Before going to Pripyat there were two things I badly wanted to do: I wanted to take a really good picture of the ferris wheel at the Amusement Park – and I wanted to have a good view over the city from the top of one of the buildings.
Of course officially it’s way too dangerous to allow people to go on top of any of those buildings, in countries like Germany and Japan they probably wouldn’t even let you inside most of them, but of course nobody really cares about those rules as seen many, many times in magazines, on TV and the internet. So after we left the supermarket we drove through the city for quite a while to get to the northwestern part of Pripyat. There was a 16-story building rather far away from the main attractions and in close proximity of some unfinished buildings. Maxim, who still looked a little bit… well… hungover… told us that he would “guard the car” and asked us to be careful and to stay away from the edges so we won’t be seen by the units policing the area occasionally – and he gave us 30 minutes to get back. (Strangely enough Maxim wasn’t worried that much about 35 minutes later when we running late a bit. We were on our way down and at around the 9th or 10th story we heard a car horn making quite some noise. Being used to unofficial explorations I panicked for about a second or two until I realized that I had no reason to really worry about anything. And neither had Maxim… obviously.)
The entrance of the building at Lesya Ukrainka Street 56 didn’t exactly look like a building you really want to enter, let alone stand on top of, but that didn’t cross the mind of either of us – we were eager to experience a view to remember. On the way to the roof I made a quick stop at one of the floors to see with my own eyes how much damage the liquidators and looters did to the apartments. Most of the rooms were indeed empty, electronics were nowhere to be seen and of course both wallpapers and paint were falling off the walls. At the top floor was a machinery room where we had to climb a wooden chair to get to the opening to actually get onto the flat roof. Climbing that chair and looking outside was another magic moment, almost as intense as when I saw the ferris wheel for the first time at the gymnasium of the Palace of Culture – not even two hours earlier, but it seemed like it had been weeks ago.
Stepping onto the roof I actually saw just green and grey-ish blue at first – the almost endless forest west of Pripyat and the impressive dramatic sky of that late summer day. The view was breathtaking and seeing Pripyat for the first time from that perspective I realized how big the city really was and how much of it was re-claimed by nature. Lots of the smaller buildings were completely swallowed by the sea of trees and even some of the bigger ones looked like they were drowning. In the south the Jupiter Factory was rising from the forest and at the horizon the remains of the Russian Woodpecker, part of the Soviet Union’s anti-ballistic missile program, were still defying nature. And in the distance in the southeast the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was reminding everybody why the city to our feet was abandoned…
(If you would like to know more about my trip to the Zone Of Alienation please *click here* to get to the “Chernobyl & Pripyat” special. For a map of the area please *click here*.)
Archive for the ‘House’ Category
Zone Of Alienation – Pripyat: Apartment Building at Lesya Ukrainka Street 56
Posted in Abandoned, Europe, House, Map, Pripyat, Ukraine, Urbex, Video, Visited in 2010, Zone Of Alienation on 2011/01/27| 5 Comments »
The Tokushima Countryside Clinic (徳島田舎診療所)
Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, Hospital, House, Japan, Shikoku, Tokushima, Urbex, Visited in 2010 on 2010/12/24| 12 Comments »
Doing urban exploration it’s hard not step into the trap of chasing only after the famous locations like Gunkanjima or Nara Dreamland – everybody has them (for good reasons), so you kind of gotta have them, too. But it’s important to stay open minded and not just look for the big ones when doing research. Because if you are really dedicated and incredibly lucky every once in a while you will stumble across a hidden gem that will blow your mind unexpectedly. Ladies and gentlemen: The Tokushima Countryside Clinic…
I saw the Tokushima Countryside Clinic (徳島田舎診療所) on a small Japanese travel blog about half a year ago. Although its location is quite remote I was able to pin it down. Jordy knew about the place, too, and was even more eager than myself to see the place (I was actually only moderately excited about it beforehand), so we decided to go there first thing on the second day of our road trip to Shikoku – abandoned hospitals are hard to find, but Japanese countryside clinics are almost unknown. Up till now the secret Doctor’s Shack was the benchmark for that type of haikyo, but over the last couple of years it lost quite a bit of its former attraction as it’s not that secret anymore and suffered a lot from vandalism. With the discovery of the Tokushima Countryside Clinic I’m sure its reputation will go down in no time…
I’ve been to several famous locations in Japan and I enjoyed most of them, but this really unknown find came with almost no expectations and therefore captured my heart in no time. Big but quite unremarkable from the outside I entered the TCC through the only room of the building partly collapsed, the former front desk. While Jordy instinctively went to the pharmacy part to the right (which had a sign that straight-up said “If you want medicine you have to pay cash!”) I had a look around on the first floor and finally settled in the treatment room. Abandoned about 32 years ago (as Jordy found out later talking to some locals) the TCC offered an almost endless amount of items and angles. There was so much to see it didn’t get boring for a second, from syringes and rusty needles over patient files to medical books and instruments – and since the partly boarded-up place had hardly any visitors during the last few decades the atmosphere there was just amazing.
