Vine Covered Car

On a small island in Nagasaki City, where a working population of nearly 7,800 people once lived in reinforced-concrete apartment towers above an undersea coalfield, a car has been entirely consumed by vine. Leaves and bare branches have closed over the roof and window frames; creeper has filled the cabin and presses against the glass from inside, turning the interior into a dense green volume of its own. One side window remains partially clear, holding a reflection of pale blue sky and surrounding foliage. Ikeshima Coal Mine began commercial output in 1959, making it the last new colliery to open in Japan, and worked on until 29 November 2001, when it closed as the last large-scale coal mine in the country. At its 1970 peak the island's population stood at about 7,770. The mine produced approximately 44.54 million tonnes of clean coal across its operational life, with peak annual output exceeding 1.5 million tonnes in 1985. The worked coalfield lay entirely beneath the seabed, reaching down to about 650 metres below sea level, extending to a second working area around the islet of Hikishima roughly 4 to 5 kilometres to the west. At closure, about 2,500 workers were dismissed and most residents left. The island's population had fallen to 111 by 2021. The mine's surface infrastructure and much of the apartment stock have stood largely disused since 2001, with the surrounding vegetation moving steadily into the spaces left behind. This photograph was made in 2026, when vine had been growing unchecked over this car for more than two decades. The image is part of the Ikeshima series.