Abandoned playgrounds usually are a part of deserted towns or theme parks – this one was different…
If there is one thing that Japanese people truly seem to love, it’s viewpoints. There are thousands of them all across the country. Along the coastline, next to bridges, on mountaintops, on mountainsides, next to waterfalls, towers in the middle of plains – if it’s even remotely worth taking a photo you bet somebody built a platform and marked it as a viewpoint on GoogleMaps.
The now abandoned Viewpoint Playground was built in the 1980s and is still in remarkable condition, considering that it has been abandoned for almost a decade now. It consists of playground equipment, a restroom hut, several benches and tables as well as rest house a little bit down the slope. Most elements are made of fake wood – a wire construction covered by concrete, shaped and painted like branches, boards, and logs. You have that stuff all over Japan, but barely ever in almost pristine condition, barely touched. Of course the viewing platform with the free tower viewer (not working anymore) has two small slides of the same material, which really made me wonder: What’s with Japan and concrete slides? Sure, they are cheap, but they are basically not usable, because most of them have a surface that is reminiscent of sandpaper. Even if you’d want to, you just can’t really go down those slides… and yet they are at playgrounds everywhere in Japan.
Abandoned playgrounds are rather rare in Japan, despite the fact that the people here have fewer and fewer children – and the Viewpoint Playground was a beautiful one. It was mostly overgrown, yet you could still navigate between the elements, some of which required some exploration to find, all of which were in good condition, so with a day or two of serious landscaping you could probably revive the place – a perfect location to roam and take photos of on a sunny late spring day!
(*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…)
Abandoned Kansai 
I love abandoned playgrounds
Any idea why it was abandoned? Giant hornets? Or some other creepy crawleys? Road closed?
I don’t know for sure… Maybe they built a tunnel and the road this playground is at wasn’t used as much anymore? Maybe they overestimated the popularity of that location in the first place and it was actually never popular?
cool :). besides the broken restroom, it kinda looks like it wouldnt take much work to make it somewhat useable again, just cut the grass haha.
its very uncomon here, but we had one concrete slide in a park near wich i grew up. it used to be painted in some very glossy and slipery paint so i suppose it actually worked like an actuall slide…but since it was decades old, the paint got completely worn out and it was just a raw concrete so not exactly usefull in my time either hahaha
Yeah, I remember some smooth concrete surfaces at playgrounds here, too, but a surprisingly high number are really rough and more like sandpaper. Not sure why…