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Top 10 Haikyo 2009

Mike Grist December 10, 2009Best Of

Haikyoing is kind of an addiction. Every time I get back from a long haikyo weekend, trudging through dusty overgrown schoolhouses and factories, I say to myself- ‘that’ll do, pig’. But then a few weeks or months later I’m always out there again, doing much the same thing, striving for a more authentic experience, a more exciting explore, more mind-blowing shots. Sometimes I get it and sometimes I don’t, and resultingly sometimes the articles I post here find a larger audience and sometimes they don’t.

Here you can find the most popular posts of the year, sorted not by me but by you, the readers of this site, according to how much you voted a post up or down via social media buttons, how much you linked to it, and chiefly how many of your eyeballs looked it over.

10- Osarizawa Mine

2,525 views, 8 Retweets, 5 Stumbles, 18 Japan Socs, 10 Japundit Votes, 17 comments

Osarizawa is one of only three of my more recent haikyo explores (along with number 9 and number 2) to make it onto this list, which surprised me. It was shot with my Nikon d90 dSLR, whereas all the others were shot with a Canon Powershot compact camera. It was a more recent explore, so it’s true that it hasn’t had the time the others have to be seen- though a popular website i09.com borrowed shots from it with a linkback. That sort of thing probably helps my Google Pagerank, but clearly didn’t send that many click-throughs. It makes me wonder if people are more interested in straight up explores and documentation of explores than they are of more artistic (I hope) shots. I’m interested to hear what you think in the comments.

One of my favorites.

It’s true that there is only really one photo in this post- the shot of the Osarizawa Chemical Pools from various angles. There was other stuff there, an excellent factory on a hill, but shooting it and showing its grandeur proved very tough- it was just too long, with too much nothing stuff either side of it.

Chemicals eating a tree.

9- The Small Pox Isolation Ward

2,589 views, 4 Retweets, 10 Stumbles, 18 Japan Socs, 12 Japundit Votes, 12 comments

The only other post shot with d90 to make it into the top 10. I was beginning to shoot more regularly in HDR, using a cable release to bracket shots smoothly. The interior was very dark, as the whole structure was completely surrounded by thick overgrowth, so exposing the brighter shots fully could take up to 30 seconds.

It was probably this haikyo that made me realize most I needed to get a wider angle lens. I wanted to capture all of the interior rooms, but was just unable to do so, bounded by the limits of the walls and rooms themselves. I still got shots I’m pleased with, but acquiring wide-angle (Tokina 11-16mm) since then has really opened things up.

Straw beds decay.

8- The Akasaka Love Hotel

3,257 views, 2 Facebooks, 7 Japan Socs, 14 comments

I’m surprised this is on here, though it did gather a number of linkbacks on various minor blogs. I think its appeal is more in the garish nature of the decorations in each room than from the fact that it is a haikyo. Love Hotels, Soaplands, these things generate more interest than haikyo do for obvious reasons- so any time my path crosses with them I tend to get a bit of a spike.

I tinkered with the shots I got from my Powershot camera a fair bit, to try and best show the wallpapers and bed artifacts at their utmost garish, with as little distraction from the ruin as possible. Some ruin is graceful and worthy, while others is just a bunch of plastic bags, empty drink cartons, and half-burnt porn- not very photogenic. I tried to chop most of it out.

7- The Russian Village Theme Park

3,932 views, 5 Retweets, 3 Facebooks, 6 Stumbles, 9 comments

Amazing place, loved it, wish I’d had my d90 and better knowledge of photography when I went, as it’s unlikely I’ll return. Quite a trek to go there just to see it. Not much to say about shooting it, other than in low light was very tricky, especially in the mammoth hall.

I’m not sure if I had a tripod then, but in every contained space I did all I could to open windows and doors to let in natural light.

We arrived at night and explored under cover of darkness. That was great, nail-biting fun.

6- Sports World Water Park

4,545 views, 2 Facebooks, 4 Stumbles, 9 Japan Socs, 9 comments

My second time back to Sports World (see the third time here), hoping to ‘do it justice’. I wasn’t using HDR then, but did manage to capture some great shots of the water tubes, a whole side of the park I didn’t see on my first trip there.

