Hiroshima A-bomb dome

April 1, 2010 · Posted in Haikyo, Hiroshima, Military Installations, Monuments, Vaults · 17 Comments

At 8:15 on August 6 1945 the first nuclear bomb in the history of warfare detonated over Hiroshima, obliterating the city within a 1.5 mile radius and killing outright some 80,000 people, with around another 70,000 dying of radiation and burns by the end of the year. Japanese pilots flying on reconnaissance missions to the city after all radio transmissions went dead said that `practically all living things, human and animal, were literally seared to death`.

The A-bomb dome (genbaku dome, originally Hiroshima Trade Promotion Hall) was only 150 meters away from the blast hypocenter. It survived because of its strong stone construction, while almost every building around it burned to the ground.

Hiroshima A-bomb dome.

The underground vault the cult forgot

April 24, 2009 · Posted in Haikyo, Vaults, Yamanashi · 27 Comments

The underground vault haikyo in Yamanashi is one of the strangest abandoned structures I’ve yet explored. A double-doored double-walled walk-in safe with triple combination locks buried in a man-made mound in an unpopulated and obscure part of the Japanese countryside. Now its thick and weighty doors hang open and loose, and there’s nothing in the vault but for 5 odd logo/symbols on the wall, and no other clue as to its purpose but for the dedication in kanji on top of the dome- ‘in memory of our ancestors’.

underground-vault-7002

The apocalypse seed vault on Svalbard island

March 16, 2009 · Posted in Ruins, Svalbard, Vaults · 26 Comments

The Global Seed Vault on Svalbard archipelago way up near the icy North Pole is not in Japan, nor have I ever been there. It is however a very cool post-apocalypse place, an insurance policy for the Earth and human-kind in the event of rampant global disease or massive nuclear fallout, and as such belongs on a site mostly about ruins as much as anything.

The entrance.

Kaze no To and Umi Hotaru, Tokyo Bay

February 3, 2009 · Posted in Haikyo, Tokyo-to, Vaults · 15 Comments

From the 25th floor lobby of the Dentsu HQ in Shiodome there’s an awesome view across Tokyo Bay, taking in Hamarikyu gardens, Odaiba, the Rainbow Bridge, and in the distance, fogged by pollution and heat distortion- a weird-looking dome-shaped structure out in the middle of nowhere.

tokyo-bay1

Weird dome, at 200mm zoom from the edge of Odaiba.

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Relics of Camp Drake in Saitama, Japan
Camp Drake was a joint US Army/Air Force base in Saitama, active until the 1970`s. It contained a hospital which handled troops coming out of Vietnam and also a communications array. Now about half of it remains, an overgrown jungle with only a few remaining buildings set back behind several layers of fencing. The other [...]

Category: Haikyo, Military Installations, Saitama
Izu roadside haikyo
Here`s a haikyo I chanced upon almost a year ago in Izu, while haikyoing with Mike (and Jason?). It`s not particularly awesome in any way, it just has some nice peeling red and white paint, and a cool Coke fridge. Front yard.

Category: Haikyo, Izu, Restaurants