Abandoned fortress island chain now a popular destination for Hayao Miyazaki fans

Video footage taken from a helicopter on Aug. 14 shows the largest of the four small islands that make up the Tomogashima island group located in cobalt blue waters off the coast of Wakayama city. Now abandoned and in ruins, the islands once held gun batteries put in place during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) to protect the entrance to Osaka Bay, and served as fort until the end of World War II. Vaguely reminiscent of the Hayao Miyazaki anime "Laputa: Castle in the Sky," the islands have become a popular tourist destination with a regularly scheduled ferry transporting visitors to Okinoshima, the largest of the islands.