Quite a while ago I wrote about my experiences exploring the *lower terminus of the Yashima Cable Car* – and after I was done I took the bus up the mountain. Usually I would have taken the hiking trail up there (or would have walked along the abandoned track like I did several times at the *Mount Atago Cable Car*), but since I lost quite some time in the morning thanks to a Shinkansen standstill (thanks, JR – the extra fee for the bullet train was really worth the money… grumble…) I took the easy way up. It was also a good way to check out the cable car’s competition, which made me wonder if the bus was already running when the cable car was still operating. Sure, the trip took about 10 minutes instead of 5, but it ended right next to Yashima Shrine (not a kilometer away) and the price was ridiculously low in comparison: 100 Yen each way!
The upper terminus of the Yashima Cable Car (屋島山上駅, yashima sanjo eki, Yashima Mountaintop Station) was as locked up and untouched as the lower terminus – but the building itself was much more beautiful. Rather small, like most cable car stations, it totally reminded me of the *Maya Hotel* in Kobe. I think I’m a sucker for that art deco style of the 1920s and 30s. At the time of my visit the area was used by construction workers of the nearby Yashima Castle reconstruction site – there were parked cars everywhere and their container office almost blocked the access to the cable car track. Luckily none of the workers were in sight when I arrived, so I was able to sneak to the back and took some pictures: car #2 was already waiting for me as I expected, sadly slightly vandalized by some spray paint on the windows of the right side. Similar to the lower terminus the amount of decay was just perfect – the car, the handrails, the building itself. A perfect abandoned beauty, worthy the cover of a book or a magazine.
Abandoned Kansai 
I live at the base of Yashima-yama about 3 minutes away from the lower terminus. I got some shots of the upper terminus too on this post*
http://danintakamatsu.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/backyard-mountain/
My favorite part of it is the tunnel, which I didn’t see any shots of in your post. I have climbed alongside the cable car line a couple times and it is really quite fun and quick. No longer than 20 minutes.
Another thing worth noting on top of the mountain, besides Yashima-ji, is the abandoned hotel. Have you heard of it? I’m going there again today to explore a bit more. Keep an eye out for a post if you want to see for yourself 😉
Cheers!
Hey Dan,
I know about the hotel and I’ve explored it along with the cable car, I just didn’t have the time / opportunity to write about. It was actually the hotel I realized that I am getting tired of abandoned Japanese hotels – they pretty much all look the same. I have about a dozen abandoned hotels I haven’t written about yet on my hard-drive and when I chose places to explore hotels / ryokans are rather low on my priority list. Nevertheless I hope you’ll enjoy the experience! (You live basically next door, so it’s easy for you to go there – but IMHO it’s not worth making a trip there from other parts of Japan as you have similar places pretty much everywhere.)
Understandable. I guess I should’ve figured you knew about it. I’m definitely no expert compared to you, but it doesn’t surprise me that after a while they can get a tad bit redundant. My friend mentioned that she knows about a couple abandoned hospitals in the Kagawa area. Do you know about these?
Hey Dan,
Yeah, I guess I just have been to too many of them. My first abandoned place actually was a hotel, not nearly as good as the Yashima one, so I totally understand your excitement.
I know about two abandoned hospitals in Kagawa – one is an empty shell across from a train station, the other one is fortified and guarded by nosy neighbours and security cameras.
Sadly they’ve torn down quite a few locations in Kagawa – each of the three other prefectures on Shikoku have way more (known) abandoned places.