850 Japanese troops landed on Christmas Island in 1942 and even today you can still find traces of their occupation.
This small ruin is located just past the old hospital site heading towards the casino site. And just a bit further along is a Japanese Ammunition cave and ruins so I presume that this ruin too is Japanese in origin. I do not know what its purpose was during the occupation so it is a little tantalising mystery for me at the moment.
Update! Since writing about this little ruin, 19 Japanese World War II sites were located on Christmas Island by archaeologist Helena van der Riet in 2018. There are possibly more. Read her thesis (pages 166-174) to find out more about this particular site and also pages 186-194 as this tells of her exploration for a lookout area up the cliff face above the steps.
Looking up above the steps that seem to lead nowhere, I did see some wires higher up on the cliff face. Something was happening here between the roadside site and much higher above.
There was a metal lintel that was hanging precariously and just about rusted away. (See photo below). It was concreted on top. I am not sure if the lintel suggests that it was needed to support something of weight above or was a cavity being created for storage in which case the lintel may have been part of a frame with a small door once covering the opening.
