Haikyo

Not surprisingly, the likes of Sony and Toyota have been badly hit by the current economic crisis, but another of Japan’s big names, Sanyo, has been floundering for a good few years now — a situation that may help explain the former retreat featured below, and why it’s arguably as ragged as the company’s reputation.

A sanctuary where the history of Sanyo may once have been solemnly studied.

But now it’s merely a building where the corridors are uncommonly quiet,

and not a single soul is bothered about their weight anymore, let alone wheedling their way in with the boss.

Likewise, the biggest open space in the building is decidedly lonely rather than lively.

And as for dining, a pot of tea is still possible, if not exactly advisable,

but anything dish-based is most definitely off the menu.

Plus, rather bizarrely, the complex also comes complete with an underground memorial of some kind.

Maybe even one in memory of bad management, considering it was only put in place in 1990.

Making the symbols, even come across in candlelight, seem somewhat silly rather than sinister.

In part 2, which you can see here I take a look at where the Sanyo staff once slept, along with a late visitor unlikely to leave.

Plus, should the urge take you, this and a whole host of other haikyo/abandoned buildings can be seen here

Coming across an abandoned building that hasn’t already been photographed and featured in books and blogs is always a treat, albeit an at times terrifying one, with any noise being unnerving and absolutely no way of knowing what’s waiting on the other side of its walls.

Still, slight apprehension aside, such a chance happily arose with the Hotel Queen, a love hotel that lost that loving feeling a long time ago, although for whatever reason the small office/main building remained in use for far longer.

But not anymore.

And while the hotel’s fairly reasonable number of rooms were sadly sealed, the office wasn’t, with pointers of the place’s past decorously,

and indeed indecorously, dotted about.

Inside, however, it was more a mix of private and professional — the likes of blankets and a few belongings in the bedrooms almost giving them the air of still being lived in.

Along with a jumble of possessions littering the sort of home-cum-hotel hub section of the building.

All compactly combined with the paraphernalia apparently needed to run such a place, like a plethora of post-its,

and pipes that presumably propelled other kinds of paraphernalia to the punters.

But obviously the customers eventually dried up, so to speak, and the location’s lucky cat clearly didn’t manage to make enough money.

A situation that eventually resulted in the sorry state of affairs that now exists, with the sad sight of several loved faces, 

that haven’t been looked at in a long time.

Along with a schedule that is equally unstudied. 

Plus, as is invariably the case with such places, there’s always something that’s unfathomable, and this time, despite the last person punching in sometime in September 2008,

the central entertainment system seated next to a samurai was unsettlingly still switched on. 

Prompting me to speedily cycle off.

Abandoned buildings (or haikyo) in Japan come in all shapes and sizes, although while some boast such prizes as pickled brains or colossal hotel complexes, others are rather more dull in their decay. Like this company retreat or conference centre not far from Yamanashi Prefecture’s Lake Yamanaka for example, a building that still offers breathtaking views from the bedrooms, but little in the way of how the boarders once busied themselves.

Apart that is from the odd telephone that now never rings.

Or indeed meetings that will never materialise.

However, that said, all haikyo are happily in the habit of managing to muster at least one mystery, and here it came in the shape of several cocoon-like seating set-ups, complete with a sort of speaker and microphone system.

A Device that if nothing else allows one to imaginatively ponder the possibilities of brainwashing, or at the very least some slightly dodgy doings of some description.

Otherwise, unfortunately, it was more sad than suspicious — the place at times almost giving off a sense of being abandoned only recently, with games still waiting to be played,

and the office feeling like it could still be in use.

Almost on a daily basis.

Until that is, one takes a look at the television.

And other technology.

Confirming that no-one has been here for quite some time, and while still looking ready and willing, reservations or requests will never again be relayed through reception.

After seeing the Japan BE Laboratory’s largely dilapidated state last week, it’s arguably quite difficult to imagine what the self confidence building sanctuary would have looked like in its prime, but at least the view that those turning up would have been treated to is still as mesmerising and memorable as ever.

As, it has to be said, are the place’s private rooms, although they are arresting for all the wrong reasons, with the beds now nothing less than a nightmare,

and while looking at one’s tired and timid face in the morning is still feasible, washing away any lingering worries isn’t.

