Haikyo

After featuring Sports World’s fast fading offices and facilities in Parts 1 and 2 respectively, it’s finally time to take a look at the now bankrupt business’s once well maintained, and especially well equipped, world of water.

Large, and in a leafy location, the sprawling complex certainly didn’t make any cuts when it came to equipment, but it is now difficult at times to differentiate between what was classed as inside, or out,

although the main outdoor pools once looked as amazingly lovely as this.

However, a mere decade after the doors were closed, it’s now a decidedly different sight,

with graffiti rather than good times the main attraction.

And, rather bizarrely, particularly considering the time period it was operating in, a fair few of the staff were foreign.

Yet somehow even their blue eyes and bleached blonde hair didn’t do the business, especially if one considers that the above picture was taken only three years after the complex opened. So, even if the place now looks very different, there’s at least one thing that the current state still has in common with its past — a considerable lack of customers.

Meaning that despite its size, there’s a distinct possibility that the slide seldom saw much use.

Although considering the once movable medical facilities,

that was maybe just as well.

But, regardless of how pathetic the place has become, it’s nice to see that politeness, however put on, is still paramount.

And that, at least as far as Sports World is concerned, is that. But, for those who missed them and wouldn’t mind a meander, parts 1 and 2 can be found here and here.

For the management team left in charge of somehow steering the doomed Sports World holiday complex away from disaster, the final few years can’t have been much fun, and, as highlighted in Part 1, they didn’t exactly hang around when it all inevitably ended in disappointment.

There again, the rest of the staff it would seem were similarly swift to say sayonara, leaving rooms for the taking to anybody that now turns up.

Although those that do will have to nestle down with nature,

with a few of the balconies now offering far more greenery than guests may feel is good for them.

Still, the view, while a little wild, is still welcoming.

Even if it is a far cry from its much more pristine past.

And, as far as indoor amenities go, it’s a similarly sorry story, with the pool not even passable for paddling.

However, that’s not to say it hasn’t managed to retain a certain ambience of sorts, making it a nice place to sit — albeit silently — in the sun.

The restaurant on the other hand is really just a wreck,

and meals of any kind are completely off the menu.

That said, those of a considerably more cleanly nature are surprisingly still catered for,

although the showers which, as well as being in a state of disarray, are also decidedly disquieting.

As is the gym, which now arguably resembles a medieval torture chamber,

rather than a modern-ish amenity.

In the third and final part, there are images of Sports World’s huge outdoor facilities, with more ‘now and then’ pictures, including a few salvaged snaps of some of the former, and foreign, staff. Plus, for anyone who missed it and may be interested, part 1 is here.

Considering the current economic climate, a trip to Sports World a week or so ago was particularly apt.

Conceived during the bubble with the bank presumably backing the project with a ludicrously large loan, this sprawling Sports Resort Hotel at the top of the Izu Peninsula was opened in 1988, only a year before prosperity went pop. And, ten years later, after an impossibly optimistic opening,

the business too went bang.

A decade that, due to the site’s sumptuousness and size, must have been a stressful one to say the least, with the technology of the day,

no doubt making more noise than the till.

And even the acquisition of less archaic computers,

along with confidence boosting cups,

couldn’t have made the conferences any more comfortable.

This armchair on the other hand may have offered at least some sort of a rest bite,

but in the end, with nothing saved for a rainy day except company emblazoned umbrellas,

the staff were left with little option but to leave,

after perhaps loitering for a little while in the bar,

and having one last blow out to add to the already bulging bill.

In Part 2, some the the resort’s fast-fading indoor features are featured, including rooms, a pool and the gym. Plus a few pictures of the place blooming in its brief, bubble-era buoyancy. And in Part 3 there are images of Sports World’s huge outdoor facilities, with more ‘now and then’ pictures, including some of the staff.

In addition, for more haikyo, there’s always an abandoned mining town to have a meander through, or even a crumbling cable car for more loan-based lunacy.

The bounty of abandoned buildings at Nitchitsu mining town may well be hard to fathom, at least in regards to the amount of furniture that still fills them, but at the same time, it’s fairly clear that the mine’s eventual lack of minerals brought the once robust community to an inescapable, if admittedly rather quick, close.

In the case of the ill-fated cable car construction in Okutama, however, failure may well have been due to mere folly rather than misfortune.

Opening its doors in October 1961, the idea was to presumably attract some of the teeming number of Tokyoites wanting a trip out of town without the hassle of having to travel too far. Yet regardless of how popular this area may be in autumn — with camera carrying crowds feverishly clamouring for photos of the foliage — the rest of the year it’s mainly the haunt of hikers looking for a long walk rather than a lift over the lake.

Especially as it’s only a quick one stop hop over what seems to be the narrowest wedge of water.

Meaning that while the entrance is presumably far worse for wear than it once was,

the ticket gates,

waiting area,

and washrooms probably haven’t seen much of a variation in visitors.

Leaving the place forever cold,

covered,

and conspicuously quiet.