Imari Factory

My, its been a while.

Of course, this is due an excess of pictures and info that I need to post.

This past weekend I did quite a bit. It all started out with CJ (an ALT who lives on Ikitsuki) calling me up at 4:30am on a Saturday morning. We had decided that we would go check out an abandoned factory on the Imari-Matsuura border. We met up a little after 5:00 at the Family Mart, ate some breakfast, and heading out of the building.

I won't lie. We decided to go early so we would have the cover of darkness. We weren't sure if it was illegal to be poking around, but we didn't want to take any chances. Once on the grounds, the sun would come up, and we would be able to investigate our surroundings more thoroughly.

After a quick slip under some haphazard barbed wire, we headed into the main warehouse area. The building was old and had been abandoned for some time, because most of the ceiling was gone and you could see up to the second floor. We were comforted by the fact that it was hard ground beneath out feet and not some creaky floor. As big as the place looked from the outside, there was only a very small portion that was walkable. The rest was completely overgrown with trees and vines. After wandering around the inside and the perimeter a bit,the sun began to rise, and I began to take pictures. I brought a small backpacking tripod and a shutter release cable, knowing that most shots would be low light, and require as such.

After closer inspection of the place, we decided that the building probably had frequent visitors due to the worn pathways through the foliage. We also found a much easier way to get in which involved us simply walking through an opening in the fence. I'm guessing that the building was built sometime in the 1930's (if Japanese industrial architecture is anything like American architecture). I have no idea when it was deserted, though. By the amount of growth in the place I would have to say at least 20 years, although I feel like I'm pretty bad at that kind of guesswork.

Below are the fruits of my labor. We scooted out around 8:30am, and took a drive around the countryside at early morning (which was beautiful) and then headed over to Jill's house which was nearby. (We planned on taking a nap because we were all going to CJ's island that night, but we just ended up watching "The Thomas Crowne Affair" and eating chocolate chip pancakes).