Category: Exploring Second Life

Occupying a Full private region leverage the Land Capacity bonus, Hashima Island (or more simply, Hashima, given the -shima suffix can mean “island” alongside the more familiar (to western ears) rendaku form of Jima) is the latest regions design by Titus Palmira, Sofie Janic and Megan Prumier, appearing in-world under the “Skrunda” banner.

Like Skrunda-2, which I wrote about in February 2021 and again in November 2021, and which was modelled after the Soviet-era township / base of Skrunda in Latvia, Hashima is modelled after a physical world location which might not be otherwise well known to many: a tiny abandoned island situated some 15 km from the centre of Nagasaki, and one of over 500 uninhabited islands lying within the greater Nagasaki Prefecture.

Known to locals as Gunkanjima – “Warship Island”, more usually referenced as “Battleship Island” – it is a place indelibly linked to Japan’s industrialisation in the late 19th / early 20th centuries, and which has more recently been a focus of some international controversy. It is said that the nickname arose in the 1920’s and was due to the resemblance the silhouette of the island had, when seen from the city, with the the hulk of the inter-war battleship Tosa.

The latter had been been launched just months before Japan signed the Washington Naval Treaty of 2022, which effectively outlawed warships of her intended size and armament. As a result, her hull, sans its big guns and much of its superstructure, lay in Nagasaki harbour for much of 1922 prior to her being towed to the Seto Sea, to be used as a target for the Imperial Japanese Navy whilst testing new gun and torpedo systems.

By the time of the Tosa’s construction, however, Hashima had already been continuously occupied for more than 30 years. It had come to prominence as the Meiji Restoration sought to establish Japan as an economic and military powerhouse under the slogan Enrich the country, strengthen the military from the 1890s onwards, spurring massively accelerated industrial growth within the country. Coal was known to lie beneath the island, so as part of this drive, Mitsubishi purchased the island to exploit the coal reserves beneath and under the surrounding seabed.

Four deep shafts were cut through the island’s rock to reach the undersea coal seams, and by 1916 work was underway to both expand the island through land reclamation and offer better protection for its growing workforce. In particular, this lead to the construction of large sea wall defences and the first large-scale use of concrete in the construction of extensive housing in Japan through the development of the island’s 7-storey tall apartment blocks, designed to give workers and their families better protection from typhoons.

The island’s coal production reached its zenith in the late 1950s, when it was home to over 5,000 inhabitants – which is a lot for an island roughly 16 acres in size. It boasted a school, a playground, swimming pool, cinema, welfare centre, shops, a shrine and a hospital – all packed into a space just 480 metres long and 160 metres across. However, the rapid rise of oil and gas in Japan during the 1960s saw an equally rapid decline in the country’s use of coal. By January 1974 Mitsubishi decided continued mining, even at a reduced scale, was no longer viable on the island, and so closed down the pits and within three months had completed removed all inhabitants and all salvageable equipment, leaving the buildings and streets to nature.

For their interpretation of the island, Sofie and Megan offer a setting post the April 1974 island clearance, with nature in a state of rapid take-over – although there are still signs of some activity: steam rises from one area of plant, smoke periodically belches from the finger of a chimney stack, and a small fresh fish market is open on the pier where tourists would normally make their landing. How much of the build is based on the actual Hashima and how much has been pulled from the creator’s imaginations is unclear.

The apartment blockhouses clustered to one end of the island offer a reasonable facsimile, but some liberties appear to have been taken in the placement of features such as the mine shafts (one of which rather imaginatively leads to a hidden cafeteria). Similarly, while the island’s shrine is represented, the “stairway to hell” which climbed up to it has been replaced by a more roundabout route to reach it.

Not that these differences from the actual island diminish the build in any way; there are plenty of references about Hashima to be found on the web – I would certainly suggest this interactive tour – so those with an interest can research the original with ease; and the build itself is atmospheric enough to give more than a good flavour of the original and encourage one to learn more about its history.

In 2002, Mitsubishi relinquished their ownership of the island, with Nagasaki city now holding jurisdiction over it. It has been the subject of limited tours 2009 onwards, which is also the year in which the current controversy concerning the island first arose. It was in 2009 that Japan first applied to UNESCO for Hashima and 22 other sites within the country to be awarded World Heritage Site status for their roles in the nation’s development. This led to objections from both South Korea and China on the grounds that from the 1930s through to the end of the Asia–Pacific War, Korean and Chinese nationals were forcibly moved to the island and made to work the mines.

South Korea maintained its objections through until 2015, when Japan agreed to admit the use of forced labour at Hashima and other locations during the war, and to establish a full record of this at visitor centres related to the UNSECO sites. However, immediately following UNESCO granting World Heritage status to the sites, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida effectively walked back the agreement, and UNESCO has remained critical of Japan for failing to acknowledge the full history of the island, with the Japanese government refusing to adhere to the agreement as recently at December 2022.

