Comments on: The ruins of Sports World Water Park

By: PKDfan

PKDfan — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:51:08 +0000

I love your site, some of the places you visit are very interesting. I wouldn’t have thought an abandoned theme water park would be interesting but it was. And a car park that used to be next to a hotel? Your photographs were excellent, I ws surpsised to find how interesting a car park could be!

By: MJG

MJG — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:40:56 +0000

Ren- That’s a great bit of trivia, I’ve heard of some of these places being used on TV and films vaguely, but good to get a concrete example. I can imagine them fooling around in the restaurant, I acted up for my own video of the place too- ordering a beer and burger, stat! As for the water slides- I thought about going down, but just seems to be asking for trouble, who knows how well the structures are holding up. They collapse, you fall out- not pretty, not really worth it. Glad you get the creepy but awe vibe, that’s what I feel myself.

By: Ren

Ren — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:08:42 +0000

I think it’s great that you posted this. You make all these places seem so creepy yet awe-inspiring. I’m a big fan of a pop group called Arashi and in one of their old TV shows they did a couple ‘Haikyo Tours’. This was one of the places they went. I thought it was great to see if from a more amazing angle than watching the guys play with food they found in the restaurant. They did send one of their group members down one of those water slides though…
Thanks for all your hard work!!

By: MJG

MJG — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:03:36 +0000

Hi Andy- Thanks a lot for your comment, and it’s a good point about why these places fail and fall into ruin. Each of them has their own story I’m sure- but a fair few- like Sports World and the Russian Village- were either victims of the Bubble Economy crash or similar economic failures. US bases fell by the wayside as US policy and investments in Japan changed, but the US kept hold of the land. The mining town failed because I suppose either the supply in the mountains or the demand in the markets dried up. The smaller ones, love hotels, restaurants, apartments etc, I can only guess- as there are no records I can find online- presumably just bad investments in poor locations that failed to pay-off.

Why they remain and are not cleaned up/demolished after-wards would be the next question- to which I can only guess that the cost of doing so would outweigh the benefits.

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:44:43 +0000

I always enjoy reading your stories, and the great photographs, it’s almost like being there. But I am usually left wondering what happened to make these places become abandoned in the first place, and how long it has been since they closed their doors ? Is this kind of info just not available ?

By: MJG

MJG — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:19:24 +0000

Jason- You may well be right- when the urge to explore has mostly gone. Also, it’s probably best to explore these places with more build-up and more atmosphere- as in, by night, after a long solo train ride and walk.

Slide the slides- well, who knows how sturdy those things are after years of rust- neither of us even considered finding out. Certainly not the speed slide, that thing would be lethal.

Tornadoes- Alex is a graffiti-writing dumb kid, probably.

Alice- Well, as you probably know I don’t really believe in that kind of thing, though I certainly feel a vibe in each place- it’s part of the reason I like to visit them. Normally it’s just a sad feeling, especially in old houses or places people stayed overnight, a nostalgia feeling, though nothing too specific.

That said- my buddy Mike who went with me to the Russian Village said he saw a shadowy figure move across a room. He assumed it was one of us, but we later realized it couldn’t have been as we were in different parts of the park. Ghost? Maybe.