Overgrown Toyota at Tama Lake

Mike GristCars, Haikyo, Tokyo-to 10 Comments

The last time I went to the Akasaka Love Hotel on Lake Tama was November 2008. Winter was just setting in and had not yet sloughed away the summer`s ripe vegetation, meaning that this gorgeous neglected Toyota was mostly buried in foliage. I took a few shots of it scraggled with greenery but they didn`t stand out. Now winter reveals its pale bones, most of them broken backwards and jiggling loosely on rusted hinges. A Toyota.

The ruins of LOST

Mike GristFantasy Ruins, LOST, Movie/TV Ruins, World Ruins 10 Comments

The TV show LOST is all about ruins.? The island itself is a living museum, a place where the relics of millennia-old statues rest side by side with downed aircraft and underground research stations, all of them abandoned fossils of our cultural evolution. A huge part of the show`s appeal has been the Indiana Jones-esque exploration of these ruins. It`s one of the reasons I`m such a big LOST fan. Click through to relive the adventure.

Ruin of a Japanese ‘kaiten’ suicide-boat base

Mike GristHaikyo, Military Installations, Nagasaki 16 Comments

Towards the end of World War 2 the Japanese military created and employed the `kaiten`, a manned suicide torpedo designed to blow up American ships with great accuracy. At that point in the War Japan had suffered severe losses, was experiencing rapid decline in its industrial capacity compared to the US, and American troops were closing in on the home islands. Surrender was out of the question, so Kaiten (along with kamikaze planes) were brought in to help tilt the balance. Kaiten facility observation point.

Top 5 Ruins of the Sex Industry

Mike GristBest Of, Sex Industry 4 Comments

In ruins the hidden secrets of sex are laid bare. All our most intimate truths come out in the wash. The den of our fornication will rot and mold will form on the sheets where we grunted out our last passions. Sex. In life, as in death, it’s a messy business. Here are five ruined dens of sex from around Japan. 1. The Akasaka Love Hotel ‘Love Hotels’ are a lot like roadside motels, designed with the express purpose of facilitating ‘relations’ between Japanese couples who still live at home, and have no access to a bedroom away from their …