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Wada Elementary School

2023/08/02 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

The Wada Elementary School deep in the mountainous part of Nara prefecture turned out to be one of my most beautiful and memorable explorations.

Abandoned elementary schools are a dime a dozen in Japan; if you include the ones that are just closed, then there are even more. While the majority of modern schools in Japan look rather similar, the majority of old schools in the countryside differ quite a bit from each other as they were built to fit the landscape and suit the requirements of the people – I’ve seen everything from small buildings with three or four rooms in total on flat land to structures with several levels along a slope.

Back in 2015 a good friend of mine and I went on a two day road trip that also lead us to southern Nara prefecture… and when you are exploring in the countryside it’s almost guaranteed that a school or two will make your schedule. Upon arrival at the Wada Elementary School, located on a level between the river and the main road, it became pretty apparent that the building wasn’t the kind you were able to sneak into easily. It was in nearly pristine condition in the middle of town, right across the street from the local ryokan and restaurant – cars and or people passing by almost constantly. The building didn’t really look abandoned, and a newly built ramp from the main road to the mid-level, where the school was located, some construction machines still nearby, implied that the Wada Elementary School was about to be a goner soon.
We decided that sneaking around wasn’t worth the risk, and were about to leave, when my friend realized that he needed a restroom break – and instead of taking advantage of the nearby forest or driving to the next public toilet, the urinal of choice was the one at the ryokan right across the street. A blessing in disguise, because my friend started a conversation with the owner, who told him that the school was indeed scheduled for demolition, that he went there to school as a child… and that he had a key to the building! Fortunately my friend was a quick thinker and offered the owner to take professional photos of his childhood school that soon would be gone if he would give us access for an hour or two… Deal!
And that’s how yours truly got access to this amazing school, built in 1942 as the Tenkawa Nishi Elementary School and closed in 2002 – a most beautiful L-shaped one-storey building made of hinoki cypress, usually used for temples, shrines, noh theatres, and artisan woodwork. At the time of our visit the school was closed, but occasionally used for local town events. Which means that it was in pristine condition – we even took our shoes off upon entering! It also meant that there were no signs of vandalism or theft. The school was exactly like when it closed a decade prior, maybe even in better condition. No spider webs, no dirt, hardly any dust. It was like a building in an open-air museum such as Meiji Mura or the Historical Village of Hokkaido. Except that the general public had limited access…
Knowing that the Wada Elementary School was scheduled for demolition I wasn’t in a hurry to write this article. I really appreciated the exclusive access we had and didn’t want to break the trust invested in us.

For years I waited for confirmation that the school has been demolished… and then the opposite happened. Instead of tearing everything down, a small BBQ area was built behind the school and the whole property was turned into a recreation center. Now you can do official tours of the school, you can swim in the river, catch some amago and roast them the traditional way, or participate in indoor rock-climbing and woodworking workshops; changing rooms and showers are available. I haven’t been back to Wada since my exploration, but the program looks and sounds awesome! (Japanese only, unfortunately.) What an amazing place – back in 2015 and most likely even more so today.

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Posted in Abandoned, Closed, Haikyo, Japan, Nara, Photography, School, Travel, Urbex, Visited in 2015 | 5 Comments »

Kyoto Company Countryside Retreat

2023/07/05 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

Nothing like exploring an original find in the countryside – and this one was a beauty! Exclusively on Abandoned Kansai… 🙂

