Japan Haikyo Tour 2019 – Part 1 – Abandoned Onsens, Love Hotels and Amusement Parks

Highlights From This Trip

This blog post is the first part of my Japanese Haikyo Tour 2019 series. This post covers the onsens, love hotels and amusement parks we visited on our travels.

Other posts in this blog series:

Japan Haikyo Tour 2019 – Part 2 covering abandoned clinics, schools and transportation (including CatBus!)

During our summertime two-week road trip across Japan, we visited many amazing places. We snaked our way along our route, crisscrossing the country and prefectures. Our journey took us across the length and breadth of Honshu, the largest Japanese island. We also visited locations on Shikoku as well as a day trip to another tiny tropical island. More forgotten treasure await on Kyushu and Hokkaido, but we will save these from another trip.

I took over 800 photographs over 15 days, divided between 53 unique locations. I will edit and upload these in due course, along with history/report write-ups in my usual style. These Blog posts will offer some sneak peeks and behind the scenes shots of my travels.

This road trip also marks my first real outing with my new full-frame camera. I recently upgraded to a full-frame mirrorless Sony A7ii with an impressively wide Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G lens. This newer model replaces my trusty old Sony A77ii and Tokina 11-16mm. My previous equipment had been my faithful travel companion for the last 5 years, so I have high expectation from this newer model

Haikyo vs. Urbex

The derelict remains of the past are an irresistible urge to some photographers (myself included). In Europe and America, this hobby is called “Urban Exploration” (typically abbreviated as “Urbex). In Japan, the word used to describe the exploration of enigmatic abandoned ruins is “Haikyo”.

Dilapidated Onsens and Onsen Hotels (Japanese Hot Springs and Bath Houses)

I am a geologist by profession, so I could not help a little geological diversion. Please skip the next paragraph if you are not interested in a geeky geology aside :).

The Japan archipelago is a series of islands, formed by the action of colliding tectonic plates. The northward/westward-moving Philippine and Pacific plates collide with the continental Asia plates, moving at a rate of around 9cm a year. The thinner ocean plates are forced below the mainland Asian landmass where they dive deep into the earth’s mantle (a process called subduction). The plates then melt in the molten semi-solid mantle. Some of the melted material rejoins the mantle as part of the crustal recycling cycle. Some of the material, now part of the earth’s magma, may erupt at the surface from active volcanoes. A proportion of the oceanic plates are scrunched up during the collision; a process called accretion. Rock is uplifted as new landmasses, forming island arc complexes such as Japan. This volcanic and tectonic activity produces heat within the crust. Heated groundwater becomes element-enriched and eventually makes its way to the surface. This process is the source of the world-famous Japanese hot springs.

A sizable part of Japanese tradition centres around bathhouses, which tap into these hot springs. These bathhouses are called onsen (温泉). Onsen are popular with tourists, and entire towns have been built to exploit this natural resource. They range from small single-bath huts nestled in peaceful mountains up to sprawling hotel resorts. Some towns may have many onsen hotels, all in competition for patronage from those visiting the area.

Sometimes the size/number of onsens outstripped demand. New onsens establish and grow until some unknown critical mass is reached, or local/regional economic downturn plays a hand. When there is not enough custom to sustain them, these onsens may begin to close. Often it seems to be the larger and older onsens which close in an area. The ruins they leave behind that draw in a new type of visitor: photographers in search of decay.

We visited several abandoned onsen hotels during our road trip. The largest is tucked away on a small island several hundred miles off the coast of Honshu. Another onsen was a slightly oppressive looking 1940’s concrete monstrosity. Thankfully this one was more pleasant inside than the exterior suggested.

Unloved Love Hotels

Japanese Love Hotels (ラブホテル, also known as boutique or fashion hotels) famous (or infamous?) short-stay hotels, where patrons typically rent rooms by the hour. Traditionally love hotels have been synonymous with secret rendezvous locations for lovers. Love Hotels originated in the years after the second world war, for couples that lived in living with extended family. Any intimate time would be best conducted away from home at these love hotels. In the 1980s and 1990s, these hotels became part of the mainstream dating scene. Many new large and extravagant hotels were popping up in even the smaller towns.

Love hotels are versatile in modern-day Japan. They provide cheap and quirky accommodation for travellers, who may (or may not) be interested in the sexual connotations. They are still popular amongst young couples looking for a romantic night away. One may also conduct a hidden love affair here, in relative secrecy. In recent years it appears that the older love hotels are finding themselves falling out of fashion as more single Japanese people live alone.

These hotels often have themed rooms, some of which may be very imaginative (or straight up bizarre!). One room we visited features a mechanical spaceship-shape bed, mounted on metal rails. This would “fly” across the room on a track at the push of a button. Another room features a bed with medieval coach-style wheels. Here couples could make love under the watchful gaze knight in a suit of armour, apparently. The themes are varied and inventive, including; jungle, Las Vegas, jungle gym, fairground, Rolls Royce, boxing rings, princess castle etc.

Sun-faded Amusement Parks

There is something about abandoned amusement parks which always draws me in. Carousels froze in place, vegetation encroaching and choking the cartoon animals. A Ferris wheel rusted and ceased years ago. Sad and lonely teacup rides, the once bright paint fading in the sun. We were blessed with beautiful summer weather, and the blue sky was peppered with delicate cirrus clouds. We re-visited later in the trip to camp beneath the Ferris wheel, and to take some sunset shots and star trails while enjoying a beer or two.