In the meantime, and while it might not be widely known in terms of its role in the industrialisation of Japan, Hashima is likely known to film goers around the world as the fictitious “deserted island off the coast of Macau” which served as one of the setting for the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, in 2015. It was also indirectly referenced in a 2017 South Korean war film, The Battleship Island, which told the fictional story of an attempt by Korean labourers imprisoned on the island to make their escape.

Rich in historical context, and a springboard for explorations both in-world and across the web to capture the story of its namesake, Hashima Island is an engaging place to visit.

SLurl Details

• Hashima Island (Misty, rated Moderate)

The Ocean Care World Alliance (OCWA) is a group of environmentalists concerned about the negative impact we are having on the world’s oceans and marine life the pollution, dumping and more. Utilising the opportunities presented by virtual tools, they aim to provide a better understanding of our marine environments and the need to protect the vitual role they play as part of the world’s ecosystem, working in partnership with the SEE Turtles Organisation.

Within Second Life OCWA – founded by JT Castanea and SL partner Megs (megscandles) – hosts the Experience The Ocean, which occupies and Full private region adjoining a Homestead region and an Openspace region, each of which play a role in OCWA’s facilities.

Our mission is to educate and create awareness of current human impact on marine environments. Using science, technology and the virtual world platform, we can promote more public involvement through support of ocean conservation organisations.

– OCWA Experience the Ocean mission statement

Visits begin on the deck of the main structure in the region – a facility which might be imagined as a re-purposed oil or gas rig, now serving in the role of a Marine Science Centre – a conservation, rescue and research facility and home to OCWA events and educational activities. It forms the main landing point for the facilities, and for those visiting as a part of an educational tour, offering plenty of space for gathering the group together on arrival.

The main level of the centre provides the OCWA’s mission statement (above) and the Sea Turtle information hall in one wing and the ocean virtual learning centre in the other.

The latter takes the form of nine numbered media stations, providing information on a range of ocean-related subjects. These can be activated by hovering the mouse over any one of them (or clicking on it) to display the related web page. The screens do not necessarily have to be followed in numerical order, as each provides self-contained information. The former, by contrast offers a set of information displays on sea turtles that, which clicked, will offer a link to an external web page.

Above these halls can be found the Ocean Art Gallery and the centre’s auditorium for educational and related events / activities, while the upper level is home to office space and access to the centre’s helipad and – more particularly – open-air event space for musical performances.

Also within the centre are information kiosks and display boards, the former providing further links to ocean-related conservation and educational groups, such as The 5 Gyres¹ Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation focusing on reducing plastics pollution in rivers, lakes and the oceans through research and education.

On the deck of the centre is the Lunasea Memorial Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Hospital, representing the work put into rehabilitating and releasing turtles affected by pollution and ingesting plastic particulates that result from the saltwater breakdown of certain plastics dumped in the sea. It is here that visitors can obtain a note card to join a unique role-play experience: the Rescue a Virtual Turtle Experience. This takes place in the regions to the south – Whale Fall and Vida de Tortuga. Click the information board for details when visiting the Hospital.

Beneath the centre are the docks servicing the centre’s submersibles and research boats and, below that on the seabed, an undersea laboratory. These can be reached via the teleport stations found around the centre, stations which also provide access to the remaining outdoor locations in the main region. The latter take the form of the Alaska Fossil Beach to the east, and to an area modelled on the south the Cape St. Francis lighthouse and Seal Point, South Africa. Both offer opportunities for surfing, whilst the docks offer the chance to go kayaking using single or 2-seater boats, with little motor boats also available.

With opportunities to donate to SEE Turtles throughout the centre and the regions, the notes opportunities for activities and plenty of ways to learn about the oceanic ecosystems, Experience The Ocean makes for an engaging and potentially educational visit.

SLurl Details

• Experience The Ocean (rated Moderate)

 

1. A gyre is a large circular r spiral motion or form. It is particularly used in reference to giant circular oceanic surface currents. In all there are five major subtropical gyres in the worlds oceans (hence “5 Gyres”) – North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, South Pacific and and the Great Pacific (itself split into to east and west), all of are home to an estimated 270,000 tonnes of plastic dumped in ocean (which is less than 1% of the new plastic made in a single year).

Update, April 25th: Burrow Wood County has closed, and Monica has relocated to a one half of a Full region, now home to the twin builds of Burrow Wood by the Sea and Burrow Wood, Road to Nowhere, both of which have been built to Monica’s specification by Teagan Lefevre. SLurls in this article have therefore been removed – please see my updated blog post for more. 

Occupying the north-east quarter of a Full region utilising the private region land impact bonus, Burrow Wood County is held by Monica Mercury as a ground-level public space, designed by Teagan Lefevre of Le’eaf & Co fame.

This fictional back-road Tennessee town was inspired by several amazing SL creations visited by the owner, and her real life ventures.

– Burrow Wood County About Land

A visit commences at the landing point, tucked into the south-west corner of the parcel and backed against the centre of the region. It is here, a short distance from the mouth of a tunnel from which a rutted track emerges, that the local bus stop sits, helping give the impression that visitors have just arrived by public transport.