Yet somewhat surprisingly, the option of adding a bit of spice to a dull hairstyle is still doable, if not necessarily desirable.

However, damage and dodgy tonics aside, it’s obvious that the rooms were once quite fancy and fairly sizeable, with western,

or Japanese styles available.

Along with the current bonus of curtains that beg to be bagged in black and white.

In fact, regardless of whether it was due to them being photogenic or furnished, one of the rooms was still considered to be largely liveable, as some poor soul had obviously been staying there until several seasons ago.

And squalor aside, it certainly would have been nice and quiet, with no sounds at all from the next door neighbour.

But scores of people once stayed legitimately in the hope of somehow increasing their self confidence, and while what became of them is a mystery, they too left behind a few belongings, which primarily involves pictures, and not particularly pleasant ones.

Or at least they appeared that way in the dark and dingy rooms.

With even the sun seeming sinister.

The Japan BE Laboratory may well sound like a science-based business of some kind or other, but actually, this rapidly decaying retreat near the equally ramshackle hot spring resort of Atami, a couple of hours from Tokyo, was instead centred around assisting those labelled as lacking in self confidence.

A place that fortunately, like many of Japan’s ruins (or haikyo), was pretty much effortless to enter.

Inside, however, nature and the vigour of a few vandals have really taken their toll, although considering the place’s past purpose, it’s still not hard to imagine the reticence of those reclining,

and no doubt declining, to tackle a couple of turns at table tennis.

And more than likely,

far from just a few beers would have been gulped down in the hope of garnering the necessary gumption for a game of golf.

In fact, even for the staff, an insufficiency in assertiveness wouldn’t have seemed too out of place as, with a till and telephone combination as complicated as this contraption,

tablets may well have had to be taken.

Quite possibly washed down with something cold from the kitchen.

But besides competitiveness and state-of-the-art technology for its time, this semi-secluded spot did have its serious, and possibly slightly suspect, side. As, while more mundane methods such as meetings were obviously still a mainstay,

it’s possible that other, more atypical techniques were tried out. One in particular which, while decidedly difficult to decipher, involved two windowless rooms that were sealed on one side by stainless steel doors and offered two extremely contrasting forms of expression — the more conventional karaoke, disks for which there was certainly no dearth of,

and the rather more unusual practice of writing willy-nilly on the walls.

The jumbled mass of messages dating from when the centre seems to have ceased operations in 1999, to some done a decade or so earlier.

None of which really shed much light on what the purpose or procedure was,

although by candle light it certainly seemed sinister, making the lobby appear far more appealing than it actually was.

In part 2, I take a look at the private rooms for the patrons, and some of the belongings they left behind. Plus a couple of surprises that caused far more concern rather than confidence.

Standing big and bulbous at the side of Sagami-ko in Kanagawa Prefecture, the Hotel Royal was hungrily looking to penetrate the lucrative love hotel market, but after functioning for what must have been a pathetically short period of time, it pulled out prematurely, apologised, and packed up — at least partially.

A sorry state of affairs that has left the office furnished but unfrequented,

and the keys for the considerable number of rooms uncalled for.

However, heading up the stairs, the decor does begin to deteriorate, with all the lager long gone,

and a situation health and safety would be somewhat unsatisfied with.

But that said, the rooms themselves remain surprisingly unsullied,

although their nobility in name only,

perhaps hints at why the business went bankrupt.

And even reminders of the reason they were rented out,

thankfully remain as unused as the rooms once were.

A situation that may also have had something to do with the Royal taking the unusual step of incorporating a restaurant on the top floor. A space that is now little more than a dumping ground for detritus of all descriptions,

which peculiarly includes a pet’s cage, and perhaps more predictably, the hotel’s vital video collection.

An eatery where, when privacy would have been paramount, people may possibly have been prompted to pontificate over pasta on how horny the dog happened to be,

or even the performances of Pussyman 3’s predecessors.

Big thanks to Mike for giving me the location of the hotel, and his pictures of the place can be seen here. Plus, for those after more ruins/haikyo, there’s always the previously posted mining town, cable car and Sports World hotel complex to have a look at.