Giant hornets, large spiders, wild boars, monkeys, deers, snakes, mosquitos, bumble bees, regular bees, rats, mice, cats, pigeons, dragonflies, raccoons… and maybe even a bear – you have to love animals if you want to do urbex in Japan!
Japanese people are very proud of their four seasons and some of them actually think that Japan is the only country in the world with four distinctive seasons – which is ridiculous, because not only are there many other countries with four distinctive seasons, but Japan stretches over a length of about 3000 kilometers – there are definitely not four seasons in Okinawa; and in Hokkaido they are anything but equally spread. Furthermore the majority of Japan is affected by a thing called tsuyu; literally plum rain, but commonly translated as (East Asian) rainy season… bringing the count to five seasons. Living in Osaka, “winters” can be cool and windy between late December and mid-March (hardly any snow, but temperatures can drop below the freezing point shortly, but tend to stay between 5°C and 10°C), while summers tend to be hot and humid nightmares between early July and late September with daytime temperatures reaching 35°C and nighttime temperatures not falling below 30°C for countless weeks in a row. The time between “winter” and hell (and vice versa) is usually really nice though – warm autumns with colorful maple leaves and springs with clear skies and millions of blooming cheery trees. Personally I like spring a little bit better as nature is still slumbering, which means that abandoned places tend to be more accessible and the previously mentioned local fauna is still awakening, too. Well… and then there is tsuyu, the rainy season, squished in between spring and hell, usually starting in early June and ending early July – give or take a week or two. About one month of torrential rain on about 5 out of 7 days a week… and a significant rise in humidity, making urbex not only unpredictable, but also not fun at all for the next four months; including the hellish summer. (And I go from one weekend per month not exploring to one weekend per month exploring… at best.)
Exploring the Crocodile School marked the beginning of tsuyu and the end of my spring urbex season last year, 2015. At first sight it was just another abandoned elementary school, the main entrance covered by a wide green net to prevent animals from entering; flexible and large enough to allow humans to gain access easily. The main area was still in decent condition, despite the fact that there were visible signs of vandalism and progressing decay in the back. While somebody was still mowing the lawn and kept things like the net intact, nobody was able or willing to spend money repairing rotting wood or the partly collapsed roof. At the end of a hallway, close to the nurse’s room, was a (b)locked door – luckily there was a separate entrance available from the outside… and that room turned out to be the highlight of the school. Most likely used for storage and maybe as a staff room, this end of the Crocodile School was packed with all kinds of items – including the name-giving taxidermy crocodile! But of course that was not all. Next to a table saw and what looked like a pottery oven (maybe?) I found a taxidermy turtle, countless pieces of china, several sea creatures preserved in half-empty glass tubes and much, much more…
When it comes to season endings, this was one of the better ones – for sure better than the ending of the sixth season of Lost! 😉 It was the first weekend of tsuyu… and I paid the price for it. It was hot, it was humid… and exploring the *Silent Hill Hotel* on the day before was much spookier than necessary. Luckily it didn’t rain on the morning of Day 2, nevertheless getting up to and exploring the Crocodile School was a sweat-inducing endeavor, rewarded by a beautiful view, an interesting amount of decay and plenty of unusual items left behind.
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Can’t believe all that was left behind at that school! Especially those specimens. Enjoyed reading your opening paragraph about 4 seasons — we, too, have 4 seasons here in Knoxville, Tennessee. And it’s one of the reasons we like living here. Thanks for always showing us interesting places on your blog.
Thanks a lot for your nice comment! Exploring an abandoned Japanese school is like opening a treasure chest – some of them are empty and rotting inside, but some of them are filled with the most amazing and unusual items. The thing about the four seasons is a running gags amongst expats, because sooner or later we all hear that fairy tale about seasons in Japan… 🙂
Another fine post. BTW…If anyone really wants to experience the full breadth of all four seasons, they are welcome to visit Nebraska, USA. 🙂
Thanks a lot! I wonder if somebody ever compiled a “season map”, i.e. which part of the world has how many seasons. Probably not, because you don’t have conversations about that… except in Japan. 🙂
nice,that “crosswalk” infront of that class is interesting,all it needs is traffic lights now haha
Fun fact: crosswalks are an easy way to get yourself killed as a foreign pedestrian in Japan, because 95% of the cars completely ignore them.
so exactly same as in cz,but here you dont even have to be a foreign lmao
Oh, they run over their own people here, too – but I am not used to it as you can get fined for ignoring crosswalks in Germany.
here you can actually get fined for it aswell…but most of ppls doesnt care anyway
Absolutely splendid!
Thanks a lot!