I took these photos back on the 23rd, more than a week ago. I was on my way back to the lab when I saw a parade of school clubs from the nearby Waseda High School (which is separated to Junior and Senior high, I assume the ones I saw were from Junior High)
Not something you'll see everyday, so I whipped out my phone and started snapping.
My impression of Japanese high schools and their clubs come solely from the fictional depictions seen in video games, anime, manga, movies and J-doramas I grew up with, so I was more than a little amused to actually see them in the flesh.
Marc Saint-Cyr (you can check out his blog here) had posted a review of KINGYO on Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow. (one of my favourite blogs on J-films! I gave them a nearly-completed version of the film for the 1st anniversary celebration party they held last week)
Here's an excerpt.
What especially makes "Kingyo" a success is how its experimentation never reduces it to a chilly or pretentious aesthetic exercise, but instead remains constantly in service to its characters and their emotional states. Often, the professor and the young woman will inhabit the same space, yet they are nonetheless isolated through the split screen. There is also the scene on a bridge overlooking Akihabara, with special attention given to the two characters’ hands resting close to each other on a railing. Through such moments in the film, Yeo clearly focuses on the distance that can grow between two people, be it in the case of the man and his wife or him and his mistress.
This is us making our way towards an unknown destination.
And finding an empty pipe / generator room.
But there wasn't anything much, so we left.
The lady friend who accompanied us also had some cool photos... of me.
Like this one, where I, once again, sat upon the throne of Hotel Royal. (Actually, this was the original photo, seeing that it looked so awesome, I asked Lia to take another one with my camera)
This conversation really occurred when Niklas and I were peering into the seemingly bottomless hole of the last ruin we went to. (the one that was once hotel but then a guest set it on fire, destroying part of the building, and causing the debt-ridden owners to hang themselves in the hotel as well)
Me: What could be in the hole?
Niklas: Water.
Me: Wait, I see something down there. (leans forward) It's moving. What could it be? I can't make out its shape.
(Sorry that I've been tweaking with this blog post that much, had to constantly alter some info to protect some identity of some people.)
Ruins of buildings and abandoned places, known as 廃墟 haikyo in Japanese, are ripe for exploration and photography among enthusiasts. There are many blogs and websites dedicated to them, books published as well. Tokyo Times, for example, has a lot of wonderful photos of these tragic, lonely places.
Early this morning, Niklas, me and a mysterious lady friend embarked upon our own ruins-exploring adventure, which, come to think of it, is almost like treasure-hunting in a console role-playing game, but without the treasure, or leveling up. We headed off to Sagamiko, a town at the Kanagawa Prefecture, the train ride lasts an hour from our place.
We arrived at Sagamiko station at around ten.
This is presumably the main street of Sagamiko.
The architecture looks somewhat different from what I used to see in Tokyo.
This is a bakery.
We ended up having our breakfast in this restaurant. It is operated by an elderly couple.
The ramen felt like home-cooked food, a rarity in most restaurants, and it was only 600 yen, which is even rarer.
Before we continued our journey, we took photos of these fish statues.
We walked past a few houses.
One had a nice statue outside.
The walk lasted nearly 20 minutes. Niklas saw these by the road and wondered how many more mirrors do they need.
One of our destinations is Hotel Royal, the entire bloody hotel was abandoned many years ago.
It's for sale too.
There were many rubbish lying outside the hotel.
Including a nice sofa.
And a bicycle.
As tempting it was to enter the place, I myself have seen many sites where explorers managed to get in and snap numerous interesting photos of its interior, furniture remained, the beds were still in the bedrooms, there were still videotapes meant for its guests. VHS? Old-school! However, a sticker warned us that it is actually protected by security alarms and camera. We went to have a look and it was true. So future explorers may not be so lucky.
Hotel Royal, if you haven't figured by now, was a love hotel, unfortunately, despite the garish decoration that remained outside, it is but a mockery of its former self.
We continued our way and saw a poor rice cooker and microwave lying by the road.
I wondered whether it was from Hotel Royal.
This looked like a Dali painting.
After a few moments of walking, when ourselves at the opposite side of the Lake Sagami-ko, an artificial lake constructed in the 40s. We could still see Hotel Royal.
Even though we were walking through residential areas, there were still abandoned artifacts lying about. Like this house.
Or this car.
I'm sure no one's still driving it.
There was also what looked like an abandoned warehouse.
Which looked very interesting from the inside. Like how the windows were covered by moss.
Now, in order to prevent misconception that the whole area's a bummer of a place scattered with ruined buildings, I'll show you that there are still some quiet, elegant beauty. Tokyo felt so far away.
I wondered whether these cars were dumped aside, or whether it was a creative attempt to hide them from car thieves.
The second destination of our exploring expedition was a 'cursed' hotel that was recently demolished. Its tale was a sad and tragic one. A hotel guest set the place on fire to kill himself and took down parts of the hotel. The owners, debt-ridden, and desperate by the damage caused, hung themselves in the hotel as well.
After the demolition, only the lower floors remained. These stairs here led us into the ruins.
Dilapidated and broken down, yet the windows remained, and the breathtaking scenery. It was a good spot to watch the scenery of the lake from.
The rest of it was fascinating.
Because of its cursed past, I doubt there will be any attempts to preserve its memories. So it's probably going to be left here to rot.
The elevators were filled up with rocks.
The sense of adventure and exploration was exciting and thrilling, yet I cannot help but feel a little melancholic about this place.
Blue?
We went down to a lower floor.
Some wallpapers were still there, peeling off, and streaks of paint running down, as if the walls were weeping, oh, how melodramatically melancholic!
We left the ruins after that.
And ended up at Fujino Station. Seeing myself in the reflection, I couldn't resist the temptation of snapping another self-portrait.
UPDATED (April, 2012)
It's funny to reread this article again. It's been nearly three years since I first went to the ruins at Sagamiko in May 2009. I revisited it a few times since then.
In late December 2009, I managed to shoot one of my short films, EXHALATION, at the ruins. You'll be able to see the place in two of the film's trailers.
The last time I went there was perhaps the summer of 2010. Gripped by a wave of nostalgia and sudden depression, I returned to the ruins alone, taking photos and videos of it. I was never able to upload them, I think I lost my materials when my computer got formatted. I sometimes wondered how long would this place remain? Or is it already gone?
![[kingyo] A nocturnal conversation at the carpark](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3393/3317502597_1a46cbc849.jpg)
