Photographs from a small group of islands
It’s always good to escape the concrete and crowds of the capital. Particularly so in summer when the heat is horrendous. Plus despite Tokyo’s size, you don’t have to drive for that long before it’s possible to enjoy quiet roads, the sight of tree covered mountains, and, erm, roadside whales.
A bar with plenty of character, but even more in the way of characters.
A bit of Tokyo shopping as it once was, and in a surprising number of instances, actually still is.
At its peak in the 1960s, Nichitsu mining town was home to about 3,000 people, and boasted a school, supermarket, clinic etc. Basically everything the isolated mountain community needed to survive. But when the work disappeared, so did the inhabitants, leaving behind the buildings, along with glimpses of the lives once lived in them.
Time and the elements, however, have really taken their toll on what remains. As have countless visitors like myself. But on a hot summer day, it was a wonderfully peaceful place to be. There were deers foraging around the dilapidated structures, and not a single soul to be seen or heard. Just a rare, welcome silence, and now and again occasional moments of melancholy. Elements of which hopefully come through in the photos below.
