My favorite abandoned place in Japan? The Abandoned Dynamite Mine! It was love at first sight, in spring somewhere in the Japanese mountains…
2013 started slow for me, only two urbex day trips until late April, but then my buddy Dan and I decided to go on a weekend trip, a mere four days before I left for *North Korea*. I planned a little roundtrip to the countryside – some schools without children, some abandoned houses, a snowless ski resort or two… and that mine I had seen on a Japanese blog a while ago. It didn’t look spectacular there, and it was in the middle of nowhere, so my expectations were low, but I added it to the itinerary anyway. I like mines, big or small…
Halfway through the second day we finally drove up that tiny little countryside road – so off the beaten tracks that we weren’t even sure whether we would find anything or not. Maybe we missed a turnoff and the remains were out of sight just a couple of hundred meters away? But we continued, just to reach a dilapidated bridge across a tiny mountain river, the steep road we were on not deserving that term anymore – so we stopped and parked… right next to another car, with a dude reading fishing magazines!
We ignored him, he ignored us – and we continued on foot up the mountain, the grey sky slightly drizzling. Some hundred meters later it turned out that it was a good idea to have parked the car: A landslide washed away half of the road, reducing it to a path. Again several hundred meters later. And again and again. There was no way that any car would ever go up here again! We followed what now looked like a street that hadn’t seen traffic in decades, deeper into a valley and up the mountain; and then we saw it for the first time, partly hidden by clouds – the abandoned mine we were hoping to explore.
To some degree abandoned places are like people – with some you connect, with some you don’t. Some you find attractive, some you don’t. Some you want to spend more time with, some you just want to get away from. I looked up the steep slope, this time barely passable thanks to several mudslides, saw a couple of rusty, metal-cladded wooden shacks (I have a thing for redheads… uhm… red roofs!) and somehow had the feeling that this would be a fantastic exploration; especially since the place didn’t look much like on the tiny photos I saw before.
I couldn’t wait to have a closer look, so I picked up the speed, virtually flying up the slightly damp mountain. By the time I reached the first buildings, the low hanging clouds started to retreat and the sun came out – even nature was smiling at us… (The weather kept changing though, much like at the amazing *abandoned China themed park Tenkaen*.)
The first storage shack I entered already had some promising items, like a phone with a hand crank and an old lamp with the paint flaking off; old, rusty technology I really like. So while I was taking photos, my buddy Dan and his friend Spencer went ahead to have a look around. By the time I was done taking photos inside the storage my friends told me to have a look at the next building, as they found a special item there I should really see.
I hurried up the steep, raw steps to a little wooden shack filled with all kinds of electronic installations – and there it was sitting on the ground, a box labeled “新桐ダイナマイト“ – new ammonia gelatine dynamite. DYNAMITE?! Luckily the box was open and empty, but although I had been to several mines before, I had never seen a crate of dynamite. This was getting better by the minute! (Later on it turned out that this wasn’t the only dynamite box left behind…)
Since Dan and Spencer were going on a much faster pace, I was basically on my own at the Abandoned Dynamite Mine – exploring by myself while having the security of fellow explorers nearby is actually my favorite way to approach abandoned places. Especially in this case, where every step was dangerous; all the metal was rusty, all the wood was brittle, lots of corners were dark.
Rusty, brittle and dark, that also applied to my next destination, the loading dock at the bottom of the main building. Sadly there wasn’t much to see, except for conveyer belts and about a dozen 20 liter buckets of Hidiesel S-3, a patented lubricant produced by the Nippon Oil Company.
I left the loading dock, climbed another raw set of steps and entered the main building through what turned out to be a repair and assembly shop, right next to a system of machinery. Of course none of them were powered anymore, nevertheless there was a constant stream of water running through that part of the building. Actually it wasn’t constant, as it was getting stronger and weaker – I assumed my buddies were toying with some valves, but it turned out I was wrong. I still don’t know what was responsible for the variations, but it added to the atmosphere – the Abandoned Dynamite Mine might have been closed down, but it clearly wasn’t dead!
From this machine area with its thin rusty pathways I continued up the mountain inside the building, past more conveyer belts, more machines, more gauges. There I found two unopened cans of “Bireley’s Orange”, a non-carbonated orange soft drink more than a decade past its best before date; interestingly enough the can design didn’t change much since then.
The top of the main building was another interesting spot, offering a great view over the lower part of the Abandoned Dynamite Mine and holding a couple of interesting items, like more hand-cranked phones and a rusty shaving knife along with a pair of pincers.
