Daiwa Pottery or Yamato Ceramics?
Researching abandoned Japanese places can be a pain. Even if you have a name in kanji (those complicated Japanese characters that the island-dwellers use up to 20.000 different ones of…) doesn’t mean that you know how to pronounce it or do some research with it. In this case I found the name in kanji both on a chimney as well as written across the entrance of the main building – nevertheless I couldn’t find out anything about the company behind those characters; or how to read those characters as kanji can have several readings and meanings. Sure, I found a company of the same name in Osaka, but their logo didn’t match the one on the building I explored. I also found photos by two Japanese explorers, taken around the same time my buddy Gianluigi and I explored the factory – sadly neither of those fellow explorers put some visible effort into researching the history of the place; they just used the kanji they found written to name their pictures…
It got even more confusing at the end of the exploration when I took a photo of a piece of paper taped to the locked office door. Thanks to Gianluigi I know now that the sales team of the company moved to a different location in late 2006 / early 2007 – but on that sheet the name of the company was given as Daito, in katakana (those less complicated Japanese characters mainly used for foreign terms and to make terms stand out). So I did some research on the internet… At first without success, but then I found a Japanese page selling roof tiles, presenting some made by Daito. Full of excitement I sent the link to Gianluigi – who told me that I missed the top part of the page where it says that Daito went bankrupt.
So I guess the company started out as Daiwa Pottery / Yamato Ceramics, changed their name to Daito (maybe due to pressure from the Osaka company of the same name?), moved their sales team 7 years ago and went bust since then… which leaves me with a new abandoned place nobody knows about yet. 🙂
(BTW: The standard Daiwa Pottery / Yamato Ceramics roof tiles were 345mm by 345mm, weighed 3.6kg each and came in the colors Straight Black, Matt Brown, Matt Green, Metallic Black and Caribbean Blue.)
Exploring this abandoned tile factory was ill-starred anyway; mainly because it was only a matter of time until the stars were visible as *we arrived way behind schedule* at around 6 p.m. – sunset in early May in Japan, where complete darkness hits shortly after 7. An hour of twilight was all we got left, so we rushed through the backyard and the storage area below the main building first. By the time we actually entered the unlocked parts of the factory (another factory building was locked, so was the office) it was already too dark to take photos without a tripod – so I left it on the ground, on tables, machinery and whatever seemed to offer space. Exposure times quickly reached 30 seconds, so I hurried to take a flashlight assisted video before we finally ran out of time for good.
Like most last locations of a day the tile factory definitely deserved another hour or two, preferably with better lighting conditions. But well, what can you do? If I ever come to that area again I’ll make sure to revisit the place as it was a lot better than the few decent photos indicate. And I’ll stop by the now closed “new” sales office, maybe I will be able to find out more about the company’s history – or at least its name…
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Abandoned Kansai 
REally an amazing set of images. Here. I think this is one of my all-time fave collections of yours. Really well done. You captured the light perfectly. And some of your abstractions are just divine. I always look forward to your posts.
Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I was actually a bit worried about this set since so many shots were taken unconventionally. “Feeling Blue” was taken by putting the camera on the ground with the screen facing down, for “High Angle” I had to balance it on one of the slightly swinging 90° bent tile transporters that can be seen in the foreground. I guess sometimes it pays off having to improvise…
Your photos look interesting. Can’t find any video though. I’m so amazed that you have chosen to live in Japan. A gorgeous country, but to me, too many geographical hazards. What part of Japan were you in this time? And, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you do for a living? Happy trails to you, and keep up the great reporting! Your fan Ute aus Canada.
The tile factory is somewhere in central Japan rather close to the Seto Inland Sea – I took the set during my *second trip to Shikoku*.
I tend to say that “nature hates Japan” – long before Fukushima happened. The summers are hot and extremely humid, earthquakes can hit at any time (tsunamis occasionally), rainy season with a couple of typhoons is annoying as heck and the sun is so intense that I usually get my first sunburn in early March – and I am not that pale… And let’s not forget the crazy time zone Japan is in – so it’s dark at 8 p.m. in summer, at about 5 p.m. in winter! But it’s a safe and convenient country to live in. (And to answer your second question: I have a pretty unexciting office job sitting in front of a PC all day long (where the AC is set to 28° Celsius all year long, summer as well as winter…) – I guess that’s why I am so attracted to get outside and go somewhere on the weekends.)
Thanks a lot for your continuous support, it’s much appreciated!
Lol about the kanji in names! But it is still amazing to me the vandalism is still held at bay there…
Hardly anybody knows about this place and it’s really off the beaten track – you won’t be able to find it by chance just driving around unless you spend days or weeks on it. And even then you most likely will miss it…
The kanji thing really bothered me at first – luckily I found out about the Daito part, so at least I got a general idea about the factory’s history. I guess now this is the article with the most information about the place as the two Japanese photographers didn’t care to do some research…
Beautifully haunting images.
Thanks a lot!
Great series. Love the deep shadows, light, textures and lines.
Thanks a lot Dan!
You really are an explorer! From the outside those buildings look pretty dangerous to enter. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The tile factory was in pretty good condition – in that case I was more worried that it might not be abandoned! Some other places were a lot more dangerous. In one of them I actually almost died. It happened about 2.5 years ago and I think I’ll write about it soon since it’s a pretty good story…
Wow! that sounds scary! I agree, that having them not being unoccupied might be more dangerous, although that factory looks pretty rickety. I look forward to your next tale! 🙂
I learned a very valuable lesson that day… and I think I will share that story in two weeks after I wrapped up the second road trip to Shikoku.
I’ll look forward to it! 🙂
That’s scary man! Which region did the incident take place? What was the cause? wild animals, vandals lying in wait? Glad to hear that you made it out alive!
It happened during my first year of exploration at an abandoned ryokan in Osaka prefecture. Luckily I never ran into vandals, but I had my share of run-ins with wild animals (large spiders, snakes, boars, monkeys – and according to a friend once even a bear, though I didn’t see it myself and he only told me hours later).
In this case I was lucky that I watched my steps…
Factories are GREAT staging areas for all kinds of photos – Bravo!
Thanks! I wish I would have had more time. On the other hand it forces me to hurry and to improvise – that’s why revisiting places can be very exciting. Different circumstances can result in a completely different experience.
Hi Florian,
thanks for visiting my blog at http://www.midihideaways.wordpress.com and introducing me to yours that way. I very much enjoy your pictures and stories, have always been fascinated by abandoned places! Take good care on your explorations!
I always look forward to these posts of yours – great shots 🙂
Thanks a lot Alastair. I’m always a bit worried when I write about rather unspectacular places like this factory, but most of the time the feedback is overwhelmingly positive, which is very motivating!
thx for sharing the video and the potos
Thanks for stopping by! Please come again. 🙂