I did a lot of walking today. Tobu World Square didn’t open until 9 so I had hours to kill after my 5 am bath. I completed another loop of the town (both sides of the gorge) and paid more attention to relics that weren’t giant empty hotels. Be mindful that I didn’t exactly have to hunt to take these snaps: almost all these structures are on the main road both in and out of town.
According to the sign on the door, the above was a karaoke bar named ‘Cherry’. It can’t have closed too long ago since it’s still in Apple Maps and the price list doesn’t seem to far off what you’d expect today.
The above was also karaoke, although the refuse visible through the door suggests otherwise. I walked up and had a peep inside the windows and it looked like household waste: what people may store in their garage. I don’t know why the door was open or if anyone actually lives here. I doubt it; it was very overgrown.
The above was a dry cleaners. The Venetian blinds are falling apart, the stickers peeling off the windows and – ironically – the curtains dirty and showing signs of mold. I think this one has been gone a while.
I couldn’t tell what this once was, but it’s obviously in disrepair. And yet the pots have what appears to be new flowers growing in them, as if someone tends them. It had a car park big enough for half a dozen cars that now has weeds growing in it. This also doesn’t show up on Apple Maps.
Speaking of which, there’s an abandoned hotel visible from my room window, up on a rise on the other side of the gorge. Last night I noticed a single light on in one high room. Is someone trying to live there?
This was in the driveway of a home that didn’t look abandoned although very well may be since the letter box had no number or name. The car has a license plate but the roof was damaged like something heavy fell on it at some point. The car looked like it was full of something (boxes?) but the windows were too dirty to see clearly.
The above was directly across the street from a still functioning hotel that looked fancier than mine and was receiving busloads of passengers as I walked past. Immediately next door to the overgrown car an elderly gentleman was cutting and trimming bamboo stalks with expertise. I believe he was making decorations for the hotel. I wonder what he or other locals thinks of the abandoned building and car?
A sticker in the window of an abandoned candy shop (based on a rotting sign outside) near the ropeway. I found a website with a history of the Sprite logo and this particular version was replaced in 1974. It’s hard to believe the sticker could be that old. Could it?
There are at least six bridges spanning the gorge in town and I’ve now crossed five of them (the last is a long walk north). The central one seems to have been a focal point for tourism in the towns heyday and as you can see it is now decorated with a large oni (demon) illustration. I was tired even before I started climbing these steps and as I did it felt like I died, was resurrected and almost died again.
The wall adjacent to the staircase is adorned with sculptures of what I presume are Edo-era people. But the strange wizard playing the flute is a puzzle and seems very out of place amidst the townsfolk and samurai and courtesans. Yet another sight that gave this place an eerie quality today.
This was hung up in the office of the ropeway. It’s an advert for a local taxi company, only it’s about four years out of date. And why are some numbers missing? My guess is they were printed in a different colour (red) that has long faded. Why a functioning business still displays this calendar is a question that will never be answered.
A series of red tori gates led to another shrine in advanced disrepair. This was on the main road into town (not far from Tobu World Square) and I surmise someone built this as a tourist attraction. At first glance it was striking, but then I noticed the peeling paint and worm-eaten wood and the discarded pile of now extremely overgrown replacement gates that suggested this endeavor was abandoned many years ago.
Most of the photos above were taken north of my hotel, but after World Square I ventured south and found a very different side of town. The burger I ate (mentioned in my previous post) was at a cute diner-type restaurant in what appears to be a brand new building. There’s a block of recently built houses nearby, a hotel undergoing large-scale renovation and a lovely suspension bridge with (more) wonderful views of the river:
The bridge led into a cedar forest and a split in the path. One direction led to a short walk to a waterfall:
And the other direction led through a cave,
past a sign warning about bears, up a steep incline, past a little shrine and then ended at a flight of steps that led up to… I didn’t know!
I was very tired – it was after dinner and I already had 30k steps under my belt – but I steeled myself and climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more. The stairs were so steep at times I even had to use my hands and as I did visions of fruit platters and monkeys filled my brain. Eventually I made it, and at the top I found a little lookout with views much better than the top of the ropeway:
I could see my hotel, the station, the post office, and various other places I’d been yesterday or today. I paused for a while and noticed on the tips of branches within reach people had tied notes or left ¥5 coins. I wonder why?
Going down the uneven and steep steps was only slightly easier than climbing them had been and by the time I reached the bottom I had decided if a bear turned up he could have me. None did, and I made it back to the bridge in one piece:
All this is only a couple of minutes from my hotel, and I will be going back to the bridge tomorrow night since there’s going to be hanabi – fireworks! – set off right next to the bridge!
I bet the bears will be thrilled 🙂