I’ve wanted to shoot the interior of the Yurakucho International Forum for some time, but only now got round to doing it- pushed ahead by a meeting with international jet-setter and club photographer Joshua Dearing. We did a photowalk around the structure, then through Ginza, finishing up in the big Starbucks where we talked plenty about extending life and Apple’s next product release.
Several times people have asked me to put up a list of demolished haikyo, to save other people the inconvenience of heading to them and finding them gone. Fair enough- I would certainly have appreciated that info myself.
This page is open to being updated- so if you’ve got fresh info about demolished or altered or inaccessible haikyo- please let me/us know in the comments below.
Kamaishi Mine, Iwate– Demolished, only foundations left (2007/08)
Greenland Theme Park, Fukushima- Demolished
Boyou Hotel, Chiba– Demolished (to my knowledge).
Kappa Pia Theme Park, Saitama– Demolished (2007)
Tai Hei Yo Cement Plant, Saitama– Demolished (2008)
Hume Cement plant, Saitama– Demolished (2010)
Nichitsu Mining Town, Saitama– Surgical light stolen (2007?), Brain in a jar stolen (2009), several newer apartments reported demolished (2009)
Kemigawa Transmission Base, Chiba– Inaccessible, very well bolted up.
Fuchu Air Base, Tokyo– Inaccessible unless you’re very brave/fool-hardy, as partially a live base.
Tachikawa Air Base, Tokyo– Likewise, and mostly demolished anyway.
Royal Love Hotel, Kanagawa– Inaccessible, tight security.
Sun Hills Hotel, Kanagawa– Demolished except for car park.
Sano Sanami Hot Springs, Tochigi- Demolished.
Shin Hokota Hospital, Ibaraki- Demolished.
Gullivers Kingdom, Kanagawa– Demolished (around 2006)
Yamanakako Resort Hotel, Kanagawa- Being turned into apartments (tip Cousin Macho)
Shin Shu Kanko Hotel, Nagano- Currently being demolished (tip Paul)
Sports World, Izu– Demolished sometime September 2010.
Keishin Radiology Hospital, Kanagawa– Demolished or soon to be demolished, as bought up by the council in April 2010.
Nagoya Toyo Bowl, Nagoya- Demolished to my knowledge
T hospital, Izu- Demolished to my knowledge.
B Hotel, Izu- Likewise.
Fukinuki Hotel, Aichi- Gone according to internet sites (tip from Florian)
Inagawa Trap Shooting, Osaka- Reduced to a pile of rubble in late 2007 (tip from Florian)
Koga Family Land, Shiga- Demolished in late 2008 after being abandoned for more than 20 years (2 small buildings are left, but it’s only worth going there if you are in the area for other reasons) (tip from Florian)
Love Hotel Seline (maybe the correct name), Mie- Gone (tip from Gakuranman)
Shin Kobe Pool, Hyogo- gone and replaced by a DIY store (tip from Florian)
Nara Dreamland, Nara– Guarded with motion sensors and security, but not too stringently it seems.
Saline Tourist Hotel, Himeji, Hyogo- Gone according to internet sites (tip from Florian)
Warship Apartments, Osaka- Gone according to internet sites (tip from Florian)
Treasure Museum Ise, Mie- Gone according to Paul.
Hitler Surgical Hospital, Hyogo- Gone according to Florian.
Sekigahara Menard Land, Kansai- Gone according to Florian.
KyuNagasaki Prison, Nagasaki– Almost totally demolished, front gate and single guard tower only remaining (2007). 2010 update- only the gate left. Probably all gone by now.
Gunkanjima (Hashima Island), Nagasaki- Marginally open to tourists on a ferry tour.
Kushizaki Cape Hotel, Fukuoka- Gone according to internet sites (tip from Florian)
Nihon Cement, Mojiko- Demolished in late 2008 (tip from Florian)
Again- if anyone has any updates to add, comment or contact me directly and I’ll update, along with a link for your trouble.
