I do not have anywhere near the in-depth knowledge of Japan from before 2000 that I do of the States as I spent only a little time in the country before then. I am also not native to the land. Nevertheless, I have seen decay here. Much of it predates my arrival here but was only much more recently discovered by myself.
If you come to Japan as a tourist, you are more likely to experience the ultra new and the well maintained ancient and little else. Shitamachi, home of Tokyo’s tradesmen and their families offers little for the foreign tourist. Even before the panic, as I walked this area of Tokyo, it was rare to see another gaijin and when I did, it was either a student who was living in the far less expensive, small and old apartments found here or other gaijin employees who were unable to find a better place that allowed non Japanese to rent. Likewise, areas outside any of the big cities are or were usually not realistic destinations or pass through areas for most overseas tourists. Some did and still do take the unbeaten track, but these are few in number.
Living in and near Tokyo for most of my adult life, I have seen glimpses of decay but it was not until I ventured far a field for work and then leisure that I began to understand the massive extent of the decline of Japan’s population, society and culture. One sight that first brought this home is seen in these two photos taken in 2011 from Gifu Station train platform. This was a long time ago and it has perhaps been rebuilt and now is brand new, but if so, where did the money come from? Where did the residents go?
Notice the improvised roofing of tarps a weights. Very common sight on older buildings throughout Japan.
Sagging roof and rusted corrugated tin covering wood (most likely rotten, hence the covering.) of the house in the center.
For a couple of years, the university kendo club I practiced with took a train to their yearly “camp” location before switching to highway bus. The train line was a single track with sidings at a few stations to allow for simultaneous two directional rail traffic. The area in front of the station offered nothing for a guest; no coffee house, no restaurants, not even a convenience store. There were vending machines from a bygone era that despite being rusted still worked, much to our surprise. All the stores, restaurants and shops that the boarded up buildings once hosted had long since gone under, judging from the weathered condition of the boards themselves.
Large vans from the gashuku (Think “summer camp” for all varieties of activities, sports to study) place picked us up. The lodgings were old but clean and maintained well enough. The gym where we practiced was certainly showing its age. I have been in quite a few gyms in the States, none were quite in need for a new coat of paint as this one. The tennis courts were unusable, their surfaces cracked and crumbling and one poll for the net bent. The town, homes, stores and other practice grounds were a mix of old but maintained, vacant but somewhat maintained to derelict, both ancient and not all that old, and a few newly built sprinkled throughout.
I have seen similar in resort areas near Tokyo, Karuizawa and Nasu the two areas that are most familiar. In both places, interspersed there are both brand new, newly remodeled, seasoned but well maintained and out of business restaurants, stores, and lodgings. Right next to a immaculately designed coffee house and cafe with carefully tended grounds will be what was once an equally nice building that has been neglected for so long that restoring it is out of the question, an eyesore.
So too it is with besso, second or summer houses. During the bubble economy era, with the baby boomers being sent off to cram school camp, kendo camp, tennis camp and the like in the summer, and large families escaping the heat of the city to the cooler resort areas in the wooded mountains a relatively short drive to their summer homes or employer owned lodges, the various business and industries that catered to them prospered. But the bubble popped, the population crashed leaving the empty hulks of once grand lodges, restaurants, gashuku camps and lodgings littering the landscape, often blighting what would otherwise be idyllic.
Above: A store hose with a sagging roof.
This is an extremely common sight along the main streets of old towns around Kanto. This was once a shop/home. The front was the store and the living quarters in the back and second floor, as with the two to the right of this empty home. One of the shutters on the second floor has fallen in allowing the weather in. Will not take long after a few good rain storms to cause massive structural damage.
Starts small, but after a typhoon our two, the walls and floor will start to rot.
Here we see one building currently being restored, (on the extreme left) with a recently restored one next to it. Those beyond are in need of attention soon, or they will be lost.
The damage to the righty upper wall is letting the rain in. We see that much of the lower wall has been degraded and corrugated tin used to patch it.
For every one maintained old building of this type I see, I see dozens and dozens in this condition or worse. The eave has pulled away from the wall which has lost much of its outer layer of dried mud. Not a guaranteed loss but needs attention before much longer.
Two stores here. The one on the right long since out of business and possibly not lot lived in. The one on the left is both still open and lived in, but needs some work if it is to last much longer than the current occupants, most likely and elderly couple.
Physical collapse of a business need not equal the collapse of the business, at least not in this case. Doubt this can be saved, but I am not an expert.
Another view.
This is a museum. Buildings were obviously built must sturdier in the past. Earthquakes and typhoons do a lot a damage yet, they still remain standing….sort of.
This is in Kamakura, behind a large, ancient and famous temple in that city. I wonder if it was once part of the temple complex. With the scaffolding, I wonder too if there were once hopes to save it.
Ancient home with roof caved in.
