After looking at some personal effects and the rooms in parts one and two respectively, it’s finally time to see the facilities; areas of the small huddle of mining company-related houses which, despite being abandoned a couple of decades or so ago, are still surprisingly well equipped.
And whilst at least one resident appears to have left in a relative rush,
others were decidedly more deliberate.
Not of course that clean dishes would make cooking dinner any less disagreeable.
Meaning it’d be about as tempting as using the toilet. A water closet complete with twenty-year-old used paper for added uncomfortableness.
A feeling of filth and fetidness that no amount of cleaning,
could ever cleanse.
For anybody interested in more haikyo/urban exploration, there are also pictures on Tokyo Times of entirely abandoned mining towns, water parks and also love hotels, along with a whole gamut of other stuff in the haikyo category.
There's also the option of following Tokyo Times by RSS, and now even Twitter too.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Japan in decay. There is a certain beauty in Japan’s natural environment taking the country back bit by bit.
Here we go again……You just summed up wabi-sabi Joshua.
If only it is possible to sum it up at all
Amazing images as usual. Keep it up. But no more toilet shots please!!
Lee, have you ever found any evidence to point why an area was left in such a hurry? It just boggles my mind that someone would just leave with so much stuff still there. Even in the case of death, usually loved ones in the USA will clean out a property (Or the bank).
Also do you collect any souvenirs of the haikyo you visit?
Not really Tyler. Obviously the company closed the mine/area down and the people that once lived there understandably had to leave their homes, but why they also had to leave their possessions is a total mystery. Admittedly it’s not an easy place to get to, but they managed to get all their stuff there in the first place, so…
And no, I don’t take anything, except for the odd ‘before’ picture or document if it’d be a useful addition to the story. The Sports World water park is a good example. Otherwise I just leave things as they are for the next visitor.
I wonder why the people didn’t pack up their stuff and take it with them when they left.
As in the reply to Tyler above Tornadoes28, I have no idea. But what I do know is that I’m really glad they do, as they make for fascinating places to explore and photograph.
They probably didn’t regard pots and pans to be worth the trouble…
Do you have any tips on where to go for haikyo photo expeditions? I wonder where I could find such locations in Nagoya. Have you ever had any trouble with the police?
Not sure about Nagoya Christoph, but this book has information and maps.
As for the police, thankfully I haven’t had any meetings with them at all. Did bump into some security of sorts once, but after I’d convinced them that I was only there to take pictures, they were happy to let me carry on.
Lee, your photos would make such a damn good picture book for my coffee table. Please, if you ever get the chance, make it so.
Thanks Jay! The chance to put them all in a book would be a fine thing indeed…