600 Diggs and site news

February 27, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · 10 Comments 

My article on Asylum has reached 600 Diggs, and I`m really pleased. The Digg page got a lot of comments, largely it seems about how bad the HDR is. Looking back on those shots, I can see better what people are talking about now. Part of it is a change of monitor- the old one didn`t show the colors so vividly, so they didn`t look so over-saturated. The new one (just using my macbook screen) shows it better.

The Asylum article has sent about 10,000 people to this site so far. That`s pretty amazing. It blows the roof off my monthly page views, taking it from around 50,000 a month to something like 70 or 80,000. About half of those people only stayed for 1 page and less than 10 seconds, but the other half stayed longer so no worries.

In other site news- I`ve changed the look of the site some, and been experimenting with ad-types. I`d like to make a little money from this page, but am realistic about that. It`s a niche thing to cover, and there`s no obvious product to sell. So I`m adding a Paypal donate button (just watched the movie Julie/Julia last night) and we`ll see if that does anything. If you`d like to make a donation, it will be much appreciated.

Ah, final news, am `resurrecting` my old Strange Japan content. At the moment only the Snacks/Drinks page is up, but the others will be returned soon.

I`d love to hear your thoughts on any of the above.

Asylum Haikyo Article

February 25, 2010 · Posted in Haikyo, In the media · 7 Comments 

The US men`s magazine Asylum is currently running an article introducing haikyo to their readers, written by me. It’s a top 10 of all the best `ghost towns` in Japan, and is the first of what could be several articles on Japan`s ruins on that site.

Asylum is a popular online magazine catering to culture-savvy young men. They generally run articles about weird stuff and hot laydeez. Apparently they surpass Playboy.com, Maxim.com and many others, with 31 million page-views by around 2 million readers per month. Wow.

This article has been in the pipeline for about 4 months, waiting for its air date. I`m excited its finally live, and want to welcome anyone coming from there to check out this site.

It`s easy enough to navigate- all the ruins can be found in the ruins galleries. If you`re interested in my fiction, it`s in the library. If you like what you find, why not subscribe by RSS or email for updates in the future? Thanks.

 

5 More Stories in Ruin

February 22, 2010 · Posted in Stories MJG · Comment 

apocalypse-rassouliUniversal Time

Rav works the Deep 7 as a Tempus man, ferrying light-speed adjusted time in his cargo-hold full of clocks. But the empire has been split by a gigantic schism, the worlds are seceding, so what is the value of universal time any more?

This is probably the first short story I wrote. Rav works for a dying empire and spends his free time living out the life he could`ve had in virtual reality, until the end really hits home.

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Top 5 Japanese Ghost Towns

February 17, 2010 · Posted in Best Of, Ghost Towns, Haikyo · 11 Comments 

Common wisdom about Japan says it`s a tiny island with a serious premium on space, leading to real estate prices in the cities higher even than the most exclusive blocks of Manhattan. The thought that there might be whole abandoned towns on this island seems a paradox- how could a country with so little space abandon anything?

Well, they do.

Ghost Towns are the ultimate haikyo (ruins exploration) experience. If you long to be Indiana Jones, this is where you need to go. This is where the mystery is. In the doctor’s office the scalpels are laid out for surgery. Battered wooden apartments are still filled with the weathered remnants of their old occupants. Doors hang open, plates sit with long-rotten food, calendars are still marked for some future date, left as they were.

Most ghost towns in Japan are built around mines, like abandoned gold rush towns in the American West. When the mine seams gave out the jobs went away and the people left. Soon, the place was abandoned.

Let`s take a look at 5 of Japan`s best.

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Ruins of Tama Lake 3. Overgrown Toyota

February 16, 2010 · Posted in Cars, Haikyo, Tokyo-to · 9 Comments 

The last time I went to the Akasaka Love Hotel on Lake Tama was November 2008. Winter was just setting in and had not yet sloughed away the summer`s ripe vegetation, meaning that this gorgeous neglected Toyota was mostly buried in foliage.

I took a few shots of it scraggled with greenery but they didn`t stand out. Now winter reveals its pale bones, most of them broken backwards and jiggling loosely on rusted hinges.

 

A Toyota.

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10 Abandoned Haikyo Vehicles

February 10, 2010 · Posted in Best Of, Haikyo · 4 Comments 

The haikyoist must be ready to use any means of conveyance at his or her disposal. If that means hot-wiring an old mammoth or jerry-rigging an escalator to run like a hamster-wheel, so be it. It`s just another part of the infamous haikyoist`s creed – take only photos, leave only footprints, don`t touch the fire extinguishers, and ride it if you can.

Russian Village theme park.

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