food/drink) it was a pretty incredible feat. However, with the advent of petroleum in the 1960′s the coal business entered dramatic decline and in 1974 the mine was closed and the island left deserted.

The island has been featured in numerous films, including the notorious Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003) which seems like a fitting backdrop for its storyline. A documentary shot in 2002 followed a man who grew up on the island and hopes it to be turned into a museum:

Devoid of life it appears strangely beautiful but at the same time a chilling omen to the consequences of over-development. With peoples former livelihoods still clearly evident in the ruins you have to wonder where this all leads…

The dead island of Hashima delivers a lively warning about the importance of foresight. It offers a view of the end result of “development,” the fate of a community severed from Mother Earth and engaged in a way of life disconnected from its food supply. In short, Hashima is what the world will be like when we finish urbanizing and exploiting it: a ghost planet spinning through space—silent, naked, and useless.

(Sources 1, 2, 3, 4)

If history tells us anything then it’s probably that this is not a future we want to re-visit but with the realities of population increases and environmental changes will we have a choice?

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