Wave pool.

5- Fuchu US Air Force Base

5,550 views, 4 Facebooks, 1 Stumble, 15 Japan Socs, 56 comments

A long-standing favorite on the site, with the most comments of any post I’ve put up- I think because it’s one of perhaps two haikyo (the other being the Negishi Grandstand– 29 comments) to have a connection to the English-speaking, American world. Soldiers served or were involved with them both, and can come to respective pages on my site and remember the good old days.

Antennae, shot through the fence.

I was surprised at first by this trend, then felt quite warm and cosy inside that the explore I’d done had had this unintended consequence, of bringing up some good memories and even acting a little bit like a friends reunited kind of thing.

Shot from within one of the antennae, about 5 stories up a ladder.

4- The Queen Chateau Soapland

5,668 views, 4 Stumbles, 20 Japan Socs, 12 Japundit Votes, 36 comments

One of my earliest explores, packing only the Canon Powershot compact camera, this post is also the all-time most popular post on my site, with 58,000 page views. It all happened very suddenly too- some Japanese news site linked to me and sent almost all that traffic to me over the course of a few days. For a brief while I felt famous, riding high. It’s funny how a tiny slice of exposure can do that for you. For the week following, as the spike trailed off, I entered a phase we could only call withdrawal. That’s a problem of rampaging ups, there’s always a down to follow them. Much better is a steady, gradual ascent, where you can always keep your feet on the ground.

In line with that, general viewing stats on my site have increased steadily over the nearly two years it’s been active, approaching 40,000 per month:

It looks low in December cos we’re only a third of the way through. The massive spike in 2008.08 was the Queen Chateau. Which leads me to clarify, this top 10 is not only of places explored in 2009, but simply of the most popular explores on the site in 2009. The three month spike in early 2009 was when I had a lot of quirky Japan content, weird conveni products, cosplay girls, stuff like that, and was posting it every day. Anybody think I should go back to that breakneck pace?

Her daunting visage.

The ladies who await.

3- The Royal Love Hotel

6,269 views, 11 Japan Socs, 11 Japundit Votes, 21 comments

I’m surprised to find this one in the top 10, let alone so near the top. I can’t really explain it. It’s not as gaudy as the Akasaka Love hotel, nor as ruined as the Pearl Love Hotel, or as impressive a hotel as the Shin Shu Kanko. It was great to explore though, so perhaps that’s why? Few of the shots stand out. Perhaps it attracted someone’s attention and got a lot of linkbacks, that’s all I can guess.

2- Nichitsu Ghost Town 2- Elementary School

7,064 views, 14 Japan Socs, 11 Japundit Votes, 9 comments

My second time back to Nichitsu with the d90, seeking out the brain in a jar in the Doctor’s Office (reportedly now stolen). Somewhat surprisingly that post is not in the top 10, though it was quite anticipated. Perhaps though, at number four and coming after three other posts on roughly the same topic, people had got a bit tired of Nichitsu. Either way, the Elementary School takes second place.

1- Ashiodozan Ghost Town 2- Shrine and Apartments

24,058 views, 15 Stumbles, 9 Japan Socs, 12 Japundit Votes, 15 comments

There’s a lot of stuff in Ashio. Some of it is plain to see, though fenced off, like the Degawa power station, the main factory, the mine hubs. The shrine though is a little harder to find, set back up an overgrown path, shrouded from view by a screen of trees, up a steep hill. It is one of the haikyos, along with love hotels and soaplands, unique to Japan.

Shrine.

It drew several link-backs from places as diverse as gamer’s message boards (it looks just like Silent Hill!) and geocaching sites (perhaps because there was something like a geocache in the second shrine, a plastic bag with notebooks and pens that served as a kind of haikyo guestbook). I don’t know if it would top my personal top 10 list, but it would certainly be up there.

Faded out apartments

Well, that’s the 2009 top 10. I’m all ears to hear your thoughts, comments, theories, as to how the list shook out like this. Where are the other Iwate mines? Where’s the bowling alley and Keishin hopsital?

Also I’ll welcome any suggestions, if you’d care to make them, on what I can do to improve this site, make it more accessible, make it more of what you’d like to see.