This is a now long vacant commercial building in Kamakura. Even before the panic and its destructive damage to tourism this city had seen many business close due to the sinking economy. Many of the places I have visited or patronized were gone when I took my eldest there for their first visit in 2019.
This is a famous spot in the Yanaka area of Tokyo. I took this photo on an Eki Kara hike that directed us through here. Roof patched with corrugated tin and the building next to it with a roof needing attention. How much longer can this remain? Will the children of the family want to take it over once the father retires? Will they be able to if they want to?
The decay is deeper. Over the past few years there have been a number of news stories on shrinking and disappearing villages, towns and cities. A full 14% of private homes in the country are reported as unoccupied. Here is one down the street from my home.
The tissue paper shoji and the blinds have deteriorated. How long does it take for that to happen?
The mini van and motorbike that is mostly obscured to its left are covered with years of dust. With the windshield wipers up as the Japanese like to do with their vehicles, it looks as if the family left for work one day years ago and just didn’t return. In truth, I am expecting that when the police eventually enter, they’ll find skeletal remains of the old person left alone therein or worse, of multiple family members. But then again, this is a common sight around my city and Tokyo. To the right of the property is a small run down vacant apartment building.
The home above is just down the street from my home on one of the ancient Kaido or highways of old Japan. This is more what we see in town, homes that look as if occupants left in the morning one day with the intent to return but never did. In the 18 years I lived in my current home, many others just like this once stood but have been slowly replaced mostly with hourly parking lots for just a few cars. One lot now houses a small apartment building. Here are some in town that I caught before their destruction.
The red building has since been torn down and replaced with a parking lot, destroying the classic look of the neighborhood. Between it and the home on the fight is a gate that leads to a driveway to what must have been a grand homestead judging from the tops of the brick building and the roof lines I can see a over the brick wall and the through the thick foliage. Sadly, the roofs are covered in tarps, so I doubt this will last too much longer. The building in the right was once used as the staging point for their chokai’s mikoshi for the up coming matsuri. I have not seen it open for many years now. My guess is that the elderly members of the family are in the hospital, nursing home or have departed and their offspring living elsewhere for work.
Two views (above) of the Taisho era (I’m guessing) building clad in copper sheeting on the corner and its neighbors. Before it was torn down the corner by the tree collapsed exposing its interior. It remained thus for quite some time. The older style house on the left is still extant, I believe, but I think the yellow brown building between them is also gone.
I loved this little store, long since out of business, with attached house. Despite its state of disrepair, it was lived in until shortly before it was torn down, perhaps right up until then.
I spent much of the last two days trying to track down the many photos I have taken of classic architecture in Japan, both well kept and collapsing. Sadly I found only a few of these and not the one I was really wanting to share. Further down this street, the one I live on, was a quaint example of what was once almost universally seen throughout Japan; two stores with attached homes behind them with an alley leading back to another home behind them. I have seen this arrangement in movies and black and white photos and in exceptionally well preserved portions of old cities like Kawagoe, Sawara, Tochigi and others, which is why I photographed it. Faded signage for Coca Cola, tobacco and one or more domestic beer brewers still hung on its wall or from the awning when I first moved here. Over the 18 years here, I marveled and then was horrified by the fact that despite it being derelict, the front light came on every night. Horrified because the building still had power even after they roof and then the walls of the back rooms of the structure collapsed. I expected it to be the cause of a fire. Thankfully, it didn’t catch alight but before it was torn down recently, the abandoned store/home across the alley was, which destroyed the the atmosphere of this little gem from the past. Then this half collapsed building finally met its end early this year or late last year.
This grouping of three homes, the two on the Kaido having stores really captured my imagination. I have shared earlier that with my interest in history, old photographs and clothing, I have at rare times felt as if transported back in time. The store did so to me every time I passed it. As if a memory, I could see it in it former glory (imagined), well lit up serving many customers who as cars of the 60s drove past. I must have seen a move or photo of a similar store on a street curved in similar fashion at one point and this reminded me of it. I was and remain truly sad to see it gone. The house to the rear still stands, abandoned.
With the exception of this last described building’s destruction and the photos of the abandoned home near mine, all this was pre Covid, though the home near mine has long been empty of human habitation, I took they photos in the last few days. Covid has accelerated this trend to a degree not yet realized, but it has been going on for generations.
All photos by the author and are copyrighted.
The following Instagram Accounts feature photos of older buildings in Japan including depictions of urban decay in Japan.
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Sad!
Have you watched anime? The frequently dilapidated old houses aren't frequently featured without reason; it's what happens when people can more easily reach "higher quality", those left behind crumble to dust.
Even more so now with those vile ebikes everywhere.
Have you been to southern Osaka, more specifically south of Yamato river? Would be interesting to hear your viewpoint on that area.
Then there's of course the Japanese turning their culture into a carnival ride; clown cars included!