Abandoned Kansai

Creaky old places can be fun to explore. Especially when they are so creaky, that even small people get scared… 🙂

Around the same time as I was exploring the *Green Plaza Akakura* with a few friends and strangers, two of those friends dragged me to a slope with a creek in Mie, to explore an old abandoned minshuku. It was built mainly using wood – and over the slope towards the creek. Even before entering I knew that this was a potential death trap, so I stayed behind and took photos through windows. Curiosity won after a while, but I made sure that I stayed near the entrance and in the hallway closest to the ground, where I couldn’t crash through the floor and fall a meter or two… or three. My friends of course were much braver (as they were much lighter) and so the creaky symphony at the Creek Inn started. At first it was strictly instrumental, but the further my friends ventured, the more often they “sang” by making short, high-pitched noises I used to make in the past at similar places. Much like the suzumebachi situation at the *Kyoto Ski Resort* with another explorer friend of mine, those things really depend on which foot the shoes is on…
Unfortunately I know nothing about this abandoned accommodation, before we arrived I didn’t even know it existed. A calendar on the wall was dated October, November, December 2004, but that doesn’t mean much. The place being abandoned for about 15 years sounds plausible, but it could as well have been 5 years or 25 years. The “for how long” guessing game is a really tough one in Japan. But at least I got somewhat equal with my friends that day. A rather refreshing role reversal. And a good reason to finally write about the Mie Minshuku. A two article story arc… 😉
Oh, and on the way home through the mountainous countryside we ran into a bunch of monkeys and quickly took some photos. I added them at the end of the gallery. One more aspect you have to consider when eyeing one of those cheap akiya – the area might be ruled by a group of primates…

(*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…)