A while ago I took a bus through the countryside when I spotted this partly overgrown, massive wooden gate along a road in the middle of a forest. I made a note and was able to find the place on GoogleMaps when I got home, even verified it via StreetView. Behind the gate and in the forest I saw several roofs, so… chances were that I stumbled across another original find. The area was accessible by public transport, but not easily, so it took me a while to get back there – and it was well worth the trip!
The problem with original finds and exploring by public transport is that those places are, even more so than established locations, basically impossible to plan for. In the past I had as little as 15 minutes to explore and document a place as this was either the only connection to the middle of nowhere – or I would have had to stay 5 hours, basically ruining the rest of the day… and maybe be done after 20 minutes anyway. Usually I plan with 2 hours per exploration. Good for most locations, but even if it’s a fantastic place you can cover a lot of ground in that time. And if it’s a dud, I can sit down and relax for an hour… or 90 minutes… or 110. Unfortunately, 2 hours is not always an option. In this case I had about 45 minutes, though 120 minutes would have been perfect!
I got past the gate surprisingly easily and finally had a look at what was behind – a series of rather modern buildings with large glass elements, some connected by a wooden deck and / or a bridge on the upper floor. Steel, glass, concrete; quite 21st century. I still don’t know what this place was exactly, but judging by what I saw and based on the phone number I spotted on a sign, belonging to a company in Kyoto City, I assume it was one of those infamous company retreats. (One of the benefits working for a Japanese company of decent size and reputable image is access to one or more company retreats. Most of them are located in / near onsen towns or along the coast. Some are simple huts with self-catering, others are fully staffed mini resorts with a pool, arcade machines, a gym, access to a nearby country club, … Employees can use those facilities, usually located within two hours of driving from the main office, for free or a small fee.) Unfortunately I was in a hurry – and all the doors were locked. No signs of vandalism whatsoever. No broken things, no graffiti, no BB bullets. Just those amazing buildings in the afternoon sun, pure bliss, surrounded by nature. But the buildings seemed to be empty anyway, so in the end I was very pleased with the photos I took.

My expectations when walking up to the Kyoto Company Countryside Retreat were super low. “Roofs behind an abandoned looking gate” means nothing in Japan, could have been anything, including demolished the week before. What I found was a building complex, a small compound, that I absolutely loved. This was my kind of exploration, my kind of architecture. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to; buses and trains aren’t waiting for anybody. So I left with a heavy heart. Because it was such a stunning place – and because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to share it on Abandoned Kansai for a long time as I didn’t want to drag it into the public eye. But then I figured… that if I wouldn’t publish the photos of the gate, the Kyoto Company Countryside Retreat would be almost impossible to find. So, after thinking about it for a while, I selected some pictures, wrote up this little article and… well… here we are. I’m 99.99% sure that you won’t be able to find photos of those abandoned buildings anywhere else on the internet – it was the solo exploration of an original find, even my closest urbex friends don’t know that I’ve explored it… or when… or that this place exists (to the best of my knowledge – maybe they went there 5 years ago and decided not to publish it, like I initially did… 🙂 ). Please enjoy the gallery below and feel free to share this article with any of your friends who might be interested in Japan, urban exploration or just unusual things in general.
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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, House, Japan, Photography, Travel, Urbex | 3 Comments »

A Friendly Reminder

2023/06/30 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

Hello everyone!

This is just a friendly reminder that Abandoned Kansai is run with the exclusive intention of showcasing the beauty of abandonment in Kansai and the rest of Japan.

Ever since Japan opened the floodgates again for tourists from overseas, I receive a ton of PMs and e-mails from people… Everything from “Yo dawg, coordinates?” to really friendly messages.
How do I say this as politely as possible? Urban exploration is a dangerous hobby and not something anybody is entitled to. The locations can be dangerous, the weather conditions can be dangerous, the wildlife can be dangerous; and legally it’s a grey area at best! I don’t encourage anybody doing urban exploration nor do I support the efforts – quite the opposite actually! Especially when you have never done it before. After almost 14 years of exploring I have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing, sometimes learning the hard way. Most people writing me though don’t even seem to have a clue about how much and what they don’t know. Flip-flops wearing first timers on vacation who might get themselves killed – because Japan is this quirky whimsical fairy tale place where nothing can go wrong, even the police look like in an anime! Or worse: “I work for a popular Youtube channel and our audience likes to see us exploring…” Yeah, no problem – of course I’ll do the difficult part for any fame hungry idiot too lazy or incompetent to find abandoned places themselves in a country where you hardly can throw a stone without hitting a ruin! Anything else I can do? Drive you there? Hand you snacks and sodas? Pay for everything? (Speaking of payment: Offering me money doesn’t help, I’m not a whore. And Youtubers are actually not the worst people who contact me – Youtubers with 6- or 7-figure subscribers who have their management write me are; some of those people pretend to be independent wanderers, but apparently can’t even properly plan their own trips; instead they try to exploit the people who do the groundwork.) Sooooo… long story short: Urban exploration is a difficult and complex hobby with no room for bullshit or entitlement. The signs in the gallery below have been put up for good reasons. Respect them or be prepared to deal with the consequences… (I’m not trying to be mean here, this really is just a friendly reminder. Enjoy your time in Japan and don’t cause yourself unnecessary trouble! Or even better: Just enjoy Abandoned Kansai!)

