Co-workers died in an accident. As we cremated their bodies, Labor Division's personnel ordered us to scoop their ashes and throw in an abandoned shaft.

War veterans patrolled to prevent escape during the war.

The number of workers in Hashima Mine increased along with its expansion. It reached 5,300 at its peak in 1945, with people almost flowing out of the island.

We grew rice and vegetables on the rooftop during the war with food shortage.

The movie theater was our only amusement. It was called Kyowa Kaikan during the war.

183 were from Hebei, 20 from Shandong, 1 from Yunnan, 204 in total. They came by Asagaomaru, the company boat, escorted by armed Omura troops.

Getting abused by a Japanese instructor, 2 Chinese workers counterattacked him with their shovels and injured him badly. Only the Chinese men were condemned, taken to the Labor Division's office and got beaten, so it triggered a riot. All workers refused to work and went on a hunger strike.The mine requested Nagasaki Prefecture to send in the army. Omura troops came and subdued the riot, and the mine sent the 2 Chinese men to Hokkaido. However, a furious battle went on between the troops and workers.

It was easy to steal a stick of dynamite out of the bunches for mining. We could easily blast it in the mine filled with methane.

They treated Chinese people really badly. When Koreans talked to them, armed Labor Division's personnel stopped them, sometimes by punishing both parties.

As the air raids by the U.S. increased, Hashima's power plant was bombed and the power inside the mine was cut. Pumps stopped and the mine was flooded, but Chinese workers were accused of cutting the power and investigated by the military police. 

It's described that the company hired prostitutes, had them open brothels everywhere, while recommending gambling.

he statement of Kinsaku Sakurai from Hiroshima was reported in Nagasaki Daily News in 1941. "Unable to take anymore maltreatment in Takashima, some swam away from the island by tying sake barrels on their bodies, dodging their ways through the lookout.It's been 18 years since I moved to Hashima, but at first, it was also like jail cells, and bloody incidents happened every day.

Police posted many officers in Nomo Peninsula for surveillance. They arrested runaways as criminals.

Drinking water and the water for our shared bath was brought by the mine's water boat every day from Doinokubi on the opposite shore. My husband carried water from the tank on the ground level up to 7th floor, climbing steep stairs. To fill up the vase in our kitchen, he had to go up and down for 5 to 6 times, which was extremely tough.My husband called these, "stairs from hell". There still are the vases in the abandoned apartment.

In the lowest floors of apartment buildings, laundry didn't get dried, so it was hard for the wives who lived there. The spray from waves was so significant that we couldn't hang laundry anywhere but the rooftop.

When they tried to take home the coal they mined, it was confiscated by managers at the gate inspection. We bought home-use firewood from Takahama. Sometimes, wax tree branches were mixed in it, and if it touched my skin, my entire body got swollen in red and my vision got blurred.

Hashima Mine was dug very deep under the sea bottom, so it was extremely hot and miners sweated a lot. They brought 2 water bottles but they drunk it quickly. Sometimes, Japanese miners took their bottles and drunk it. Protested, they just told them that Koreans should drink water in the shafts.

Groundwater flew into the mine, but there were no toilets so they defecated in the water. Infectious diseases spread fast because they drunk unsanitary water from there.

Especially when Koreans caught a cold, it wasn't admitted as sickness and they were thoroughly hit by Labor Division's personnel. They tied someone on the electric pole in the waiting area and made other miners hit him.

Typhoon was like Hashima's specialty. When the sea was rough, waves splashed up to the front door of our apartment on the 7th floor. Inside got flooded, so we had to quickly get the tatami mats up into the closet.

Half of distributed food for Korean dorms was snatched by Labor Division's personnel. On top of severe working conditions, the food for Korean workers was stolen.

In 60cm bedrocks, we had to dig with short pickaxes in lying position. The cord of my cap lamp wrapped around myneck and legs, while my head was bumping the ceiling bedrock. My lower body went numb only in 10 minutes.

I've never heard that anyone succeeded to escape from the island. They tried only to be caught, tortured by Labor Division's personnel, and thrown to the sea.

Lee pointed at a strange man fishing one night. Then we realized men in straw hats were fishing at interval of 50m. As we closely watched, no one changed the bait on their fishing poles.As we went near them and saw some faces, they were Labor Division's personnel, and they looked away. We realized that they watched for runaways 24/7.

The measure for escaping was thorough. A motor boat ran around the island, while search lights were lit on the breakwater at night without air raids.