Riverside campsites with small cabins aren’t uncommon at all in the Japanese countryside. This place, however, is different. For starters it has clearly been abandoned for decades, but what makes it truly special are the one-time lodgings and their accompanying shower huts. Compact and decidedly basic accommodation that must have looked quite novel back in the day, but now, all overgrown and slowly disintegrating, they are what I can only describe as rather gloriously grim.
Damien says
So true – there is glory in grimness. Nice series of nature taking over a ‘fun’ place where humans once engaged with nature on some level. Reminds me of the overgrown playgrounds and pools built for workers’ families in the abandoned town near the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. The shot of the tatami ‘waves’ in the leisure room with the sunken sections of floor is very evocative. In a few more decades, there’ll be almost nothing left to see here except green growth and leaf compost.
Lee says
Thanks a lot, and yeah, I couldn’t agree more. That’s a good call about the areas around Chernobyl too. Amazing how quickly nature takes back what us humans have created.
That tatami room was amazing. Seen similar sights, but none as wave-like as this one, and on such a scale.
Sean says
This is such an awesome location. I love the atmosphere of nature taking over.
Lee says
Yeah, it was quite something. Even more so as it was a chance find. And likewise, always fascinating to see.
Richard says
Looks very dystopian! The room with the tatami mats is amazing.
Lee says
It really does, and yeah, that room was a sight to behold and then some.
cdilla says
What a find. That tatami floor looks so fluid.
I’m revisiting my Simon Stalenhag books at the moment and could see him interpreting this kind of haikyo.
This collection will definitely be revisited when I have more time to spend with them.
Lee says
It was, and all the better for being a completely chance find. Totally agree about that tatami floor too. It was incredible to see. Truly wonderful shapes.
Paul says
I couldn’t stop thinking of being awakened in the middle of the night by the cabin rolling down the hill.
Lee says
Haha, that’s a very good point. Even worse, there’s a river at the bottom of the hill…
Andrew H says
Love these, except for the tatami floor picture which reminds me of a recurring nightmare I’ve had where no surfaces which should be flat and level actually are, and I can’t cope with it at all!
I’d love to know when these were last occupied. They look like they’d have been quite cosy in their day!
Lee says
Oh, I can totally understand how that photo made you feel then. Never seen anything quite like that before.
Yeah, likewise. I’d like to see photos from back in the day too, as like you said, they must have been quite cosy.
john says
Grim like a fairy tale! It must have been something special to live at ‘No 5, the Hive’.
What are they made of?; I’m assuming not carefully whittled tree trunks?
Hope you are managing with your bucket and spade and less humidity. :O)
Lee says
Grim like a fairy tale! Ah, so true. Wish I’d thought of that for the write-up.
They are all concrete I think. Such a common material in Japan, plus it does help explain how they have survived so intact after all these years.
Thanks. Thoroughly enjoying the lack of humidity, although the similar lack of sun and warmth does mean there hasn’t been any bucket and spade action.