Offbeat Japan An Alternative Guide of Japan

Nara Dreamland was an abandoned amusement park. I've just spent a year in Nara (2015-2016), a kilometre from the park, so it's time for me to write a little epilogue.

I am a great fun of abandoned hospitals, they are my favorite type of haikyo. Not those empty concrete buildings, but the small wooden clinics rotting away quietly in the countryside without anyone noticing.

Abandoned in 1974, the Battleship Island (Gunkanjima) turned into the Ghost Island and soon became one of the most famous spot for urban exploration.

"Jordy, did you give up the haikyo?" Here’s my answer, distilled into a new Best Of covering the past two years.

These haikyo hospitals always attract me, especially the very old ones in Japan. They possess magical and enchanting powers; thus when you walk around, there tends to be many mysterious encounters.

Aogashima is a very mysterious island. Online, always the same photos taken from a helicopter, sometimes photoshopped. But what’s really hidden behind these lava walls?

I have always liked abandoned Japanese schools. Not only they are sleeping beautifully far away in forgotten countrysides but they are also the cradle of the Japanese soul.

It’s not an easy encounter. I’d already visited a few years ago, but a gathering storm made it impossible for me to approach these monsters and stroke their silken fur.

Aokigahara, known as Japan’s suicide forest, is a unique place in other ways. Silent, no wildlife in sight, magnificent trees and shrubs, and really easy to lose yourself in.

So everyday, I was walking from Ginza and Shiodome and on the way, here it was: the Nakagin Capsule Tower.