3 discoveries
A tiny abandoned island so crammed with crumbling concrete apartment blocks it looks like a warship steaming out of the sea — once the most densely populated place on Earth, now a silent ruin.
Yamagata's only inhabited offshore island, a tiny green dot an hour by ferry from Sakata — clear blue water, seabird colonies, fresh-grilled fish, and a slow, salt-air pace that feels a world away from the mainland summer.
A tiny fishing islet off Ehime where cats outnumber the handful of human residents many times over — no shops, no hotels, no cars, just a sleepy harbor overrun by friendly felines.
