Shime Coal Mine Winding Tower: Japan’s Anti-Zombie Fortress

The only coal mine in Japanese background to have actually been government-owned for the entirety of its operation, the Shime Industrial Manufacturing facility was active from 1889 to 1964, with its upright mine shaft or “winding tower” built in 1943 throughout the Pacific War. It’s the only surviving winding tower in Japan today, and the Japanese government marked it as an important Concrete Cultural Property in 2009 and redeveloped the location around it into a sports park.

Shime Coal Mine: A Historical Landmark

Mining shafts of this kind are very uncommon even outside Japan, located only in Blegny, Belgium, and Fushun, China. Standing at 8 tales, Shime’s tower contained a large lift that carried the workers and ton after lots of coal up and down, ended up by the thousand-horsepower motor, hardly ever resting.

In the very early 2010s, the Winding Tower went viral and came to be known on the net as the Anti-Zombie Fortress, due to its special quasi-Brutalist style. Though this whimsical moniker did not quite capture on in Japan, much less in Shime, the tower would definitely give a place of refuge ought to a Romeroesque armageddon ever occurred.

The Anti-Zombie Fortress Phenomenon

Japan is home to several of the world’s coolest deserted locations, numerous industrial in beginning, much enjoyed and delighted in by dedicated fanatics. Among the lesser-known follower faves is the Winding Tower of the Shime Coal Mine, located a little off Fukuoka City in southern Japan.