Posted on 11/06/2018 7:07:07 AM PST by ETL
A tiny island off the coast of northern Japan has disappeared.
The uninhabited islet, called Esanbe Hanakita Kojima, was believed to be located about 500 meters from a village called Sarufutsu, near Hokkaido.
It was originally believed to sit approximately 1.4 meters above sea level and could be easily spotted from the northern area of Hokkaido.
But now, locals and scientists are struggling to find the islet on any navigation systems.
While the vanishing act is confusing to many, it has the potential to create major dramas for Japan’s leaders.
A local fisherman first noticed the island was missing, after producing a picture book about hidden islands.
CNN reported that Hiroshi Shimizu had wanted to travel to Esanbe Hanakita Kojima for inspiration for his book, when he couldn’t find it.
The island is no longer visible from boats or the shore.
According to media outlet The Asahi Shimbun, Esanbe Hanakita Kojima was one of 158 uninhabited islands which were used by the Japanese government to mark the country’s territorial waters.
Losing one of these could have lasting impacts to trade and security in international waters.
Little is known about the island, with The Japan Times reporting it was only “officially surveyed and registered in 1987 by the Japan Coast Guard”.
“It is not impossible that tiny islands get weathered by the elements,” a coast guard official told The Japan Times.
The disappearance of the island “may affect Japan’s territorial waters a tiny bit,” she added, but only “if you conduct precision surveys”.
The disappearance comes just weeks after an entire Hawaiian island vanished beneath the ocean’s waves following Hurricane Walaka.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Ah, the entire coast of Hokkaido facing the Sea of Okhotsk has ice floes in wintertime every year. Maybe all those ice floes finally sank the island?
Seas do not rise, land erodes.
There goes Tokyo, go go Godzilla!
BOC.
5.56mm
So the Russians stole it, right after they stole the election! Get Mueller on it, pronto!
Now, you just HAD to know this is going to be one of THOSE threads... Haha!!!
Would NOT be complete without the idiot Hank Johnson...
Every time I see the video of that moron, I’m amazed that a human being can be that stupid and still figure out how to breathe.
Japanese island near Russia has disappeared without anyone noticing
From that last link...
“A small, uninhabited island off the coast of Japan is no more.
Esanbe Hanakita Kojima was one of Japan’s 158 remote, uninhabited islands that the government named in 2014, the Guardian reported.
However, it’s unclear whether the island even existed when it was named.
The last time the Japanese government formally surveyed the island was in 1978, and fishermen would avoid the area because it showed up on maps as an underwater reef.
It’s likely that wind and drift ice eroded the island, according to the coast guard.
Recently, Hawaii’s East Island disappeared as well.
However, that was a sudden disappearance caused by a hurricane. The Japanese island could have disappeared over the course of decades.”
New movie? Godzilla vs the Giant men!
LOL !!! Exactly !!!
Where do you think China got their sand from?
Russia stole it!
Even more ridiculous is that he ever got elected.
LOLOLOLOL!!!!!
My money is on China disappearing the island to strengthen their territorial claims................or Gojira! 
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