To get to the upper part of the mine, where I assumed the mine entrance was, I had to go back down and follow a now somewhat overgrown path along the mountain slope. Three and a half hours into exploring this amazing place I was running out of time – luckily my friends were waiting for me up there, giving me advice on where to go and how to get there.
The view was amazing, but what really blew my mind were the wooden buildings – one looked like a one room apartment house, now filled with insect repellant. In April of 2013 bugs were not a problem, patches of snow still lying on the ground, but I can only imagine how the air must buzz of insects in the humid summer heat… The other building of interest must have been used for administrative purposes – there I found more dusty phones, but also old mining lamps, a large table with several chairs, lots of old LPs, books, safety guides, nude magazines… The back of the building smelled a bit chemical and when I left I could see more dynamite boxes from the corner of my eye – and that’s why I named the place Abandoned Dynamite Mine. (Given the stench I didn’t have a closer look at the boxes…)
Due to the known time restraints I only had a quick look at the surroundings, following some lorry rails along the mountain slope, but when the tracks lead me too far away from the buildings I turned around, only to find a really old mine entrance right next to the wooden administrative building – I am sure it wasn’t used to extract ores, at least not since the use of modern equipment, instead the tubes / hoses leading outside imply that it was used to handle the mine’s damps.
At that time the sun was about to set and so I had to leave my new favorite abandoned place in all of Japan before I was able to see everything; it took us about half an hour to get back to the car, plus another six hours to drive back Osaka (including a break at a conveyer belt sushi restaurant…).
The Abandoned Dynamite Mine was a perfect location, maybe THE perfect location; at least to me. I loved every second there, from the moment that I saw the first buildings through the mist till the last time I saw them 5 hours later from the same spot during golden hour. Most abandoned places unnerve me a bit for one reason or another, but here everything was perfect – the amazing condition of the mine, the variety of buildings and items, the tranquil atmosphere amidst the amazing landscape, the low expectations I had upon arrival; everything came together perfectly. As far as abandoned places go, this was true love at first sight… Even the bittersweet feeling of being cut short at the end contributed positively to the experience – leaving having seen everything would have been wonderful, but leaving while longing for more elevated the exploration to a whole new level!
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Abandoned Kansai 
Wow that’s incredible, what a spooky place!
Hey Jayde-Ashe,
Yeah, especially the part with the water was really weird!
This is one AWESOME post. Great return to urbex. Great shots. Wonderful story. Those old mining lamps are out of this world. I think I would’ve kept one as a souvenir. The video was great too. As I was watching the video I kept thinking, “there’s a shot, there’s a shot, there’s another….etc.” you get the picture. I think I could’ve filled up half a dozen memory cards here.
I had a feeling that you would like the location when you posted the comment on the preview photo. The mine was absolutely amazing and the fact that I have probably been the first foreigner to go there just added to the experience. BTW: I took about 350 photos within 4.5 hours – and I could have needed double the time, so I probably would have ended up with double the photos…
You would really love South Africa — there are so many interesting abandoned places here. Here are a couple of places that I just remembered off the top of my head while reading your post:
http://2summers.net/2013/03/30/the-keeper-of-the-dynamite/ (olf mine – not completely abandoned but pretty close)
http://2summers.net/2012/03/25/i-died-and-went-to-airplane-heaven/ (airplane graveyard)
Hey Heather,
If I only had more time I would love to explore some abandoned places in South Africa – thanks to my trip to *North Korea* earlier this year I’ll be running out of vacation days soon… Maybe next year – or the year after.
Great find! Very nice series of photos. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot, Dan! Perfect explorations don’t happen a lot, but this was definitely one of them.
I have missed your Urbex posts – this is fantastic, would be right up my street! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hey Sue,
I actually missed the urbex postings, too – but I didn’t want to split the Korea series, so I had to finish it first. Now I am back and the next couple of locations will be spectacular! 🙂
Look forward to seeing the next posts!
Yes, it is funny how one “connects” with a particular place. Great post/shots.
Thanks, Robert! Some places I love to have taken pictures of, being glad when I was finally able to leave. Here I enjoyed every second!
Sometimes the “don’t take anything”-rule of Urbex puts me down. In this case especially when seeing the old bakelite-phones and the obscure vinyl-records… and the nude-magazine. :-)))
Yeah, but on the other hand: Isn’t it kind of a comforting feeling to know that all those items have been there for 10, 15, 20 years and probably will be for another 10, 15, 20 years? That there are people out there who respect the mine so much that whoever else knows about it can go there, have a look, take some photos – and when they come back years later not much has changed? There are so many amazing things to see and I am grateful for every single one of them – imagine all the phones and lamps would have been stolen… my photo set would have been only half as interesting.