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, Japan, Non-Urbex, Photography, Travel, Urbex | 16 Comments »

Hiroshima Sports Hotel Revisited

2023/05/31 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

The first time I visited the *Hiroshima Sports Hotel* it had a reputation for being under close surveillance of the surrounding country club – tough to get in and out. While it wasn’t exactly tough to get in, I still believed the story and barely dared to step outside to take pictures of the pool and the tennis courts, so I was stuck with a mediocre abandoned hotel that was completely overhyped. I hardly ever do revisits, except for *Nara Dreamland* back in the days, so I closed that chapter and hoped that I would never be reminded.
About 5 years and a case of arson later I found myself in front of the goddamn place again – with a different group of friends who never had been there before, which boggled my mind, because they just introduced me to an amazing abandoned hospital I didn’t even know existed. I had no intentions to waste just a single second on that piece of shite hotel, but I couldn’t really say no as I was still high on gratitude. Despite the flaming incident the reputation of the place apparently hadn’t changed (amazing, but hard to enter), so my friends were super excited, and I couldn’t break the news to them that we were about to waste a precious afternoon far from home. Upon arrival we saw a guy sitting in front of the road leading up to the hotel, apparently guarding it. The little devil on my shoulder was like “Perfect! Let’s use that guy as an excuse to bolt and explore a way more interesting location instead!” and my (Japanese) friends started to slightly panic, instantly trying to scout alternative ways in; which didn’t exist. I knew that because I’ve been there before. So I listened to that stupid little angel on my other shoulder and stopped my friends before somebody broke their ankle or sprained their neck (or the other way round…) and introduced them to the concept of gaijin smash. I’d walk up to and past the guy with a friendly konnichiwa on my lips and then head straight for the hotel. If he was in fact a guard, I’d play the stupid bumbling gaijin who doesn’t understand a word or the situation – if he was cool my friends should follow right behind me. And what shall I say? I smashed the situation and got us all in without sliding down a barely angled 5-meter-tall wall none of us would have been able to climb up again… and at the same time ruined the rest of my day.

While I must admit that the second exploration of the *Hiroshima Sports Hotel* was quite a bit more interesting than the first one (the arson added to the atmosphere and I went outside without caring about getting caught), it was still a boring AF experience. I didn’t even go upstairs and stayed on the entrance level and downstairs again. 5 years of additional decay (and vandalism) made some spots more interesting, so I was able to take a few cool photos, but again: hotel, revisit, exiting morning. BORING! Almost two hours later my friends finally had enough, and I was finally free to leave – just in time for sunset, ending this day of explorations. A glorious day overall that would have been better without this surprise revisit, but sometimes you gotta be a team player – especially in the land of shoganai…

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, Hiroshima, Hotel / Ryokan, Japan, Photography, Sports, Travel, Urbex | 5 Comments »

Octagon Onsen

2023/04/04 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

My favorite abandoned onsen was an original find – and a rushed surprise exploration at the end of a long day.

