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A Japanese island has literally gone missing and even their Coast Guard can’t find it
In the waters surrounding Japan, there are about 158 uninhabited islands, but it appears that one of those islands has vanished.
The missing islet was named Esanbe Hanakita Kojima in 2014 and it is supposed to be located near Sarufutsu, a village on Hokkaido island, The Washington Post reported.
The discovery of the missing island was made by author Hiroshi Shimizu who worked on a book about the islands of Japan.
Well, that seems careless… Japanese island disappears, without anyone noticing https://t.co/J2sw6bVpHv
— Guardian Weekly (@guardianweekly) November 2, 2018
To continue his work on a sequel, Shimizu planned a visit to Esanbe Hanakita Kojima, but was unable to locate the island.
He turned to a village fishery in Sarufutsu for help.
Shimizu was informed that in 1987, the last time the islet was surveyed by the Japanese Coast Guard, it was only around four-and-a-half feet above sea level and now it has vanished.
Elder fishermen reported they saw the island decades ago, but never went near it since it was recorded as an undersea reef by GPS navigation.
The Japanese Coast Guard has been investigating the area to determine what happened to the island, but their efforts have not been successful thus far, according to Business Insider.
If they conclude that the island has indeed vanished, Japan’s EEZ will dwindle by half a kilometer.
Senior coast guard official Tomoo Fujii said, “There is a possibility that the islet has been eroded by wind and snow and, as a result, disappeared.”
As it turns out, disappearances like this one are not that uncommon.