I thought maybe 20 minutes had passed when Jordy suggested after 1.5 hours (!) that we should switch rooms. So I went over to the pharmacy, wondering if it was really a good idea to take pictures in a room filled with all kinds of odors. I was setting up my tripod in the narrow pharmacy, but it took me another 10 minutes or so to realize that there was another tiny room behind it, filled with hundreds of bottles, flasks and cardboard boxes full of more medicine and chemicals. Whenever I thought I’ve seen everything there was more. Like when Jordy asked me half an hour later if I had seen the study room behind the examination room – of course I hadn’t! I shot in that room for more than one and a half hours and didn’t even realize there was another (opened) door… So I made my way over to the study room and took some more pictures of books, test tubes and other stuff.
The rest of the TCC was a mansion-like estate with a beautiful huge living room set in complete darkness (harboring a gorgeous house shrine) and a spacious kitchen including a brick-built oven. The sleeping rooms must have been on the second floor and in another building that was also used as a storage.
Overall the Tokushima Countryside Clinic is a haikyoist’s dream and I have to admit it totally blew my mind – it’s unique, it’s in great condition, it’s virtually unknown and I had almost no expectations when going there. I spent about four hours shooting (due to the difficult but interesting lighting conditions exposure times went as high as 30 seconds) and I guess I could have spent another four if there wouldn’t have been other locations on the schedule for that day. The TCC is without a doubt my favorite location in Japan so far and I guess it’s the perfect opportunity to finally present you my favorite location worldwide – so next week I’ll finally start the long overdue series about Pripyat and Chernobyl…
I decided to publish the photo set of this location in black and white to stress its unique atmosphere; finally a simple form of post-production – *please have a look at the color version here*.
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The Doctor’s Neighbours
Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Chūbu, Gifu, Haikyo, House, Japan, Urbex, Visited in 2010 on 2010/11/05| 4 Comments »
After Michael and I finished shooting the Doctor’s Shack we walked about 30 meters along a small, dusty street to get to an abandoned house he found during his first visit to the Doctor’s Shack; Michael ran out of time back then and therefore didn’t have the opportunity to explore it.
The place looked like a typical Japanese countryside house built maybe in 70s and abandoned in the 90s, although both dates are pure guessing on my side. One floor, no basement, wooden floor and tatami mats, plastic lamps and chandeliers, walls you can punch through with your fist, and most important of all: quite spacious. Judging by how (hardly) known it is on the internet I guess it attracts way less visitors although it’s actually easier to find. But if it isn’t in a book and doesn’t have special things (like many bottles with chemicals in them…) I guess most people consider it uninteresting. And while the house of the doctor’s neighbours really wasn’t a haikyo highlight by any means it was interesting to go through a “normal” abandoned building, especially since it was already getting dark (thanks to an approaching rainstorm) and therefore shooting the place became kind of a challenge since neither of us had a (working) tripod. Luckily there were lots of places to put down the camera and I learned quite a bit about shooting under bad lighting conditions at Nara Dreamland, so I got at least a couple of decent shots. Decent, not spectacular, since it seems like the place was inhabited by normal people – there was nothing special to shoot, although somebody brought over some medicine vials from the Doctor’s Shack.
Next to the main building was a smaller one, most likely used for storage. And while Michael still had the patience to play around with some boxes and his headlight I got the heck out of there trying to finally escape the mosquitos…
(Michael combined both locations into one posting and you can read all about it here.)
The Doctor’s Shack
Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Chūbu, Gifu, Haikyo, Hospital, House, Japan, Urbex, Visited in 2010 on 2010/10/21| 10 Comments »
Location Teaser 2
Posted in Abandoned, Amusement Park, Asia, Chūbu, Europe, Factory, Gifu, Haikyo, Hospital, Hotel / Ryokan, House, Hyogo, Japan, Kansai, Luxembourg, Map, Nara, Pripyat, Ukraine, Urbex, Visited in 2010, Zone Of Alienation on 2010/09/28| 4 Comments »
Looking at my urban exploration log I realized that I had a pretty good run lately.