2009 was a good haikyo year, let’s hope for more in 2010!

You can see all the haikyo on this site in the Ruins/Haikyo Gallery.

Bones of a Gunma Ski Lift

Mike Grist December 8, 2009Gunma, Haikyo, Ropeways

The Gunma ski lift was the glace cherry on a sumptuous cake of weekend haikyo. We’d headed up into the northernmost quadrant of Gunma seeking a mine/factory, one of the last few within a reasonable drive of Tokyo. The mine itself turned out to be not all I’d hoped for, mostly demolished and overgrown, but the ski lift and adjoining recently abandoned ski resort were a wonderful consolation prize.

Bones of a ski lift, neglected.

This was the final haikyo of a Gunma haikyo weekend blast, another being the peaceful motor lodge I posted about last week. We rolled up in the early afternoon but immediately got side-tracked from seeking out the mine by the huge ski resort plonked right beside the car park, its ski lifts racing up the hill over two narrow gelendes.

I say racing, but of course they weren’t moving. Immediately we suspected it was abandoned; the car park was in a real state of disrepair, and the building itself, a giant restaurant/hotel/ski school, had clearly seen better days. We got out and wandered about the outside, wondering if the guys toying with a remote control helicopter in the car park over would give us some hassle, but they didn’t.

The complex proved to be open at the ski school side, one of those delightful cases where there is no apparent access, holes have been put through the reinforced windows seemingly in vain before you, but one of the sliding doors slides easily open. We were in.

I didn’t take out my camera because there wasn’t much need- the place looked much as it would have done the day it closed (though the most recent calendars dated it as closing around 2001). Ski boots, skis, ski sticks were laying around in neatish lines. The office had been mildly ransacked. Lockers hung open. The gift shop had been partly trashed. It was fairly characterless and impersonal, like an airplane departure gate, but still fun to romp around in.

I picked up some ski sticks (shock horror! vandal!) and wandered about. I rifled through some drawers (thief! burglar!) and picked out some name badges, stuck them to my jacket. In one store room I found red ribbons- awards for the ‘short high jump’ and festooned myself with them. I tried on some skis, skid about a bit. I tried to get into another store room and failed. I sat in the big chair behind the big desk of the once-bossman extraordinaire. It was neat, but like the rest of it, but not really haikyo meat. We left, to seek out the mine.

I asked the helicopter guys, and they directed us back up the hill. They warned us that we couldn’t go in, which I took to mean that there would be a fence around it, but it turned out he was warnign me all the mine holes were filled in, which they were. Added to that any proper structures had been demolished, leaving us with only concrete sump-things against scraggy brown hillside, nothing epic or mind-blowing. The climb was bracing, the ascent very steep, but once up there wasn’t much to see or shoot, so we didn’t hang around.

The ski lift was almost an afterthought, but was grea fun for what it was. I climbed up the head machine, and up one of the taller support pylons. At the top I got a thrill from vertigo, which was cool, and a nice view. The sun was very sharp though and glare made taking photos quite tricky.

Ski lift. Perhaps the lines will go slack in 10 or 2o years and all the lift-seats will sink to the ground, like worn tire-treads.

The world through a loop of lift-seat. Not quite as luxurious as some Chicago hotels or any other sort of hospitable place.

Zooming up and down like a roller-coaster.

Board from the left, please.

Down from the tallest pylon I climbed. Sway, sway.

After that we headed off to another mine, one we’ve tried to get to before but failed on an overly icy hill. This time we failed because the road itself was closed for the winter. A toll-road guy turned us around and sent us packing, which is just as well really as we got back to Tokyo barely in time to return the rental car (after maybe 3 hours in traffic, eurgh!). On the whole a great trip, with the two main haikyo still to come- a full-on concrete factory and the piece de resistance, a second pass at the volcano museum.

You can see all the haikyo on this site in the Ruins/Haikyo Gallery.

