Abandoned theme park in Tochigi

Last year I visited the abandoned Western Village theme park in Tochigi and loved it so much that I went back again recently with some friends. The second time, some of the plants that were taking over the park had been cleared and unfortunately more vandals had visited.
It's quite a creepy place to explore, especially because there are cowboy mannequins and creatures around every corner.

The photos are a mix of both visits including some iPhone photos taken after my camera batteries died. Check them all out in this flickr album.

The front:


Inside, it's a really wild wild west town:


It has a large game centre:


Giant cowboy and dummy:


Faceless animatronic guy in the shooting game:


Overgrown town:


Collapsing balcony:


Dentist in the horror house:


There are lots of body parts lying around:


A real buffalo:


Bed in the toilet:


There is a whole building full of giant teddy bears:


Some depressed animal rides:


Creepy wheelchair:


Some of the many cowboys:




In the saloon:


In the offices:


There is also a huge replica of Mount Rushmore:


Lots more photos in this flickr album!

Kinugawa Kanko Hotel Haikyo

The Kinugawa Onsen area has definitely seen better days. Sadly, many of the hotels built along the river have gone bankrupt. The huge Kinugawa Kanko Hotel has been closed for almost 10 years and I thought it would be interesting to check it out.


The sliding doors were open just enough to squeeze in.


Unfortunately, vandals had already been in.


Paperwork had just been left in the office, including this log of 'companions'.


A message was left on the blackboard telling the staff to take their time.


Parts of the hotel were quite dark so I had to use the light on my iPhone.


I went into a lot of the guest rooms but they started to look the same after a while.


Windows had been broken and birds had made their way in.


By the time I made it up to room 666, it was starting to get a bit dark.


Surprisingly, the bar had been left relatively untouched.


There were large entertainment rooms on the upper floors.


I climbed onto the roof to have a peek.


The next day I went back to check out the baths on the lower floors.


It was pitch black down in the basement so I could only see by the light of my iPhone and camera flash. I heard a noise and quickly got out of there!

Exploring abandoned love hotels

by craig

I found a whole area on Google Maps I didn't know existed so I had to go and check it out.
A stroll down from Seibukyujomae station and across Tama Lake brought me to Tamako Jitensha Dō, a long road through the trees around Tama Lake. The road is mainly used by cyclists in their ridiculous fluoro lycra. A fence along the right side of the road prevents you from entering the forest around the reservoir.



A few love hotels were nestled in the trees, seemingly a perfect quiet location for such establishments. But too quiet it seems, as a few of them had closed down.



After wandering for a while, I stumbled upon the Hotel Queen, an abandoned love hotel with piles of rubbish out the front.



Around the side, I found that the door to the office had been broken off. The little shrine on the door was a bit off-putting, but my curiosity got the better of me and I went inside.



Surprisingly, it looked like the owners had just suddenly deserted, leaving all their stuff behind. People had obviously broken in since then and made a bit of a mess.



There was a lot of old electronic equipment around the office.



The wind and the old building's creaking sounds started to make me feel a bit uneasy.



I slowly climbed the stairs as geckos scurried away. The second floor was where the owner must have lived.



Even clothes and things had been left behind.
I was trying to be as quiet as possible, but my camera was quite loud.



I was spooked by the creaking sounds in the next room and seeing a small noose hanging in the window, so I quickly went downstairs and out in to the hotel grounds.



All the guest rooms were locked but I poked my camera through a couple of windows.



I was worried about being spotted from the road so decided to leave. A police car slowly passed me a bit further down the road.
There was more and more random rubbish dumped around the place.



I came across Akasaka Hotel, another abandoned love hotel. This one was totally vandalised and obviously a popular spot for photographers. Actually, I remembered seeing it on some haikyo sites. An old man was at the ruined building (a restaurant?) next door so I couldn't explore.



It was almost 30° and I was getting sunburned, so I stopped in the shade for lunch at the end of the path, before heading back.



(Click the above pictures to see larger sizes. More photos can be seen at Flickr)