I think I’ve mentioned it several times before: I really enjoy looking at maps and doing my own research on abandoned places. Over the last one and a half decades I’ve spent hundreds of hours on Google Maps, which has improved significantly since the early days. Sometimes just five minutes to take a break from something, sometimes a whole afternoon on a rainy weekend. After a while certain things catch your eyes more frequently than before, for example overgrown parking lots, which are a great indicator for abandoned hotels, companies, pachinko parlors, … almost anything abandoned!
Exploring those original finds are much more exciting than going to regular established places, because there are so many unknown factors. Is the place really abandoned? What’s the parking situation like? Do neighbors care? Are there active alarms? Is the place accessible? At the same time those are the only true explorations, because you don’t know what to expect. I always hated it when I went to popular spots with fellow explorers and they headed straight to a certain point because they wanted “to take THAT shot, too”, like all those influencer sheeple heading to famous Instagram spots; just on a much smaller scale. At the same time I rather follow unique explorers on social media, people who did their own research and show me places I haven’t seen dozens or hundreds of times before, where I most likely have been myself, because I explore everything, big or small, famous or not. Which brings me to the fact that I have no respect for strangers asking for locations. Nothing says “I’m an entitled little shmock too lazy to put some effort into research!” the way one word comments or e-mails like “Coordinates?” or “Location???” do. My spam filters usually catch those for the blog and e-mail, but social media is more generous, which is starting to really annoy me, so don’t be surprised if you won’t read from certain people anymore soon… or won’t be able to post yourself. 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, I give away coordinates every now and then, and I remember asking myself for a total of maybe five locations (I’ve logged more than 1000 explorations though, so less than half of a percent!) – but the people I’ve asked were people I knew personally from countless explorations we’ve done together; and even then I was hesitant. The people I gave coordinates to were either experienced fellow explorers or they had good convincing reasons… and manners. I don’t know if I’m a bit peculiar in that regard or if it’s sign of the times we are living in, but people who communicate with caveman phrases and emoticons ought to shampoo my crotch!

The Octagon Onsen was one of those original Google Maps finds I mentioned earlier. I was looking for new places to explore in the Japanese Alps when a mid-sized greyish building with several octagon shaped roofs caught my eyes. The parking lot wasn’t overgrown yet, but it was empty, though it was the shape that made me have a closer look – just to find out what it was. Turned out that it was an onsen. The fact that it wasn’t labeled as an active business made it possible that it was abandoned, the fact that it looked in extremely good shape on StreetView made it unlikely though. In 2021 I was able to see the building from the train when I was on my way to Tsumago and Magome through the Kiso Valley, you probably *remember my article about domestic tourism in Japan during the pandemic*.
When I had the chance to explore the Octagon Onsen we were in the mountains the whole day and actually already on the way home, but I was like “I know this place that probably is not accessible, but we’ll almost pass by anyway, so let’s have a quick look!”. So we used the still empty parking lot, the sun already hiding behind the mountains, daylight fading. I went to the back – nothing. I went to the main entrance – nothing. I went to the outdoor onsen… Bingo! My friend was holding the door open for me, grinning from ear to ear. Of course I forgot my tripod in the car and was running out of time, so I went quickly through the building, taking photos here and there, always worrying about triggering an alarm inside… which wouldn’t have been the first time! And then I finally had to give up due to low light. But what a unique building it was! What a great exploration! What an original find!
Oh, before I forget, some fun facts! Open from 10:00 till 21:00, last entry 20:00; closed on Wednesdays. 100 (free) parking spots, 500 yen (later 600 / 800) for adults, 300 yen (later 400) for children from elementary school age on. One area apparently was mixed bathing, swimsuits not optional though. Sodium chloride / bicarbonate *hot spring*, closed in May of 2012.
So please enjoy the photos – I doubt that you have seen this place before anywhere else on the internet! (22 minutes between the first one and the last one… That’s all the time I had.)

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Posted in Abandoned, Haikyo, Japan, Photography, Spa / Onsen, Travel, Urbex | 6 Comments »

Trump Golf Resort Japan

2023/03/16 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

I admit, the last two locations and articles were a bit dull, so let’s strike back bigly with… oh… goddammit… an abandoned golf course? Really?

First of all: The Trump Golf Resort Japan has nothing to do with former US president Donald J. Trump or anybody in his family. I named it that, because it was rather close to the abandoned *Trump Hotel* – which also had nothing to do with that clan. When you google the name of this article, the Mobara Country Club in Chiba prefecture pops up, because Trump played golf there with Shinzo Abe in 2019 – needless to say that it also isn’t related in any way to this article, neither is the Kasumi Country Club, where those two big shots played in 2018. But when I think of golf resort and abandoned, I think of Trump… with a fox in the distance.

