MORE ABANDONED JAPANESE STUFF

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Wow, Japan really is the dilapidated shit-hole that never stops giving. This time we've been exploring the abandoned Navel Land in the economically destitute Japanese port town, Arao. We think they meant "Naval."

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Crack isn’t very popular in Japan, and as a result abandoned sites like this theme park are generally left in pretty good shape. At any Western equivalent you'd be hopscotching between used needles and pissy mattresses. However, there are the occasional reminders that you’re not the first person to have visited; it's funny how often these reminders are 2Pac murals.

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After paying our respects to Shakur, we slid through a smashed window into a large boarded-up building. Following some signs through what looked like a museum, we found ourselves in a pitch-black tunnel. We used the flash of our cameras and phones to get around, so it took a moment for us to realize that we were in an abandoned aquarium, still full of stagnant water.

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Bins and fire extinguishers have replaced the tropical fish.

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After following a series of chirpy Japanese cartoon characters, we eventually found ourselves at an origami display that had been burned and fiddled with.

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That shark head was pretty cool.

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We headed to the east of the park to a large abandoned greenhouse full of both dying plants and plants making a bid to take over the place. Climbing through a toilet window, we found ourselves up to our knees in layers of brown leaves, fallen petals, and rotting birds.

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We came across a bowling alley haikyo [Japanese for ruins]. We left the car outside and headed in through the giant gates. The place was pretty miserable and desolate looking.

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We got in through a tiny window into a boiler room and crunched our way across a rat shit-littered floor, leading to a pitch-black area behind the lanes, which was littered with pins and bowling balls.

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It wasn’t until we ventured further that we realized this building wasn’t as dead as we had assumed. There was a mint stretched limo parked across one of the lanes. Limos are a rare site in Japan and are usually affiliated with either J-pop royalty or Yakuza.

Photo By Taylor Chapman