Of course, absolutely right.
This looks like my kind of place! Great write up and photos.
Thanks a lot, Lena – and thanks for sticking with me during the Korea series! 🙂
Super write-up and great way to share the experience with us all. Cheers!
Thanks a lot, Randall! I only realized after I was done with the article, 1500 words later, that I didn’t write a single word about the mine’s history. Well, maybe if I get the chance to go back and write a Revisited article…
Scary! Can you just imagine working there?!
Hey Tina,
Why not? Fresh air, gorgeous view… and I am stuck in an office where it’s hard to tell sometimes if it’s light or dark outside, despite the fact that I am on the sixteenth floor. At least we have AC. I imagine working at the mine you have to deal with the rather harsh weather all year long… High humidity and bugs in summer, snow in winter. I guess I prefer an office job and do some nature trips on the weekends. 🙂
I agree… spooky place… But I am amazed by your ideas about telling those abandoned site… amazing… ^_^d
Thanks a lot! When I started 3.5 years ago the topic wasn’t that popular, but people seem to be more and more interested in it.
Awesome writeup! I do love an adventure, even vicariously. And, as always, your images are beautiful! It just amazes me how much stuff is left behind in Japan’s abandoned places. Here in the states all that stuff would have been quickly scavenged. I like that it’s all still there – frozen in time. Thanks for bringing it to us!
Hey Pamela,
I’m happy to hear that you liked this article! Being at the mine was truly amazing and I didn’t think I would write about it so soon, but then I thought I needed an article with a BANG after 2.5 months of writing about *North Korea*. And what has more Bang than an abandoned mine with dynamite crates left behind?
😀 Indeed!
love the different and varying emotions portrayed in the pictures:)
Thanks, it was so tough to cut it down to 28 photos… I think I could have easily posted 40! 🙂
Fascinating, Japan is fascinating in itself, but combine that with abandoned buildings too? Sign me up! Loving this blog, getting me back into the mood for exploration.
Hey James,
Living in the Czech Republic you must be surrounded by tons of abandoned buildings! I never did any research on the CR, but if it’s anything like the former GDR, you’ll have some of the most amazing abandoned military bases in the world!
Yeah there’s a former Soviet one about 40 minutes away i’m dying to explore 🙂
James, I envy you so much! 40 minutes is nothing… What keeps you from going there? Those places can be gone at any time! By now I have to drive at least 1.5 hours to get to good locations I haven’t seen before – and I don’t even own a car here in Japan… Sometimes I spend 6 hours on public transportation before I start exploring.
I’m definitely missing the buzz of exploring. Was supposed to go to Pripyat last year with a friend but they closed the zone just before we were scheduled to go and the tour was cancelled so i’m itching to go exploring around the Czech Republic. There’s an abandoned factory in the town I live in but looks tricky to get into, that and I really don’t want to mess with Czech police 🙂
Hey James,
They closed the zone? What happened – fire and wind? It’s not permanently closed, is it?
Ha ha, yeah, I can understand. Czech police I wouldn’t wanna mess with either. Germany and Japan shouldn’t be a problem, so I feel mostly safe. Security here can be a pain, especially at *Nara Dreamland* since it seems like the guy tries to blame trespassers for vandalism…
Great series and write up. The abandoned mine looks like a really fun place to shoot.
Hey Mark,
Thanks a lot – and it was an amazing place to explore and to take pictures of. Given that I don’t do any enhancing post-production and that I’m not a native speaker I am really happy how this article turned out. 🙂
This is an awesome post. Learned new things I never knew. Thank you for the read. 🙂
You’re welcome – thanks for reading and leaving a comment!
This will happen often, I am sure. ^____^
Great theme on this blog. What did they mine there? It seems that dynamite would be a constant for any mine. Or did they just mine diatomite?
Oh, I am sure the content of those boxes were actually used as this was quite an important mine at one point in time – the one I took photos of was empty, I am just not sure about the ones in the dark corner in the other building… Maybe they had some left and thought “Screw it! Nobody will ever come here anyway…”?
Hey Florian! I just realized we went at the same place almost at the same time! If you don’t mind, I will use the name you have to this mine as well for my post 🙂 Even though.. I actually didn’t notice the dynamite crates – I was so tired that I spent almost 2 hours sleeping at the entrance of the place. The area it just way too relaxing…
Hey Jordy,
Sure, go ahead and use the same name – the place really deserves protection as it is one of the locations that hasn’t suffered from any kind of vandalism.