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Apr 28 2010 16 Comments

Huge haikyo hotel #2: The upper floors

Considering the state of the first floor, and the random bits and bobs pictured in part 1, it wasn’t at all surprising to find that the hotel had its last guests and then locked up for good in the early 1990s.

Plus, when one heads to the higher floors, it’s similarly unsurprising to discover that it started doing business in the summer of 1973, as the decor is still undoubtedly of that decade.

hotel haikyo

And seeing that it obviously wasn’t changed once in the twenty years or so it was operational, it’s no surprise either that the hotel eventually surrendered to insolvency. As walks down the numerous corridors.

hotel haikyo

Along with a rummage around in the large number of rooms.

hotel haikyo

Resulted in nothing but the same colour schemes.

hotel haikyo

And wallpaper that wouldn’t be exactly what most people would want to wake up to.

hotel haikyo

In fact the only real difference was the state of disrepair.

hotel haikyo

Which no amount of dandyism can now hope to disguise.

hotel haikyo

And yet for those people who did stay here, the hotel at least offered some really quite lovely views.

hotel haikyo

Which could well have been nice to have a coffee by.

hotel haikyo

But now, after nearly twenty years of being left abandoned to nothing but birds, everything sits silent and soiled.

Meaning no room service.

hotel haikyo

No room calls.

hotel haikyo

And definitely no sitting in one’s room and relaxing in front of The Rockford Files.

hotel haikyo

For more haikyo, the whole archive can be seen here. Or, for more selective viewing, my particular favourites are, Nichitsu mining town, Japan Snake Center, Kawatana Special Attack Unit Training Centre, the Higashi Izu-cho Isolation Ward and Mount Asama Volcano Museum.

Categorized: Haikyo, Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael says

    4/28/2010 at 3:05 pm

    Interesting decor! Always nice to see sunny colours fading in a haikyo :).

    Do you have a macro lens Lee? You might want to try some of that sort of photography to capture tinier details in haikyo. It’s probably next on my list…

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/28/2010 at 4:39 pm

      No, I don’t have a macro michael. Never really considered getting one to be honest. But now you mention it, it’s an interesting idea.

      Reply
  2. Aldos says

    4/28/2010 at 7:05 pm

    Excellent! I Really enjoy these installments. Like the TV picture the best.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/28/2010 at 8:15 pm

      Thanks! There was actually one TV that had been thrown out of the window rock ‘n’ roll style, but I didn’t manage to get a picture of it.

      Reply
  3. Johan says

    4/28/2010 at 7:08 pm

    Hyikyo is so interesting to me. I have seen some abandoned factories when I was younger over here in the states. But most of the time the site was already gutted. You would think that there would be some premo pickings for the poor/homeless to scrounge for or is it frowned upon to take from hyikyo even in a dire situation? Great Pictures Lee, thanks!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/28/2010 at 8:20 pm

      Thanks Johan!

      There were actually signs that people had lived in parts of the hotel at some point in the past. Lots of empty food packets and the like. Something I’ve seen in quite a few haikyo actually. Not nice places by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess they must beat sleeping on the streets…

      Reply
  4. James says

    4/28/2010 at 10:19 pm

    Can’t wait till you start getting pictures of left Iphones in these places.

    Reply
  5. c says

    4/29/2010 at 9:20 pm

    mount asama has always been my favorite. keep up the great work!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/30/2010 at 7:48 pm

      Thanks! Yeah, it’s one of mine too. Possibly the perfect mix of an interesting structure as well a good selection of stuff left behind.

      Reply
  6. Lizzy says

    4/30/2010 at 11:21 pm

    Fantastic. As always. Is that a night-stand with a clock/radio built into it? How fun. ^_^ I’ve always kind of liked the yellow/orange/brown 70’s theme. And you nailed it, that window view is phenomenal.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      5/1/2010 at 11:15 am

      Thanks Lizzy! Yeah, a clock and radio combo, as well as light switches too I think. Obviously very high-tech at the time!

      Reply
  7. Florian says

    5/7/2010 at 12:19 am

    Great sequel, I really like your style of taking pictures!
    Maybe you mentioned it somewhere on your site and I missed it – but what camera / lens do you take your photos with?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      5/7/2010 at 7:58 am

      Thanks a lot Florian.

      Camera-wise I use a Nikon D300, and for my haikyo shots I almost always use the Nikkor 35mm f/2. I flirted briefly with getting a really wide angle, but as it’s the details that really fascinate me, I decided there was no point.

      Reply
  8. Kelliente says

    5/8/2010 at 4:41 am

    Check out that awesome alarm clock radio! What a shame that this place is now destroyed. I’m sure lots of hipsters would’ve loved to stay in a retro place like this.

    Reply
  9. SugarPunk says

    9/1/2010 at 11:18 pm

    Wow – I’m so jealous you got to wander around in these fantastic rooms… love the atmosphere. Must’ve been quite an experience

    Reply

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