This photographic project was conceived during two trips to Gunkanjima in 20. In recent times, the dilapidated landscape has served as the villain’s lair in the James Bond ‘Skyfall’ movie. Gunkajima looks like a Japanese version of Alcatraz. So much that Hashima Island goes by the name Gunkajima, or ‘Battleship Island’. In amongst the thousands of fertile landmasses that surround Japan, the geometric silhouette of a dark grey hull, perforated by hundreds of small windows, lies an island that resembles a battleship. While most are familiar with ‘the brand’, fewer are familiar with the Mitsubishi island situated 15 kilometers southwest off the coast of Nagasaki.

Such is the dynamism of Japanese iconography that the three-diamond mark we know so well has change little in 145 years.

The three-oak-leaf crest of the Yamauchi family, Lords of Tosa, where Yataro was born, and the three-tiered water chestnut crest of the Iwasaki family. The Mitsubishi mark is said to be an arrangement of two family crests. “Hishi” is pronounced “bishi” when it forms a latter part of a word – hence the combination of “mitsu” and “hishi” which reads, yep, you guessed it. Established as a shipping firm by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the name Mitsubishi (三菱) consists of two parts: “ mitsu” meaning “three” and “ hishi”, meaning “water caltrop” or “water chestnut”. The root of the Mitsubishi emblem also makes for interesting reading. Yet the Mitsubishi Group (三菱グループ) is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies whose range of businesses shares both a trademark and legacy stretching back almost a century and a half. What the average punter knows about Mitsubishi largely extends to the car in their driveway.

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