We like to imagine Japan as a clean and technologically savvy society. Yet, little known to the outside world is a burgeoning subculture of visiting abandoned factories, mines, theme parks, and resorts that have been left behind by Japan’s bubble economy or the so-called “Lost Decade” of the 1990s. How do we make sense of this “haikyo mania” (ruin mania) practiced by Japanese ruins aficionados? My book chapter, “Japan Lost and
This past January, the 80-year old Jinno-san was evicted by the government for the second time in his life. He moved into this apartment in central Tokyo five decades ago in order to make way for the construction of the main Olympic Stadium for the 1964 Games. Yet, in order to build the new stadium for the 2020 Olympic Games, the entire 1964 resettlement neighborhood, along with Jinno-san’s old home
Here are some images about the manufacturing of military spectacle ahead of China’s V-Day military parade. Hidden in the mountains of Hebei is this defunct PLA military base that has recently been turned into movie props for an anti-Japanese propaganda film. The site, which contains fake war ruins as well as real military ruins, is now a post-production ruin.