From here, the track continues to where a bridge spans the local river; a bridge which marks the track as once having been a single-line spur of the local railroad, and perhaps the bus stop originally an end-of-line rail halt. Beyond the bridge, a dirt track dips down into a small hamlet sitting by the waters of a broad body of water, an off-region surround giving it the appearance of a river.

This is a place which has perhaps seen better days; maybe it was once a cosy little fishing village built along one of Tennessee’s many rivers. However, time has not been kind to it, leaving a couple of unpaved roads serving the remaining local businesses, marked by the presence of an ever-hopeful motel, and some scattered dwellings.

Almost all of the local businesses appear given over to food and beverages, from the bar of Frank’s Place through the diner and café shop to Carroll’s Oyster bar and shop, within only a little grocery store trying to break things up. Their presence suggests the motel may do better business than might at first appear to be the case, even if the entrance to one room is boarded up; or perhaps this sleepy little fictional corner of Tennessee is still popular among the fishing fraternity and holiday makers.

The latter point may be borne out by the presence of the little office sitting across from the motel proper. It sits ant the entrance to a small group of cabins and trailers sitting alongside one of the water channels. The OFFICE sign hanging on one of its outer walls suggests it is from here that the cabins and trailer sitting on the bank of the river beyond are available for rent by visitors who also likely contribute to the seasonal well-doing of the local businesses.

Ramshackle it might be, but the village still boasts a Sheriff’s Office, and there is no doubting it has a gentle photogenic air about it. The large pool sitting at the head of the river (which may have borrowed its name from either the song as a little joke – you do have to cross the river Jordan in order to reach the hamlet – or from neighbouring Virginia’s river of the same name), is apparently open for swimming, whilst kayaks are moored alongside what appears to be a rentals hut built on a deck extending over the edge of the water.

Those following the grassy path down to and around one side of the pool can make their way to where nature is slowly reclaiming the remnants of an old waterside barn – although a local artist also appears to be claiming it for their own use!  Further back in the undergrowth lies an old schoolhouse in a greater state of being overwhelmed by mother nature.

Expressive and photogenic, Burrow Wood County is a pleasant, easy-on-the-eye visit.

SLurl Details

• Burrow Wood County (Aston Creek, rated Moderate)

Kawaii City is a place of two halves, occupying as it does a pair of sky platforms. Built by Naru Darkwatch, the city is named for the Japanese culture of cuteness – although its dystopian-come-cyberpunk lean doesn’t perhaps at first match the more familiar appearance of Kawaii as exemplified by the phenomena of Hello Kitty and Pikachu, although it does resonate with manga / anime styles of cuteness.

Each half of the city – called simply Kawaii City and Kawaii City II – has its own landing point, and given they are both located in the same region, it is possible to move easily between the two, and noted below. Whilst there is a commonality of looks and backdrops between the two, each very much has its own character.

A place where you can come and chill and relax or roleplay in a cyberpunk post apocalyptic setting please respect the TOS and have fun.

– Kawaii City About Land

Kawaii City is the larger of the two builds, its landing point located on a broad street running north to where the entrance to the Kawaii Café can be reached up a flight of stairs and a covered auto teleport provides access to Kawaii City II. The café and the teleport require acceptance of the local experience order to reach / use either one, whilst the structures around the entrance and the street provide a mix of façades, places to sit, eateries and places with casual role-lay might take place.

Further south, the street narrows to pass through a narrow, arched neck to become a warren of alleyways rising and descending, each with its own little attractions and the occasional dead-end.

The landing point for Kawaii City II sits alongside a small café at the edge of what appears to be an industrial complex of some description. Pipes run overhead and alongside the waters as they are channelled away from a large pool that sits as a barrel blocking the way forward. However, a freight elevator running horizontally on rails offers a way across the water for those who wish to explore further, and who may as a result find their way to a subterranean club. Alternatively, metal steps rise to an elevated walkway which also spans the water; beyond it, raised roads and alleys run between buildings and places of business, most of which are, like those in Kawaii City, façades which form backdrops for potential photography and / or role-play.

A single street opens off of the industrial complex, but doesn’t run far, wedged as it is between more façades. However, looks can be deceptive: those who look will find the entrance to a bar which looks like it might have send the Mandolorian walk into it. Close by, the narrow neck of an alley leads the way to where a decidedly deco-looking frontage of an old radio hall theatre has clearly seen better days. Another alley provides access to a further upper level forming an L-shaped brace of alleys in which RP might take place and where one might find the auto-teleport connecting it with Kawaii City.

I’m purposefully not saying too much more about the locations, as explorers and photographer will doubtless find their own particular points of interest, and there are elements what are better explored than described. Suffice it to say, Kawaii City and Kawaii City II make for an interesting diversion and offer the potential for a range of casual role-play activities.

SLurl Details

Note that Direskin is rated Adult

• Kawaii City Landing Point
• Kawaii City II Landing Point