War is a time for death, for things to change irrevocably, sometimes opening up new possibilities that are better, sometimes much worse. The ruins of war tell stories of which way we could have gone, what kind of world we might live in but for defeat.
The ruins of these places are heavy with history. Walking amongst these hulking military bases, underground bunkers, rusted artillery and tanks, antenna and code-centers, is a wholly daunting and moving experience.
Ruin of a kaiten suicide boat base |
Kyu Nagasaki Prison |
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| Towards the end of World War 2 the Japanese military created and employed the `kaiten`, a manned suicide torpedo designed to blow up American ships with great accuracy. | Kyu Nagasaki Prison was built in 1907, one of five `ultra-modern` Meiji-era prisons built throughout Japan. Its Victorian design is attributable to a research mission to study European prisons conducted by the Meiji government. Within its five meter-high red brick wall, a five-pointed prison block held up to 800 high-security prisoners. |
Negishi Racecourse Grandstand |
Negishi Plateau Caverns |
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| The Negishi Racecourse Grandstand in Yokohama looms like an ancient 3-headed Titan over the Negishi Plateau. It once drew crowds of thousands to cheer from its elaborate bleachers, to wander its long hallways and admire its extravagant architecture. | Deep within the solid rock of the Negishi Plateau in Yokohama, spreading beneath the old race-course Grandstand and Yokosuka Naval Base, lies a twisting warren of hidden World War Two era caverns, reportedly filled with ancient munitions and top-secret military dossiers. |
US Air Force Base |
Hyaku Ana Cliff Tombs |
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| The abandoned US Air Force (USAF) base in Fuchu is a vine-slathered memento from the early days of Japanese/American peace. Its huge twin parabolic dishes are still visible from the exterior- though now half-eaten up by the passing decades, rusted red and bobbing like hole-riddled yachts on the sea of green jungle. | The Hyaku Ana Cliff Tombs in Saitama are ancient, easily some of the oldest ruins in all of Japan, dating back 1330 years to a time of almost pre-history. A second layer of history was added in the Second World War when deep munitions tunnels were carved into the rock; gloomy storage spaces to keep serious weaponry safe from Allied bombing raids. Now the tunnels are well-lit and echo with the sound of clattering children, the deeper recesses fenced off with metal portcullis walls. |
Kemigawa Transmission Station |
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| On December 2nd 1941, just 6 days before the Japanese opened hostilities in the Pacific War against the Allies by bombing Pearl Harbour, a coded signal went out from the Kemigawa Transmission Station in Tochigi: ニイタカヤマノボレ 1208, or CLIMB MT. NIITAKA 1208; the order to join the war. CLIMB MT. NIITAKA referred to Niitaka mountain, the tallest in all of the then-Japanese Empire (now Taiwan). 1208 referred to the date of commencement- the 8th of December Japan time, the day the Japanese surprise-attacked Hawaii. | |
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Love hotels and soaplands closed down and decayed, spilling their bright and tawdry innards out like confetti.
They strapped a man to the ceiling today. I know him. His name is Wasari Ichimura. I tried to talk to him afterwards.
Svalbard`s apocalypse seed vault
The Seed Vault on Svalbard is an apocalypse insurance policy for the Earth, built to withstand even nuclear war.
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| By N2H | ||||||||
on All the Demolished Haikyo
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