15 to 20 years ago, before it started to collapse, the Collapsing School must have been a wonderful place to explore. Usually those abandoned wooden pre-war schools are much smaller and located in the middle of nowhere between two hamlets, but this one was large, right next to a busy road in the outskirts of a small town and still in walking distance of a train station. Unfortunately there is not much known about the school. I guess it dates back to the 1890s, was closed about 50 years ago and used as a factory afterwards for a while, much like the *Clothing School* – unfortunately the building complex is mostly empty now… and partly collapsed. Why it is not getting demolished completely is beyond me, especially since solar parks already started to pop up nearby, and the school would property would make a great solar park, with its already flat and empty parking lot and former baseball field. For me it was the last location to explore on a long rainy day, the sun behind the clouds already setting. A dozen quick shots over the course of maybe half an hour – quick in and out for a small article during busy times… like now. Not a spectacular location, but… well… better than nothing! 🙂
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Abandoned Kansai 
Florian, I know I have been following for 10 years so I probably should remember, but have you had any encounters with unexpected people, vagrants or visitors at these haikyo locations? Would you be willing to do an article on that? Like strange encounters at haikyo spots?
I barely ever encounter people at abandoned places. Maybe twice a year, usually fellow explorers – most of the time they become part of the story, like at the Kawaminami Shipyard. One homeless guy in 12 years, about half a dozen encounters with the police, plus maybe two or three dozen close calls (them driving by just before I wanted to enter or just when I left). Not sure if that’s enough for a whole article…
BTW: Thank you very much for being a reader for such a long time – I really appreciate that!
This is another good article by the way, I forgot to mention that!
That’s very kind of you to say, but we both know that it was just a filler… I’m disappointed myself since I have so many spectacular unpublished locations on my harddrive, but unfortunately I currently don’t have the time to write long articles or prep large photo galleries.
Just so you know, I didn’t think of the article it as a filler at all. I know it will be hard to top stuff like Nara Dreamland or Shangri-la Hotel (my personal favorite, also liked the K-1 pachinko parlor a lot) but that doesn’t mean the article isn’t still a good read and had some interesting photos.
You’re going out of your way to find these abandoned places, and that’s what I appreciate. You’re doing it for the love of it but also doing it for all of us, almost treating it like it’s your job. As a fan, I couldn’t ask for more than that.
You are making me nostalgic, Elias! Shangri-la and K-1 were both early original finds while driving on countryside roads. Shangri-la is quite famous now (I probably shouldn’t have used the real name…) and K-1 has been demolished years ago.
Thanks for staying with me for that long! Abandoned Kansai really is project driven by passion and I’m not nearly done with it – I’ll keep exploring and I’ll keep writing about those explorations for as long as I can!
cool :).