Urban exploration Japan: abandoned mining town
November 28, 2008 6:34 AM   Subscribe

Urban exploration Japan: abandoned mining town. Step into the doctor's office for a dose of creepy. Three-part photo essay.

"Haikyo" in the blog post title means "ruins".
posted by planetkyoto (19 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
Way cool pictures. I want some of those jars for Christmas. Any mefi's in the area willing to stop by and pack some of that stuff up for me and send them to Slater, IA? Throw in some of the surgical things as well if you don't mind. Bad economy and all, I might need them, you know, to start a home based surgical business or to operate on myself for fun.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:29 AM on November 28, 2008


"Haikyo" in the blog post title means "ruins"

Two letters are all
that seperate poetry
from complete ruin.
posted by Pollomacho at 7:35 AM on November 28, 2008 [7 favorites]


That doctor's office is creepy, indeed. I guess I'm surprised that an entire town can go abandoned in Japan, where space is at a premium.
posted by tommasz at 7:41 AM on November 28, 2008


To leave with that sort of proportion of belongings/equipment/paperwork left behind suggests a rapid or rushed departure. At the very least, I'd have thought the records would have been burnt.

How odd.
posted by Brockles at 7:45 AM on November 28, 2008


Very striking pictures - thanks for the post.

I felt a bit like they were forcing the whole "horror" theme on the pictures, though. It just looked peaceful and sad.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 7:54 AM on November 28, 2008 [2 favorites]


I feel like I've seen this before. Doesn't it turn out to be the caretaker?
posted by mandal at 8:09 AM on November 28, 2008


And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids.
posted by JeffK at 8:27 AM on November 28, 2008


I feel like I've seen this before. Doesn't it turn out to be the caretaker?

No, its the nurse at the local clinic who's being backed by a massive conspiracy called "Tokyo".
posted by cimbrog at 9:07 AM on November 28, 2008


Too many indoor pictures. I was hoping to see more of the town... streetscapes, overgrown train station, etc.
posted by Artful Codger at 9:24 AM on November 28, 2008


Is that a part of a brain in the jar on the second picture?

Anyway, cool post planetkyoto!
posted by sixcolors at 9:52 AM on November 28, 2008


My never-to-be-made post from a few months ago was going to be the ruins of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Laurens South Carolina. I guess I should have made it after all.
posted by cashman at 10:06 AM on November 28, 2008


For those who may have missed it, there's a part 2 and a part 3 to their exploration of this town.
posted by ktoad at 10:58 AM on November 28, 2008


Nichitsu (spelled "Nitchitsu" in the article) was apparently the name of the mining company, not the town itself.

(Dead Kennedys fans: read the section on "Minimata disease" in that Wikipedia link, and recall the lyrics to "Kepone Factory". I always figured that was just some nonsense word Jello came up with, but it actually pertains to the topic of the song.)

I'm really curious to know why the people left in such a hurry. Sure, when a town is based on a single industry, and that industry dries up, everybody has to leave, but why couldn't they take their stuff with them?
posted by greenie2600 at 11:52 AM on November 28, 2008


Some outdoor photos for your viewing pleasure.
posted by greenie2600 at 11:55 AM on November 28, 2008 [1 favorite]


[RE outdoor pix] Yay!! Thanks.
posted by Artful Codger at 2:02 PM on November 28, 2008


See also Gunkanjima.
posted by infinitewindow at 3:28 PM on November 28, 2008


I guess I'm surprised that an entire town can go abandoned in Japan, where space is at a premium.

The image a lot of people have of Japan (including many Japanese) is that of the overcrowded cities, robots, neon, etc. And even living here I can forget about the Japanese countryside, and just how beautiful and big and majestic it can be. Mountains dominate the country, with only about 15% of the land flat/urban, namely Tokyo and Osaka. Outside the cities there are plenty of small villages, and, unfortunately, plenty of dead/dying towns like this one.
posted by zardoz at 5:09 PM on November 28, 2008 [1 favorite]


Very Silent Hill.

I love the snaps, but I hate the practice of interrupting a sentence with a picture. It makes me ignore the picture until I've reached my goal of a punctuation mark.
posted by bardic at 6:30 PM on November 28, 2008


See also Gunkanjima.

See also MetaFijima.
posted by cillit bang at 7:40 PM on November 28, 2008


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