Abandoned Yashima

Yashima (or 屋島 which probably won't display right) is an imposing plateau to the northeast of Takamatsu, the second largest city on Shikoku, one of Japan's major islands. You can see it in the left-ish middle part of this night view of the city (not my pic):

It is the site of a famous battle of the Genpei War, an awesome war which the Japanese history buffs probably have something to say about. The top of Yashima is home to Yashima Temple, number 84 I think on the 88-Temple Circuit, a famous Shikoku pilgrimage. Nowadays, that is one of the only things drawing visitors to the top of this much-neglected geographical anomaly. The terrifying aquarium is another one, and when it reopens after having undergone much renovation, hordes of kindergarten children and bored parents will surely frequent Yashima once again.

What they walk past on their way to seeing abused seals and a chronically depressed dolphin, though, is really interesting. The top of Yashima had, at one point, upwards of six or so flourishing hotels. My theory is that they were built during Japan's "bubble economy" in the '80s, then fell into disuse as people realized that the view of the rock quarry on the hills opposite the hotels really wasn't all that attractive. Oh, and they'd lost millions of yen on inflated real-estate deals and the like...

I've been up to Yashima a handful of times now and really need to get back and explore the guts of this one hotel properly. I ventured into it a bit with a friend, but she'd forgotten to bring the painter's masks she said she'd bring and there was enough mouse shit and mildewy odors to make me fear for my lungs.

On to the pictures!

The cable car at the bottom shut down two years ago. It is beautiful in its dilapidation.

The alternate routes up are via the beat-up road, or the pilgrim's path. My friend and I chose the latter. We hiked to the top and found the cable car's terminus.

On to the hotels! I will refer to them based on this Google Earth shot of Yashima:

First hotel:

Outside staircase of same:

Second hotel. First shot is looking into the arcade, replete with old consoles:

...and what's this? A way in, perhaps? (We did not break the window):

Third hotel:

character reads "...hotel":

Random little shop, still full of trinkets:

And now for some interior exploration! All of these are of the second hotel:

oooh creepy

Anyone hear that air-raid siren...? No?

HOLY FUCK KILLER BEE. It's on the right side of the screen, thank god:

I love rust:

do you have stairs on your abandoned hotel?

And that, more or less, is that! I will post another thread when I get a chance to go back there and look around inside some more. Hope you enjoyed these pictures :) .

EDIT: so I heard you guys like pictures:

Another shot of the cable car:

STAIRS:

can't remember:

Looking into the lobby of second hotel (covered the glass with my hand to kill the glare; the doors were locked):

Lobby of the third hotel. Front door was WIDE OPEN but also borders on the road that has the most tourists on it, so exploring it wasn't the best idea:

Closed down shop at the BOTTOM of Yashima, as one approaches the cable car access point. That tree pressing against the glass in the middle of the photo? It's growing inside the restaurant:

Another shot of the cable car terminus building:

Fucking basement of the second hotel. PITCH black, this was with my crazy bright flash :gonk: :

To contact Abandoned But Not Forgotten please e-mail us at abnfco@gmail.com with any questions or submissions you may want to contribute to the site.

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