Anyway, the Trump Golf Resort Japan was an original find, so don’t expect to see it very often on the interwebs, weebs. It consisted of a 9-hole golf course and a driving range… but no hotel, so I guess the name is a bit of an exaggeration, although there was a large apartment building with a restaurant right across the street – so I guess it’s kind of appropriate in a weird way? Anyway, tiny golf course, tiny hands; but big boy golf, not mini golf!

The main building was rather unspectacular – a medium sized house with a bar and changing rooms, nothing too fancy. Moss and other plants had already taken over, but this probably could have easily been converted into a nice bachelor pad with a killer man cave. The outside area was equally unspectacular and mostly overgrown. Worth mentioning was an abandoned golf trophy I probably should have taken it with me to send to Trump as a consolation prize for when he loses the primary against DeSanctimonious. Bwahahahahaha! Oh, and there was some other golf stuff left behind, too – bags, clubs, clothing…
The nearby driving range at the other end of the parking lot was mostly overgrown, which made it look a bit more interesting than the club house, which looked more like a surfer shop or something; probably due to location and the real name. Inside I found a first aid kit in a wooden box, plenty of golf balls and some clubs, outside there were some simple plastic chairs and tables as well as some drive mats (?) or whatever they are called.

Abandoned driving ranges in that condition are rather rare in Japan, so I really appreciated the rather unusual exploration – and the main building was just a nice bonus. Sure the *Japanese Driving Range* and the *Countryside Golf Course* were nicer individually, but as a package this was a pretty good abandoned golf site. And now it’s time for dinner… I think I’ll go with meatballs!

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Golf, Haikyo, Japan, Photography, Sports, Travel, Urbex, Visited in 2017 | 4 Comments »

Onsen Town Shrine

2023/01/30 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

For quite a while now the first article of the year on Abandoned Kansai has been about an abandoned shrine, because pretty much the first thing Japanese people do in the new year, some even at midnight, is visiting a shrine or temple, a tradition called hatsumode. And we can’t change that now, can we?

There are about 100 000 shinto shrines and 80 000 Buddhist temples in Japan – quite a few cities and towns have their tourism based on them, and the vast majority of those temples and shrines are in remarkably good condition. Thanks to the continuing urbanization in Japan more and more temples and shrines become abandoned though, because there is NOBODY around anymore; but even in still populated areas you can find one here or there. The abandoned Onsen Town Shrine is one of those… Another location with a rather descriptive name as it was located in the outskirts of a dying onsen town. Even though I know the real name of the shrine and it was marked still active on GoogleMaps I wasn’t able to find out much about it. I guess there are just too many temples and shrines in Japan to keep track of all of them. Which is a great opportunity to keep this article short and wish you lots of fun with the gallery at the end – the atmosphere was amazing, with the overgrown long staircase and nobody else around, paint flaking off the rusty building materials. On a rainy day this place would be perfect as the setting for a horror movie!

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, Japan, Photography, Sacred Site, Travel, Urbex | 3 Comments »

Love Hotel Trash

2022/12/24 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

It’s this time of the year again… the end, when I post an abandoned love hotel to wish everybody a Merry XXX-Mas!

If you are, or rather were, a regular reader of Abandoned Kansai, you’ve probably noticed that the articles came everything but regular in 2022. Yeah, I’ve explored a little less than in previous years, but I still managed to check out something like 35 locations, which isn’t that bad, considering that I did 33 of them solo and by public transportation; which was probably one of the reasons why I published fewer articles in 2022 – less talking about urbex also meant a strongly reduced urge to write about urbex as the topic became less present in my life; still by far my favorite and most time-consuming hobby though. And the average quality was amazing, so was the amount of original finds I was able to check out. It’s absolutely mind-blowing what you can find in Japan when you get off the couch and leave the Golden Route for a change!

