Three or so hours North of Tokyo, out in the wilds of Saitama, an old mining town has been slowly abandoned. We first visited this remote
haikyo five years ago, and a few weeks ago decided to make the journey back.
Nestled in the mist shrouded mountains, the journey takes you through hand-cut rock lined tunnels, and one part of the road is closed for hours each day, as they shore up the sides of the otherwise treacherous road in. Our second visit a number of years ago was curtailed by a landslide that had covered the single car wide road.
As well as the mining facilities, the village has a post office, a hotel, a general store, a public
ofuro, a school, and of course numerous apartment buildings. On a warm and humid day, we started at the elementary school tucked away at the top of the hill.
Its overgrown entrance portico setting the scene for the campus of buildings. Moss covered stairs leading further into the woods, and some seriously spooky buildings.
Other rooms and buildings though, have an ethereal, floating look to them, especially with the summer light streaming though grubby windows, and wet trees above. The school was abandoned in the early 1980s, with perhaps the last classes being held sometimes in the late 1970s.
Though I had intending shooting the exteriors in color, as my previous work was all generally inside stuff on grainy T-Max 3200 & Type-665, I was tempted inside to shoot the interiors as well. Especially with our Sean's advice my Buroni was capable of running hand held down to 1/8 or similar. Loaded with Kodak's marvelous Ektar 100, the 50mm Super Komura imparts a great feel.
Climbing the hills above the main street we discovered a whole series of pre-electricity buildings, though they had a spectacular view out over the valley would have required hardy souls to live in their
tatami &
shoji construction during the harsh winters. Climbing the hill alone, after a hard day in the mines, even after a bath in the public
ofuro would have been difficult.
At the bottom of the hill, a community hall, fire station, and some more comfortable apartments have held up well to the years, protecting much as it was when the last residents departed perhaps 30 or 40 years ago.
Recent years have seen a number of other foreign explorers in
haikyo, and bringing with them their ideas of Western abandoned places exploring; graffiti, smashing stuff, setting off fire extinguishers, throwing goods about for the photo op, and general poor behavior - conforming unfortunately to the Japanese expectations of foreigners. As this location requires a car, beyond the means of the usual itinerant English teacher, thankfully it has remained largely untouched.
The general store's Yakult, ice cream and
o-tofu fridges long being turned off.
The clinic holding some particularly interesting looking hardware.
Original occupants left much behind in their apartments. Black & white TVs, radios, washing machines, posters of 1970s and 1980s Japanese idols, cassette players, irons, and the usual household goods. One apartment still has a cupboard full of beer and cheap whiskey.
Our last discovery was another small hall, tucked away over a little bridge. We left this to explore on our next visit.
