During World War II, Japan had several secret facilities throughout the country developing new kinds of weapons to defeat their enemies. On the island on Okunoshima 大久野島, there was a secret factory developing poison gas. Despite the Geneva Convention of 1925 banning the use of chemical weapons in war, it did not ban the development of storage of such weapons. Even so, the island was kept in complete secracy. Japan even removed the island from some of their official maps.
After the war, the facility was shut down and all research and products were destroyed. It wasn't until 1988, when the poison gas museum on the island was opened, was the island officially recognized as existing.
On the east end of the island, next to the dock for the ferry, there is the standing remains of the power plant used to power the poison gas facility.
Fishy, Chaos, and I stayed the night on Okunoshima, and toured the ruined building while waiting for the ferry. The concrete skeleton of the building still stood strong after all these years.
Outside, there was a plaque that further explained the use of the power plant.
この建物は、大久野島で毒ガスを製造する際 (1929年~1945年)に、電力を供給していた発電場跡です。当時両方の写真に写っているディーゼル発電機が8基設置され、いずれも重油を燃料にしていました。また、この建物では1944年11月~1945年4月までの間、「ふ号作戦」に使用する風船爆弾の風船を膨らませ、弱い部分を補修する作業も行われました。使用された風船は、動員学徒の女学生が和紙をこんにゃく糊で貼り合わせて作っていました。
Translated as: This building is the remains of a power plant that supplied electricity when poison gas was produced on Okunoshima (1929-1945). At the time, eight diesel generators, which can be seen in both photographs, were installed, all of which ran on heavy oil. This building was also used to inflate the balloons for the balloon bombs used in Operation Fu-Go and to repair any weak parts. The balloons used were made by mobilized female students by pasting together pieces of washi paper with konjac paste.
All the machinery had been removed from the building, and it felt as if no one had ever really been here. It just felt like an empty building left standing for decades with some small bits of nature closing in.
Note: This post was made in Apr 2025 and back-dated to the time of the events