It all started when I met Michael of Gakuranman fame in late July – he was in Kansai and suggested to take on the famous Maya Hotel together. Since I already scouted the surrounding, but never went in, it was a fun exploration of an impressive location; followed by a revisit of the Takada Ranch Ruin. Two weeks later I started my summer vacation to Europe which included a side trip to the Zone of Alienation with its famous cities Chernobyl and Pripyat. Back to Germany I went to Luxembourg for two more explorations with a kindergarden friend of mine.
Soon after I got back to Japan I received an e-mail from Michael John Grist who planned to come to Kansai to tackle my haikyo nemesis, Nara Dreamland. I wanted to meet the guy more than I wanted to avoid the Dreamland, so we went there on a warm late summer night and for the first time I got in and out without spotting security… And finally I went on a little trip myself again to visit the Gakuranman in the Nagoya area to take pictures of the mysterious Doctor’s Shack, one of the few haikyo that are kept a real secret in Japan – even if it appears somewhere on the net or in a book there are barely any hints about its location and I’m really grateful Michael took me there; another awesome exploration, punished with about 30 mosquito bites!
Maya Hotel, Pripyat, Luxembourg, Nara Dreamland and the Doctor’s Shack in a row… it’s hard to do better than that! Now it’s time to write up the stories and show you some really, really interesting pictures!
(You can find all the articles related to Chernobyl and Pripyat by *clicking here* – the picture was taken *here*.)
Takada Ranch Ruin
Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, House, Hyogo, Japan, Kansai, Urbex, Visited in 2010 on 2010/03/12| 10 Comments »
Initially I wanted to post another haikyo first, but since it took me quite a while to update this blog I decided to come back with one of my favorite haikyo so far: The Takada Ranch Ruin. Coincidentally it seems to be one of the rarest, too…
Located in a totally different area of the Hyogo countryside than “Doggy Land” the Takada Ranch Ruin was a samurai residence given up quite a long time ago – and that’s pretty much all I know about the place. I don’t even know if it’s the real name or if somebody made it up. But the sheer size of the property (including a huge and completely overgrown park) makes it highly likely that it was once owned by rich and powerful people.
Entering the Takada Ranch Ruin is as easy as it can be – it’s located along a rural road with no direct neighbors and the (former) entrance door is wide open.
The first of several buildings on the premises set me back in time 200 years instantly – a long, not very wide wooden house along the road that looks right out of a samurai movie. Too bad it was partly collapsed and some rooms were filled with plastic trash bags, but it was still quite impressive. From there a path lead deeper onto the estate, with a small house to the left and several buildings to the right. The main quarters were quite big and must have cost a fortune to build. Now partly rotten they created whole movies in my head while I was carefully progressing across the wooden floors. I’m sure the buildings were constructed long before electricity was introduced to Japan as all the installations looked like they were added as an afterthought. There were only a few plugs and light bulbs – and the fridge in the kitchen looked very, very old.
East of this conglomerate of buildings I found a car wreck that was clearly put there long after the estate was abandoned – Japanese people love to dump their unused belongings like that as waste disposal can be quite expensive if done properly. Close to the car were two now completely destroyed buildings, one of them made of stone. While the existing buildings looked like they were vandalized (only by a very few people though and not as nasty as most other places), I’m sure those two constructions were torn down professionally. Why it was handled that way? I have no clue.
But it got even stranger when I progressed further. After I passed through a little forest I found some quite thin concrete surfaces and wall remains. Next to them were some weird metal constructions with the leftovers of a few wooden arbors. This whole area looked like it was destroyed a long time before the buildings in the front were given up with no debris to be found. But again I can only guess when that happened. Or what happened. Maybe the buildings were stables, maybe they were some kind of accommodation?
Although not very outstanding on paper (partly collapsed wooden buildings, all stone buildings demolished) the Takada Ranch Ruin instantly grew on me while I was exploring it – and it continued afterwards. The huge estate boosted my imagination like no other place before with its simplicity and history. To me it’s one of the few hidden haikyo treasures, one that gives you a glimpse at a time long gone; if you are patient enough to find the right spots to look at.
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