Peaceful Haikyo of a Motor Lodge

Mike Grist December 1, 2009Gunma, Haikyo, Hotels / Resorts

I don’t know anything about this haikyo- no history, no past claims to glory or modern haunting. Like the Sun Hills Hotel Car Park before it it’s just a place with some beautiful shapes, light, and decay. Nobody goes there, though access is easy. Nothing is there, so there is very little evidence of vandalism, besides the usual broken windows and occasional weak bit of graffiti. For all that, I really liked the place. The light was tremendous, the architecture and lines of the structure very strong, intriguing. The main hub was a circular tower, with spiraling staircases, floor-to-ceiling windows letting in a flood of light, and a sea-shell roof-top that spun up like a winding road to the apex.

Winding stairs in the shell-like motor lodge.

The lonesome haikyo bridge at the heart of Tokyo Bay

Mike Grist November 20, 2009Bridges / Roads, Haikyo, Tokyo-to

Months ago now I ventured out on a slow work day to meet fellow haikyoist and photographer Adrian Tan. He had the low-down on a haikyo in central Tokyo, something fairly unusual to stumble across, and rarely worth going to once you do- as city center ruins are all very much alike, and very much alarmed and guarded. Standouts like the New Sky Biru (also a tip-off from Adrian!) are the exception rather than the rule. But when he suggested going to shoot a haikyo bridge, my curiosity was definitely piqued.

Haikyo bridge, Toyosu. Not HDR.

12 questions to J-painter Michael Beddall

Mike Grist November 18, 2009Japan, People / Culture

Last Sunday Michael Beddall opened up his latest art show at the Pink Cow in Shibuya- a delightful smorgasbord of Japanese beauty, animal still-life, and the occasional chilling fantasy. There was a great showing of fans and supporters, and several paintings have already sold. Mike’s a good friend of mine, we often go to haikyo together, and for a long time I’ve wanted to interview him about his art. Now with his show in full swing, it seemed to be the right time. Read on for the interview.

Japanese beauty, ice-blown torii, freaky sheep on the hunt.

‘To Japan With Love’ Haikyo book

Mike Grist November 16, 2009Guides, Haikyo, Haikyo in the Media, Japan

About 2 years ago my friend JC put me in touch with a publishing company called Things Asian Press who were looking for contributors for a new guide book to Japan. I went ahead and contacted them, offering some of my haikyo adventures from my website. Soon after I received word from the editor that they were interested in publishing one of the stories- my overnight stay at Sports World– plus they were interested in the story of my cycle trip up Mt. Mitake.

Well, I was very pleased, and said sure, go right ahead. Now, 2 years later, the book has gone to press and will be released to sale in the next few weeks. I received my 6 contributors copies today, and would like to offer one of them as a prize in a competition!

7 Massive Holes in the Earth

Mike Grist November 13, 2009Mines / Factories, World Ruins

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, weak undergound sewage lines can lead to sudden sink-holes in the middle of cities, open-pit mines strip the hearts out of mountains, nuclear weapons tests blast whole islands out of existence. Here are 7 awe-inspiring examples of such enormous holes.

Craters, mines, lagoons, sink-holes.

Marge Warning

Mike Grist November 13, 2009Japan, Japangrish

A sign at the entrance to a car park. You have been warned.

They mean ‘merge’ warning.

Jason Collins’ haikyo show

Mike Grist November 12, 2009Gunma, Haikyo

Back in December of 2007 I rented a car with 2 friends and we set off into the mountains of Gunma on our first haikyo trip. It kicked off a boom in interest in haikyo that has led to articles decrying us, book chapters written by us, articles showcasing our photos, and now a gallery exhibition by one of the core 3 that set out together in 2007. My good friend Jason Collin returned to Florida almost a year ago, and now has his first solo exhibition of haikyo photography opening Friday 13th Nov at the Raw Vibes gallery in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Jason shoots an explorer looking out of the abandoned Gunma Volcano Museum

Remnants of Kamaishi Iron Mine

Mike Grist November 11, 2009Haikyo, Iwate, Mines / Factories

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. Production peaked in the 1970’s, with more than a million tons of ore coming out a year. In photos I’d seen it looked like a whole hillside of factory/mine buildings, though upon arrival it was clear the glory days were gone, with only a hillside of concrete foundations remaining.

A block of masonry stands before the factory’s hillside foundation

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