Michael John Grist » Mines / Factories

Murakashi Derelict Industrial Ruin

MJG — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:47:20 +0000

The ruins of Murakashi mine trail up the verdant Tochigi mountainside like a Studio Ghibli dreamscape, scattered about with the rusted-stiff robot arms of cranes that guard its approach like frozen heroes in Medusa’s cave. Zoom out and the blaring...

Ruin of the White Root Mine

MJG — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:34:08 +0000

The White Root mine is old, so old that only the faintest outlines of its bones remain. Squint hard and you might see fragments of its ribcage scattered over the hillside, parts of a cracked skull just visible through the...

Ruin of a Japanese WWII Shipyard

MJG — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:48:52 +0000

The Kawaminami shipyard was opened in 1936 and went bankrupt in 1955. It had four huge bays and two large factory buildings. Through the war years it served as both a munitions factory, a drydock for construction of cargo ships,...

Chutes and Ladders in a Haikyo Factory

MJG — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:00:45 +0000

It was the third time for me to set out in search of the Hume factory. The first time was on our inaugural haikyo road trip- we hit up Kappa Pia and the Volcano Museum by day and searched for the Hume factory by night.

7 Massive Holes in the Earth

MJG — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:23:23 +0000

The Earth's face is a pock-marked, scarified thing, riddled with enormous holes dug by human hands or caused by the caprices of nature. Deep 'blue hole' lagoons accrete within coral reefs, volcanoes tear the earth apart leaving enormous smoking craters...

Remnants of Kamaishi Iron Mine

MJG — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:28:35 +0000

Kamaishi Mine is ranked as the second best haikyo (ruin) in all of east Japan, according to one of the haikyo books I follow. Iron has been mined there since 1727, and Japan's first blast furnace was built there in 1857.

The lonely ore-cart of Seigoshi Mine

MJG — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:28:48 +0000

The great machine hall of Taro mine

MJG — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:06:36 +0000

The mist-wreathed ruin of Matsuo mine

MJG — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:02:11 +0000

Matsuo mine in the north of Japan opened in 1914 and closed in 1969. In its heyday it was the biggest mine for sulfur in the Eastern world. It had a workforce of 4,000 and a wider population of 15,000,...

The chemical pools of Osarizawa mine

MJG — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:28:56 +0000