This year’s XXX-Mas love hotel is a rundown piece of s#it I’ve explored back in 2014 and never dared to mention as it was that sub-par – much like 2022 in general! What a piece of trash year overall, so here we go, the Love Hotel Trash. I actually don’t remember much about it, except that it was one of eight locations that day – six of them (love) hotels. Like most abandoned love hotels it was along a countryside road and easy to access (only roped off), but also vandalized and completely filled with trash; 23 minutes between the first and the last photo. At least I didn’t waste much time on it, unlike certain other projects in 2022… In and out without being seeing or heard. According to GoogleMaps the thing is still standing, but I doubt that it looks any better eight years later!

Of course the Love Hotel Trash isn’t even remotely comparable to the greats like the *Japanese Castle Love Hotel* or the *Fashion Hotel Love*, but it kind of fit the trash year 2022 best! *Oh, and if you are not familiar with love hotels and want to know more about them in general, please click here.*
Merry XXX-Mas everyone!

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Posted in Abandoned, Aichi, Asia, Haikyo, Japan, Love Hotel, Photography, Travel, Urbex, Visited in 2014 | 2 Comments »

Ski Castle

2022/11/22 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

It’s late November and the skiing season in Japan will start soon – time to have a look at a very special abandoned place deep in the mountains; an original find I’m quite proud of!

One of my favorite pastimes is looking more or less randomly at the satellite view of GoogleMaps, trying to find new abandoned places. About two years ago I spotted two large buildings in the middle of nowhere, impossible to get to by public transportation and therefore pretty much out of reach for me, given the recent trend of me exploring more and more solo again. I couldn’t get the place out of my mind, so I got back to it on GoogleMaps every once in a while – and a few months ago I realized that GoogleMaps added a bus stop just two kilometers away from it. 40 minutes by bus away from the closest train station, three buses in each direction per day with different schedules on work days and weekends / national holiday; one set not practical, because the stay in the middle of nowhere would be too long / short. Fortunately my next trip to the general area worked out well and I was able to include the mysterious place into my schedule… at the risk of missing the last bus and being stuck in the middle of nowhere! But hey, no risk, no fun, no explorations…
Public buses in Japan come in all shapes and sizes – from classic city buses to van sized community buses; and of course mine to the middle of nowhere was on the smaller end with only a tiny door for entrance end exit; basically a large van, maybe twelve seats. Now, it being a community bus not only meant that it was going to small countryside communities, it also meant that the bus driver was a bit more chatty and personal. When he heard where I wanted to go, he was quite hesitant to take me there – because “there is nothing there!”, which wasn’t exactly true or false; instead he recommended two other stops to get off, which, he promised, would be much more interesting. I politely declined and the driver finally gave in. 35 minutes later I found myself in the middle of nowhere on a straight countryside road – a small building across the street, maybe or maybe not abandoned, and nothing else in sight. And so I started walking… took a turn… and another one… and after about 25 minutes the buildings I was eager to see for two years finally came into sight!
At this point it was early in the afternoon, yet sunset was upon me soon. I was by myself in the middle of nowhere with no idea what to expect, and the only things I heard were the biting wind and not exactly friendly sounding animal noises I haven’t heard before and was not at all familiar with. Hooray for urban exploration… Were the buildings really abandoned? Would they be accessible? Was there still security of some kind? And what has the facility been used for? A hotel? A research facility? A wedding venue?
Realizing that the driveway was roped off gave me new confidence that the place was really abandoned, but even after passing the first building I had no idea what the purpose was. Large flagpoles implied a hotel or a company, but neither of the buildings had a name sign on it. So I took my time to take some outdoor photos, because both buildings looked quite unusual by Japanese standards and were still in really good condition, considering the harsh environment. The smaller building on the left turned out to be some kind of gymnasium, but it was inaccessible. Its doors were partly covered in spider-webs, hinting that it was abandoned for several years without anybody using said doors. The main building, four stories in total and built along a slope, turning 1F into a semi-basement, remained a mystery, despite me being able to access it. The lowest floor was dark, gloomy, and moldy – I only had a quick look and left as quickly as possible without taking a single photo, though the shared baths are usually my favorite part of an abandoned accommodation. So yeah, it was pretty quickly clear that this was some kind of hotel or company retreat, not a research facility. It also wasn’t a wedding venue as there was no sign of a chapel inside or outside of the main building. 2F was the main floor with a large cafeteria like area and a relaxation area with large couches and a fireplace. 3F and 4F featured a large office (pretty empty…), some meeting rooms and plenty of bunk bed rooms for up to eight people… One of those rooms had some skis in it, so I assumed that it was a rather high-class ski lodge without much privacy, hence the name “Ski Castle”.
Well, in the process of writing this article I found (and after I uploaded the photos…) out that the Ski Castle was neither a bookable accommodation nor a company retreat. It belongs (or belonged?) to a large private university and was used for hiking trips in summer, skiing trips in winter, and even whole classes for a longer period of time – which explains the cafeteria style eating area, the bunk beds, the large bathing area, the skis, the gymnasium, the “meeting rooms”, … and pretty much everything else. To some degree even the location in the middle of nowhere. If you want to create a facility focusing on education, physical health, and nature, this one was nearly perfect.

