A Haikyo trip in Saitama

"Haikyo" is a Japanese word that essentially means abandoned or ruin. Since the economic bubble burst, the countryside of Japan has been littered with dozens of locations that have been abandoned and could be considered modern ruins. I'm talking about theme parks, old resorts, US military facilities, you name it.

There was one place that was mentioned that caught my eye: Nichitsu, Saitama. The town of Nichitsu was run by the company with the same name. It was a copper mining town which eventually shut down back in the late 1970s, and no one has bothered to clean it up. It makes for a very interesting take on tourism in Japan, in that the place is essentially one giant time capsule.




Its a bit dangerous walking around some of the buildings (read, unstable flooring) but the doctors office, employee apartments/family houses, and the school are not to be missed.





Getting there: The only way to do this is by car, so get yourself to Nissan and rent something cheap. From Tokyo, take the Kanetsu Expressway up to the Hanazono Interchange and follow National Road 140. From here you will get deeper into the northwestern corner of Saitama. You should set your sat-nav to a place called: "Chichibu kouzan" 秩父鉱山. When you hit the scary looking one lane tunnel, you know you've arrived. Don't worry, there's a google map of the journey below.


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Overall, it was a very worthwhile day-trip. Anyone who is interested in other places should check out this website which is full of other 'haikyo' places throughout Japan:
http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/ruins-gallery/