Abandoned Kansai

Driving around in the countryside is one of the best ways to find abandoned places in Japan that are not (yet) known in the urbex community – original finds. But you have to be careful or you might end up in somebody’s living room or at their work place…

In the mid-2010s I went exploring with two journalists from Scandinavia who did research for a book about abandoned places and industrial decay. On our way to a deserted hotel we drove past this wooden, rundown factory… and turned around to have a closer look. There were some cars with license plates parked on the premises, despite it being Sunday, but nobody was there. The place had a very abandoned look to it, but most buildings were locked and could have still been used, though we had no clue what for, so we took some photos, mostly outdoors, and drove on – breaking and entering isn’t my thing… and original finds are extra risky. I didn’t know until my research for this article that the company wasn’t officially shut down until two years after this exploration!
7 years later I was in that part of Kyoto prefecture again with another urbex friend, so we decided to stop by the countryside factory again. And this time it was completely different. All the cars were gone, about one third of the factory had been demolished, the rest was easily accessible through open or unlocked doors. This time we had to rush, because we were running out of daylight, but it was nevertheless a super interesting exploration as the factory looked like it must have been a hundred years old and could collapse at any time when slamming a door shut.

It wasn’t until selecting photos from both sets for this article that I realized how different the factory looked on both visits. During my first exploration I wasn’t sure about the status of the place, but when comparing those photos with the second set, it’s super clear that the factory was still in use during the first visit – electrical wires and other cables hadn’t been cut yet, some tables and areas looked like active workspaces, there was less vegetation… and of course the factory was still complete and not partly demolished.
Technically this is not one of the most beautiful photo sets I’ve ever published, but it’s an original find and Showa AF – maybe even Meiji. At the same time parts of the Kyoto Countryside Factory had almost a fantasy vibe, if you were able to ignore the computers and cables and plastic crates… I’ve been to more than my fair share of abandoned wooden structures, but this facility was huge and had hardly any metal elements. Even the small rail system had more wooden elements than metal ones and could have been right out of an 80s fantasy flick. So, yeah, even if the photos are not great, I really enjoyed exploring this place. Which is rare, as I hardly do revisits, despite the fact that this is the second location in a row with a combined gallery of two explorations. So next time I’ll post a one-off again. Which one? I don’t know yet, but you should definitely *check out some older locations*!

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