In the 1980s the Japanese economy was the strongest in the world. Most families had lots of money and corporations had more than they could even spend. This triggered a real estate investment boom, which lasted until the ‘bubble burst’ in the 1990s.
Due to local sources of hot spring water, onsen resorts have been built in Kinugawa for over 100 years. In the 1970s and 1980s the town experienced explosive growth and the edge of the scenic river that runs through the town became encrusted with massive hotels built to fuel a boom in tourism and corporate travel. By the late 1990s with the downturn in the economy many of the hotels were in trouble, and by the mid 2000s when local banks went bankrupt about half of the hotels – including the largest ones – were abandoned. This dealt Kinugawa a blow from which it is still trying to recover.
I had no idea of the above until I did some research for this post. I assumed Kinugawa would be quaint and perhaps catered more to the elderly. I didn’t expect ruins and the strange sense of unease over the town.
My hotel room is very old, probably older than me. It lacks most of the basics of a typical Japanese room, but it’s very large, has good AC and a TV with more channels than my Asakusa room had! I booked it for the – admittedly incredible – river view, and even as I write this I’m at one of those chairs looking out the window. This is part of an annex to a much larger hotel, and the rooms in the full hotel are giant Japanese-style suites that cost much more than the approximately $65 I’m paying a night.
When I arrived I quickly checked in and headed out to visit a certain bridge I’d identified about half an hour up the gorge. Very quickly I started noticing how dead everything was. Many buildings were empty or even in advanced disrepair, and a coat of rust seemed to coat everything. A roadside shrine was unkempt and also apparently abandoned, which I’d never seen before. Some old shops had signs in their windows that looked like they’d been there for decades.
The above statue is in a city park with grass almost knee-high that almost certainly hasn’t been mowed this year. You can see how green and lush everything is, but what the photos don’t show is how humid and hot it was. I sweated a lot even though it wasn’t a particularly strenuous walk.
Eventually I reached my destination: a great suspended bridge spanning the gorge that contains the Kinugawa (it means ‘angry demon’) river. You can see how rusted the bridge is in the photo, and many of the wooden boards had seen better days as well. It bounced as I crossed, but the views were extraordinary!
That’s looking north. That giant hotel? Abandoned for over two decades now.
And that’s looking south. All the hotels on the east side of the river (left of the photo)? All abandoned as well. Far below the river surged powerfully. Even amidst the disrepair the views were breathtaking.
The road goes right past the entrances to these eerie structures, and the above is a photo of the main entrance to one of them. The ruined signs list the name of the hotel and a restaurant. How long since any customers checked in here?
Most of these buildings are very poorly secured, and I could have easily walked right in. Some brave souls do, and Kinugawa is apparently considered one of the best places on earth to explore ruined structures. The internet is full of creepy photos of the interiors of these places. Some weren’t even stripped of contents when abandoned, and have furniture and equipment like computers or even video games!
One ruined hotel had kappa paintings on the fascade, which made it even creepier. I read online that this particular hotel has a flooded lower level due to the hot spring it is built over. The local government is concerned about some of these buildings falling into the river, but they don’t have the money to demolish them.
It’s not just the hotels. Obviously with the main businesses gone the support economy was also gutted and the road is full of failed businesses and empty homes. Rust and weeds are everywhere. It’s likely being on a completely different planet compared to Tokyo! I read Kinugawa has been nominated as one of the ugliest places in Japan, but to be honest I’m finding it so surreal it has an appeal of its own.
It’s worth mentioning I barely saw a single other human in my walk, and very little traffic. There are weird statues all over town as well. The above was erected in 1975. Every now and then I saw a home that appeared newly built, which stood out amidst the decay.
I came to a foot bath, which is a mini hot spring you can sit at to bath your feet. The water was almost painfully hot and reddened my feet quickly. There was an elderly couple sitting behind me. Were they tourists like myself? Most of the locals I had seen were much older than me.
I had looped around and was nearly back to the hotel, which itself is very close to the station. For all the ruin there’s still life here, and indeed the remaining hotels are working hard to preserve the resort aspect. Most of them are large and have big tour busses parked outside, and as I checked into mine a group of two dozen or so elderly Japanese were checking in. Mine also has ‘fancy’ restaurants that serve only traditional Japanese food, which meant I had to stop at a remarkably well-stocked 7-11 for a dinner more to my taste:
It was finally time for the hot spring, which of course is the principle reason I’m here in the first place! I didn’t really know what to do and the staff speak virtually no English so I was happy to find a guide on a tablet at checkin:
It’s very incomplete, and I had to look up the basics of how to put on a yukata and the protocol of using the spring. Nudity is of course required, but I didn’t wear my glasses so the modesty of the other men (there were about a half dozen others) was preserved!
My hotel has six springs, and they cycle them periodically between the genders, so each have three available at a time. Of course you can’t bring a camera in, so the above photo of the outdoor spring I spent most of my time in is taken from their website. The water is hotter than I’d run my bath but not too hot, and the experience was exquisite. The springs are large and could easily accommodate dozens of people. The outdoor one has a few nooks and crannies for privacy although strangely none of the other men came outside so I had it to myself.
I put my head back and listened to the river and some birds and was in heaven. I had a good soak until I started feeling faint 🙂
For many guests I imagine a stay here means soaking in the onsen and eating fine food without leaving the hotel, and I say that’s perfectly fine. I’ve got a few other things I’d like to see in the area (tomorrows post should be a good one…), but I’ll absolutely be taking advantage of these hot springs more than once a day!
Lastly, of course I have to include the above photos that show the long arm of the otaku anime industry even extends to this forgotten town. On the left is ‘Kinugawa Onsen’ train girl that greets you at the station, and on the right is this very hotel’s ‘Onsen Girl’. They even sell souvenirs of her! Even here you can’t avoid anime girls 🙂
