Urban Exploration

There's an area in Miyagi Prefecture called Kejonuma that's home to an arresting legend. Kejonuma means 'pond of the ghost woman,' and the tale that gave birth to this ...

Nakasuji, who took the pictures for the “Ruins” series of books, added that he thinks that those people who like ruins are hungry for reality.

“They’ve got jaded by virtual realities and fictions,” Nakasuji said. “When they see ruins, which are the ultimate form of reality, they are impressed.”

The reality that abandoned buildings show is failure and death, Nakata observed — to which Nakasuji responded by saying that when he sees grass growing through cracks in floors or moss covering buildings, he feels they are signs of the natural cycle of birth and death and rebirth that is at the very heart of Buddhism.

The sound of bells echoes through the monastery at Gion Shoja, telling all who hear it that nothing is permanent. The flowers of the sala trees show that all that ...

“It’s something you don’t see in everyday life in cities or even in the countryside,” Gakuran said as he explained his attraction to ruins. “You don’t really see manmade structures being reclaimed by nature, but that natural decay is quite interesting,” he said.

Amanda Norman's Gothic and horror photography galleries - Photographs showcasing the wonderful and mysterious landscapes of graveyards and Victorian cemeteries. - a photo gallery powered by Photobox

Ruins are known in Japan as ‘Haikyo’ (廃墟) – literally ‘abandoned place’. The word has become synonymous here with Urban Exploration, or Urbex for short, which is the exploration of man-made sites usually hidden or restricted from the general public.

On a scorching hot day in late June, some 20 tourists were gazing at the fenced-off entrance of an abandoned tunnel named Taura Zuido (Taura Tunnel) in the Kanagawa Prefecture ...

“I have a mission to record the old abandoned roads by taking pictures of them and writing about them,” he said, citing as his driving force the comments about his photos that viewers of his Web site report. Typical of those comments, he said, “was one that said, ‘I used to walk on this road decades ago.’ ”

“When I get such reactions, I feel I am rewarded,” he said.

However, he also felt obliged to remind his audience that exploring old, abandoned roadways can be a dangerous pastime.

In particular, he reminded those who would follow in his footsteps that out there in the often long grass may lurk not only sharp leaves and spiky plants, but also mosquitoes and leeches. Then there can be falling rocks and sometimes even bears to watch out for, too.

Despite all that, though, Hiranuma concluded by confessing that he loves to explore abandoned roads . . . both for the adventure and to keep knowledge of them alive.

A collection of haikyo articles penned by Japan Times staff writer Eriko Arita ventures into the deeper meaning behind ruins exploration and its popularity in Japan. A mention of my thoughts of the subject are included in one of the stories.