Abandoned Kansai

You would think that an abandoned place along a popular car, motorbike and bicycle route would be all over the internet. But no. It was upon yours truly again to explore yet another original find…

Camping is surprisingly popular in Japan, a country with about 92% urban dwellers. Or maybe it’s that way because of it – from the concrete jungle to a real forest. There are about 1300 campsites from Hokkaido to Okinawa, everything from “just pitch your tent” to luxury glamping sites. Especially the latter ones have become insanely popular ever since the beginning of Covid, or maybe just before it. Glamping sites have been popping up everywhere, some even at coordinates where just years prior you could have enjoyed an abandoned place…
When I first saw the Kampground / KOA sign on the garbage containers at the entrance I was highly irritated – the similar German word Kampfgrund came to mind, which could mean “reason to fight” or “battleground”… if it existed. Weird English words starting with a K of course also remind me of the KKK. So I expected something really strange, like a camping place for racists. Turns out that KOA stands for Kampgrounds of America, a real campground franchise founded in 1962 by a few white businessmen  in Montana. The company grew fast and was bought by Oscar Liu-Chien Tang in 1979. At the height of its growth the franchise had almost 900 locations, but due to higher quality standards it shrunk to under 500. The official website lists locations in the States (not really united recently, are they?) and Canada (or as we Germans call it more appropriately, especially in this context: Kanada), but no word about grounds in Japan. The rest of the internet also didn’t have any information, not even Google’s AI, which I didn’t ask, but who unsuccessfully chipped in anyway. It’s like the place never existed, except on StreetView, where is oldest records are from 2011 – and it already looked abandoned back then, for at least a few years. Which amazing, considering that the place was right at the Shimanami Kaido, Japan’s most famous bike tour, usually done in two days. But nothing. Not from the active days, and nothing about the abandoned phase either. Urban explorers in Japan must have passed it hundreds or thousands of times… yet nothing.
So I guess we can keep the rest short: I came. I saw. I took photos. There were about a dozen huts, a couple of larger block houses with several units, a few BBQ places, plus a communal area with sinks, showers, rest rooms, and a hot tub. Not much more to say. Beautiful outdoor exploration on a gorgeous spring afternoon. A rare original find apparently. I enjoyed it very much, and I hope you will, too!

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