I left the Ski Castle a happy man and got back to the bus stop just before it got pitch black outside… where I had to wait for half an hour to catch the bus back to civilization. And yes, that was the best schedule possible. Overall a great experience though! Original find, took some effort to get to, accessible, no security / risk of getting caught, spectacular outdoors, interesting indoors, unusual location, … Despite arriving with a healthy level of caution I loved this exploration and I really hope that this reveal won’t lead to vandalism, because at the time of my visit the Ski Castle was in pretty good condition, aside from 1F. I hope you’ll enjoy the gallery below – and if you are looking for a somewhat similar location, please have a look at the *Arai Mountain & Spa*.

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Haikyo, Japan, Photography, Travel, Urbex | 9 Comments »

Röntgen Clinic

2022/09/01 by Florian / Abandoned Kansai

This abandoned old countryside clinic had a surprise in the back – an old X-ray machine that looked like something from a Jules Verne or H.G. Wells novel! And that wasn’t all…

One of the most interesting places to explore in Japan are abandoned hospitals. From 100 year old clinics in countryside mansions to large concrete buildings with rather modern equipment – we’ve all been to them in variations as patients, but seeing them abandoned and with full access is an amazing experience.

The now abandoned Röntgen Clinic was a mid-size countryside clinic only a few hours drive from Osaka and quite unspectacular from the outside – a slightly rundown wooden building near the main street of a small town, barely visible from the road. The entrance with its chemical bottles was promising, the next few rooms delivered, too. In one of them I took a few photos of some Xylit injections without realizing what was right in front of my feet – it wasn’t until I left the room and came back that I found the most bone-chilling dead animal I ever saw at an abandoned place (I don’t know what it was, it neither barked nor meowed) – so be careful when you are scrolling through the photo gallery.

Highlight of the Röntgen Clinic was the name-giving X-ray machine in the last room I explored. How do I know that it was an X-ray machine? Well, the room was labelled “Röntgen Room” and one part of the machine indicated that the whole thing was built by Osaka Roentgen, a company established in the late 1920s and merged with Hitachi Medical in 1969. So… an X-ray machine from the 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s – most likely from the earlier years by the looks of it. What could possibly go wrong? A lot! Which is why I spent as little time in that room as possible and quickly took some photos, preferably through the door or a hole in the wall; not a window, a real hole. As a fan of early science fiction literature this was probably one of the most spectacular finds I ever made and in hindsight I wish would have had more time – but a pressing schedule and the potential dangers only lead to a dozen or so photos. At the time I didn’t even pay attention to who the manufacturer was…

Overall this was one of the great explorations of all time, definitely a highlight of my 2018 season. Equipment like that X-ray machine must have cost a fortune at the time and is something like 80 years old by now – not exactly things you expect to see in a wooden building of the road in countryside Japan… and you actually don’t see them very often, not even on the internet or in museums, so… enjoy the photo gallery!

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Posted in Abandoned, Asia, Chugoku, Haikyo, Hospital, Japan, Photography, Travel, Urbex | 13 Comments »

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