Abashiri Prison
Abashiri Heroes
In 1890, the borders in East Asia were still not clearly defined. Japan claimed Hokkaido but the Meiji government was afraid that imperial Russia would march into the northern part of the island which was still in a state similar to Siberia. There was not much else other than a few fishing villages and vast expanses of forests populated by bears.
This land had to be quickly developed and connected to the settled parts of Hokkaido. Thus in the spring of 1890, a first batch of prisoners was dispatched to the strategically located fishing village of Abashiri. The prisoners came from all over Japan and their first task was to build a road connecting Abashiri to an already developed outpost close to Asahikawa in Central Hokkaido.
The road work was extremely hard. Everything had to be done by hand. The trees felled, the terrain cleared, the road constructed, the bridges built, while food was scarce, accidents very common and on top of it, every prisoner had a heavy iron ball chained to a foot to prevent them from disappearing into the wilderness. Working through the extreme cold of the Hokkaido winter, the road was finished in record time. Japan could now rightfully claim Northeast Hokkaido as her land.
The death toll among the prisoners was extremely high. At the time, they were seen as expendable human resources but the museum now has a special hall built to commemorate them. A dramatic movie is shown there, plenty of pictures demonstrate their plight and yes, you can chain an iron ball to your leg and walk a few steps with it. Certainly an interesting experience for a minute or two but imagine wearing this thing 24 hours a day while doing extremely exhausting and dangerous road building work out in the primal forest!
Abashiri, Hokkaido
February, 2019
Abashiri Prison
Abashiri Heroes
In 1890, the borders in East Asia were still not clearly defined. Japan claimed Hokkaido but the Meiji government was afraid that imperial Russia would march into the northern part of the island which was still in a state similar to Siberia. There was not much else other than a few fishing villages and vast expanses of forests populated by bears.
This land had to be quickly developed and connected to the settled parts of Hokkaido. Thus in the spring of 1890, a first batch of prisoners was dispatched to the strategically located fishing village of Abashiri. The prisoners came from all over Japan and their first task was to build a road connecting Abashiri to an already developed outpost close to Asahikawa in Central Hokkaido.
The road work was extremely hard. Everything had to be done by hand. The trees felled, the terrain cleared, the road constructed, the bridges built, while food was scarce, accidents very common and on top of it, every prisoner had a heavy iron ball chained to a foot to prevent them from disappearing into the wilderness. Working through the extreme cold of the Hokkaido winter, the road was finished in record time. Japan could now rightfully claim Northeast Hokkaido as her land.
The death toll among the prisoners was extremely high. At the time, they were seen as expendable human resources but the museum now has a special hall built to commemorate them. A dramatic movie is shown there, plenty of pictures demonstrate their plight and yes, you can chain an iron ball to your leg and walk a few steps with it. Certainly an interesting experience for a minute or two but imagine wearing this thing 24 hours a day while doing extremely exhausting and dangerous road building work out in the primal forest!
Abashiri, Hokkaido
February, 2019