In the meantime, check out my haikyo explores here:
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A few weeks back I took the bus down to the bottom of the Chiba Boso Peninsula in search of the Boyou Hotel. I got to take the sub-Tokyo Bay Aqualine for the first time, which was cool, but I felt too ill to enjoy being on the Umi Hotaru. I had some kind of food poisoning from the Mexican place El Torito in Ikebukuro. I ended up staggering around the small seaside town looking for a place to lie down. The hotel was gone, demolished, so I settled in a culvert of rock looking out at the empty ocean and sky.
I ended up riding the next bus back, in misery for 3 hours with nausea and fever. Kind of a fail day on all fronts, though for some reason I didn’t feel too bothered. It was nice just to get out and go down to Chiba I guess, even though I was sick.
SY and I went to Fukuoka last week for onsen and haikyo- here’s a night shot from the 24th floor of the massive JAL hotel. That’s Fukuoka Tower on the right. Shots of the various haikyo (WW2 era suicide boat training facility, 19th century prison, Kawamina Shipyard, and the Russian Village-esque Porcelain land) coming over the next few weeks.
This was my second time to go to the Asama Volcano Museum. The first was on my first haikyo road trip back in 2007- back when I was packing only a cameraphone to shoot with and cared far more about the explore than I did about the photography. It was an amazing place to ‘discover’ for ourselves, our nerves on high wires the whole time as the ethereal music rang out from the rooftop. In the two intervening years the balance of my interests has changed, with photography coming to the fore, perhaps naturally, over exploring. The Asama Museum has been shot pretty extensively though, and it’s becoming a challenge to see it in a new light.
First off, Happy New Year! Me and SY have been taking it easy since getting back from a busy four days of onsen and haikyo in Kyushu. We watched a bunch of movies (City Slickers, Scrooged, Edward Scissorhands, When Harry Met Sally) and the K-1 fighting that was on last night, while eating left-over turkey. Basically we stayed indoors for two days. Today we decided to get out, and headed to Shakujii Park in Nerima ward, famous for its two duck ponds.
Has it already been (over!) a month since I announced this contest? Sorry to keep everyone waiting so long, and thanks again for your efforts to help pimp my site all over stumbleupon and really stick it to the man. Awesome, you are awesome!
Anyway, a winner! From a hat, drawn at random and helped by her multiple entries is…
Drum Roll…..
Geekmom!
Geekmom if you can just let me know your address I’ll pop the book in the post to you in a jiffy. Would you like it encased in plastic, or shall I open it up and sign it for you? Either is fine.
Thanks again everyone, much appreciated that you took the time to get involved. Arigato! I may have some more competitions for haikyo/fiction magazines coming up in the next month or so.
You can buy TJWL here.
The Mt. Asama Volcano Museum was a mould-breaking facility opened in 1967, offering insight into the life-cycle of the most active volcano in Honshu (the main island of Japan), and into the area of volcanic rock surrounding it known as Oni Oshi Dashi (exiled demons). Its opening ceremony was attended by then-Crown Prince Akihito (now the Emperor) and his young wife Crown Princess Michiko (now the Empress). It was the beginning of an exciting new era for Japanese science. It has since been voted one of the top two haikyo in Japan.
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 Theme Park and the Volcano Museum by day and searched for the Hume factory by night. It was pouring it down and we ended up climbing over a fence into a whole different factory, one that turned out to be live, with motion sensor security lights and big humming grids of transformers. Fail, but a great bit of adventure. The second time was solo, I hoped to tack it on as a chaser to the Shrine/Castle I went to a month or so ago. Fail due to train constraints and fading daylight. This time it was first on our list, and stood no chance of escaping exploration.
In the previous post, the 10 Most Popular Haikyo of 2009, several people suggested I put up a poll so you can vote directly for your favorites. Well, here it is. I’ve started with the top 30 most popular on the site, though there are of course more. If there’s any you’d like to vote for that I didn’t include, I can easily add them. You get three votes. If you need to check up on some of them to refresh your memory, that’s easily done in the Ruins / Haikyo Gallery.
