Abandoned Kansai

Welcome to yet another original find! This time we’ll go deep into the mountains to explore what turned out to be a large textile mill!

One of the best things in life, other than to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women, is to explore a previously unknown abandoned place you found yourself without the help of others – something I take much pride in since my very first days of exploring, because let’s be honest: every shmuck can ask or even pay for coordinates and do the traveling involved, but finding and exploring a new place… that’s special!
A while ago I spotted a rather big rusty red roof amidst a thick forest. Not too far away were a couple of still inhabited houses and next to one of them I assumed was a now abandoned road that seemed to lead towards the roofed area. Unfortunately the area was rather blurry and of course no StreetView car had ever graced the area with its presence. But I guess almost a decade of “reading” GoogleMaps paid off again and the layout was exactly as expected – which didn’t make the exploration any easier though. The uphill road to the large corrugated iron construction had turned into an overgrown muddy mess over the decades… and the “building” itself still only sticked out on satellite photos because of the massive amount of ground it covered. At first sight the whole thing seemed to be some kind of storage facility. We found several numbered garage like bays, some empty, some filled with random stuff that could have been part of a factory, but also been owned by private people. Frustrated by the heat, humidity, overgrowth and inaccessibility I was ready to call it a day and move on, when my exploration buddy realized that the wall that we were standing next to was actually a corrugated iron door – it blended it perfectly. After years and years of not being opened the thing was rusty as heck, but fortunately unlocked.
Inside the “Mountain Textile Factory“ was in really bad condition. Whole walls were missing, the roof was leaking at countless spots and yet the whole thing was surprisingly gloomy on that rainy day. It looked like they just shut down everything and left, half of the machinery still stocked with material and a porn magazine in a drawer; yes, the good old Japanese urbex rule – no 80s location without a porn stash… Unfortunately it wasn’t only a rainy day, but also late in the day, so it was getting dark quickly.

Overall though I’m super happy with this exploration: It started out underwhelmingly, but turned into a lovely surprise, it was an original find, and one of the yarn bobbin photos is absolutely fantastic IMHO. A perfect addition to the *Japanese Garment Factory* exploration a while ago…

(*Like Abandoned Kansai on Facebook* or *follow us on Twitter* if you don’t want to miss the latest articles and exclusive content – and subscribe to the *video channel on Youtube* to receive a message right after a new video is online…)