At the dead-end of a blast-hewn road snaking up through the mountains north of Tokyo, imprisoned by sheer moss-rocked walls looming overhead like rotting Gothic colonnades, the Nichitsu mine ghost town lies in wait, wreathed in a low mist and perennially dusk-lit by the overhanging crags. It hums with a crippling weight of nostalgia, of enfolded memories playing out again and again in its boarded up buildings, of invisible ghosts standing guard at the mine entrance, looking out of cracked windows, walking their habitual paths to and from and back again.
I’ve been here before. 14 months ago I came with Mike and Jason on our first haikyo road trip, this our last stop on the second day after taking in the Mt. Asama volcano museum and the remnants of Kappa Pia.
To see it again, in the same season with the same people, the roads frosted over, the air hoary with the mountains’ chill, to see those same empty places that we’d gone in and out of before, imagining the wraith-like echoes of ourselves climbing through windows and ducking in and out of doorways, was a little unsettling. And also familiar.
The main entrance to the Lower School.
We came back this time to seek out the Doctor’s office, fabled on the web and in print resources as the last resting place of a pickled brain in a jar, operating equipment, and all manner of medical gear. We’d wanted to see it a year ago, but got so bogged down in the first batch of buildings we came to we couldn’t go any further before night and exhaustion set in. The desire remained though, and drove us to return.
The front of the Lower School.
This time we rolled the car through the whole town until we reached the road’s dead-end at a fenced up tunnel. Then we started in on the first batch of buildings, what turned out to be a Lower School and Dormitory.
I’ll post about Nichitsu in 3 parts, the second being the Town and Environs, the third the Doctor’s office, making 4 parts total including the post I made last year.
Into the school, as ever we all took separate routes, with me heading for the back.
Avalanches have torn the back off the building.
We could get in from the back where avalanches had torn the thin wooden building apart. Once inside the footing was unsteady and bowed in places- at one point my foot went through the floorboards giving me a huge shock.
Silent hallway.
Staircase, once boarded up. The phone on the left actually had a dial tone, which was bizarre as nothing else had any power, and all the doors and windows were nailed shut.
I moved through the place mostly alone, normally in silence but for the occasional creak or distant call of one of the others, making a discovery.
Windows shuttered, paper screens burst and curling in the damp air.
Cupboard screens ravaged by angry demons.
The first room I went in had a book of photographs lying on a stack of straw futons.
Child in kimono.
Child at school.
At the end of the building was a large hall with a black decaying patch in the center of the tatami:
Decay.
Curled behind the hall was a kitchen, with bottles of whiskey and tubs of oil set on the table, alongside a rusty saw, school-boy caps, and other haikyo paraphernalia. In the corner was a black-board, and Mike and Jason
added their marks to it, alongside those of countless other explorers.
Rusty saw.
Schoolboy caps.
Phones cluster together for heat. No dial tones.
Another room, windows mud-splattered from avalanches.
Wall paper cascading.
Empty.
Musty rugs.
TV’s, stacked.
Ghost detecting equipment.
Fish in a drawer.
At the top of the steps, at the end of the corridor, was a window out onto a walkway leading from the main Lower School over to other conjoining buildings, reminiscent of a complex series of tree-houses linked together. The door to the walkway was nailed fast so we climbed out of the second floor window and stepped out onto it.
Walkway.
A gathering spot amongst the warren of buildings and walkways.
Gloves reaching out.
After this point we split up again, as I ran back to collect my tripod and the other two went on looking for the Doctor’s office. Already it was nearing 4pm, and we didn’t have much light left.
More next time.
CONTENTS
Nichitsu Mining Town- 1. Junior High School
Nichitsu Mining Town- 2. Lower School
Nichitsu Mining Town- 3. Town / Environs
Nichitsu Mining Town- 4. Doctor’s Office
FACTFILE
Entry – Through the back of the Lower School, through a window and onto a walkway to other areas.
Highlights – Returning to a place already so laden with nostalgia.
RUINS / HAIKYO
You can see all MJG’s Ruins / Haikyo explorations here:
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Comments 16
Wow, has it been 14 months since you were there last? I remember that post about the volcano museum. I think that is how I came across your blog by doing web searches for haikyo.
That one was a creepy one! I’m looking forward to the next culminating in the Doctor’s office!
PS thanks for putting a link on your page to my book – thats so cool xxxx
Author
Tornadoes- Yeah, it was December of 2007 that we first went. A long ways back, but not so long. Do you know that that volcano recently erupted? Just ash. Crazy though- we nearly went there again on this past trip, just the day before it erupted.
Alice- Cheers, the Doctor’s office should be a fitting finale. Your book link on my page- my pleasure- I think it looks cool- hope a few people pop over and make the pre-order :).
Oooh some really nice shots :D. I particularly liked the ones with the rice-paper, tattered windows. The roof, and first few especially seemed to protray the mood nicely.
Woah those are books are still there? Looks really spooky.
Wow…why would the phone still have a dial tone? That is strange. God i can’t wait for the next instalment especially the pickled brain!!
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Brilliant pictures! Love the absolute emptiness of the place…I love abandoned places, and Japans are amongst the best! Keep up the good work! Seba
The phone has a dial tone as it gets its power from the phone line not the electrial main circuit, it only needs 1.5 volts to operate.
Nice pics!!
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the fire cart looks interesting wish it was in a museum..
Author
Kayla, k, Kelly, Seba, Ken- Hi all, so sorry to have missed your comments the first time around. Good points about the phone, thanks for the explanation Ken. Indeed the books and the whole vibe of the place was spooky k. Thanks for commenting!
Wiliam- Seconded, it would be a great exhibit.
how come the Nichitsu Mining Town- 4. Doctor’s Office link doesnt work 🙁 was really looking forward to seeing it, I’ve only recently found your website and I absolutely love it! You’ve got me interested in exploring some abandoned buildings I know of in the UK.
this rlly make me want to be an urban photographer you have great pictures here
that phone rand when i was there today! i was researching nicchitsu yesterday and read that a phone there somewhere had a dialling tone and picked one up to see, and it happened to be the same one. 30 seconds after I put the receiver down it started to ring!!!!