Exploring Japan's Most Amazing Ghost Town

You guys are in for a treat today. You see this tunnel here? I actually just came from this tunnel and while there's no real way for me to show you this in the video without walking the entire thing this is a several kilometer or several mile long tunnel with that single little point there of light at the end being our exit. But this is known as the tunnel of ghosts because if you're quiet enough for long enough it's almost like you can hear voices. You might even be able to hear the echo of my voice coming from up here. But this is not our destination today. It's our starting point. Our destination and the journey there admittedly is much much more exciting. So welcome out to central Japan. Today we're heading to what I might consider to be Japan's most accessible abandoned village. Now this particular abandoned village, we'll go over a lot more of it when we get there, is preceded by a beautiful beautiful walk and I found this one some time ago when I was doing other adventures and exploration and had actually been worried for the longest time that it would already be gone. But if the information I received recently is to be believed it should still be there in great condition. Now this rope here is not for us. You are allowed to visit this village but this rope is to stop cars from coming through because beyond this point the road gets far too narrow for cars. Starting right here before we even get to the village somebody has left an old car here. It's been quite overgrown and honestly by far probably the riskiest parking job I have ever seen in my entire life. In fact it's so risky I can barely get down and show you. I'm curious as to how they got it there. Genuinely genuinely curious as to how they got it there. Now as we go on today there are three things that we need to be careful of. Number one is the least of them, falling rocks. This area has a ton of falling rocks so as I talk I need to also be listening into the trees and up the hills just in case. Number two is animals and as you will likely see as we go along this area has a lot of them. We're talking bears, we're talking boars, monkey. I've never seen any deer out here. They probably exist though and as we go along we will be graced with an increasingly beautiful view along the way. But this walk along the way is really really special which is why I wanted to actually start outside of the village and share the walk with you guys. The drop here is kind of difficult to really gain any true perspective on how far down it is but it's somewhat steep and should you fall off the edge there's a very good chance that you'll end up injured so if you happen to find it come out with caution. Now the third thing, yes I did not forget, that we need to watch out for is looters. You see because of how accessible this particular village is there have been known to be warnings for looters and people out here just to try and steal stuff which again the very first time I found it I knew about this. It was part of the reason that I was worried the whole thing would be torn down by now because when Japan sees something as a problem they tend to then address the problem by just getting rid of the thing that's causing problems. And as you can see here, again this road was not always in this condition so we gotta make a little bit of a jump here. And then we get to really watch our walk around here as a lot of this has given way. If you see this you're probably not at that much risk as they often have iron bars running through the concrete but I still recommend walking the inside track as much as possible. Now why I call this place Japan's most accessible abandoned village is because you can actually reach this abandoned village by station. Most of the places that I come out to you don't have that option. Going out from a station is not in the cards. You need a car and more often than not that car is going to take you along very shady little roads like this where you don't really know what to expect or what's going to happen on the next turn. Also every now and then I want to make sure I'm remembering to look back just because of what a beautiful space this is and the walk in both directions is just spectacular. Now this, like many abandoned villages, has a dam nearby. A very large one. In fact, right over this hill here there's a very good chance we may see one of the boats coming through. But this is the first thing that I wanted to show you. Actually, I don't want to miss the boat so we'll come back to this. Let me see if I can get up here. It should be a beautiful view on a day like today. Oh bugger! This is, see, I don't know if you guys saw that. I gotta be real careful coming out here. I almost stepped on a snake. He had a big orange neck and head. There we go. Okay, so bears, boars, monkeys, and snakes. We'll take extra caution because in here there is a snake. All right, so this here is one of the interesting features of this village. See, it's a transport and cargo system that they use because this village runs all the way up a really steep hill. There are a few things that make this village very interesting. As we get closer I'll share some more about it. But while you would expect the dam to be the usual culprit and reason for abandonment as it is with so many other villages, really this one came down to more than just that. Accessibility is a huge, huge part of it. You see, this set of stairs here, this is the true beginning of our journey. And when we get to the top, you will understand why they installed an entire rail system. The village we're going to has actually existed since the 16th century. And because of the danger of the tree today, you're on my wrist, ready to go. Back up, I'll get here. But as soon as we get here, if you look down at the ground, you can see all the persimmons here to shreds and eaten. So something out here. This is their dining spot right here. Under this tree, they come hang out, they eat the persimmons that are here, the remaining ones. Actually, there's a lot here that looks still very, very fresh. They haven't rotted that much. So it's another one of the reasons why it's always just a little bit safer to do these walks while talking instead of just doing like a silent walk through the area. Because there have been Japanese hikers, for example, who've done like silent walks and climbs. And because they're silent without even a bear bell, there's videos out there of bears attacking them. And right down there, we've got, oops, smacked the mic there, animal droppings. So gotta take extra caution as we proceed forward. Right here as well. I don't know if you can see it down there. But from here, it should start getting steeper and steeper if my memory serves me correctly. And again, making sure I remember every now and then just to turn around and enjoy this spectacular view that we have here. Absolutely love this. Now, by this point, you may have... Oh, now I hear rustling in the leaves. You may have... We'll stomp a little bit, make sure the snakes stay clear. You may have already checked the description box or the pinned comment and been looking, well, where's the name of the village, Norm? Why haven't you put it in, Norm? And over the past couple of years, as both the Tokyo Lens Explorer and Tokyo Lens channels have grown, I have become more and more cautious about sharing the locations of hidden and abandoned villages simply because these are spots that I genuinely enjoy coming back to. And unfortunately, more often than not, I come back after releasing a video and might have mentioned the name of it in the video and find damage done, spray painting of English words, or people leaving little flyers and stuff of like their YouTube channel or many smashed windows, things stolen, such on and so forth. And so, there we go. We're getting closer to the village here. I do not openly and publicly share these exact names and locations anymore. This is meant just to be more of a come enjoy it alongside of me on these walks. People who know how and want to will likely find it anyway, but I don't want to make it easy just for the masses to jump in. There's a view. The stones built up alongside there. The mountain in the background. Just spectacular. Now, as we come up here, we split into two different pathways. Also, as we do this, please keep in mind that at this point, I have an entire playlist of abandoned walkthroughs and kind of hidden places. Oh, I just missed him. Hi, you can see my shadow. We just had a little Yamori lizard there, but you can find a ton of these abandoned walks or entire documentaries on villages that have been abandoned and why and, you know, interviewing the residents and living in the area for a few days. I will link that, you know, description up above at the end everywhere. But here is one of the other starting points of that train system. So, and most amazingly is it's not the only one either. Now, there shouldn't be any power running through at the moment, but we're going to take extra caution as we pass over this. There we go. And we slip back this way because this rail not only comes around here, it actually splits and continues way up the side of the mountain. And there's this almost, almost archaic pulley system here as well. Look at it. Like what else can I say? It's all rusted and old. The box has worn through. One train track ends there and the other one continues up. But when you get up here and you see, like it has to come all the way up here. And then again, it can be a little bit tough to tell just how steep this gets, but that gets incredibly steep to get up there. And the further on we go in this village, the more, let's say, beautiful surprises you're in for. Now, village built in the 16th century was abandoned slowly. It was a process. It wasn't like everybody just left at once because something happened. It was bit by bit. Residents found themselves moving out and not returning. And same old story. The houses tend to be expensive to move everything out of. And so a lot just got left behind the way you see here. I believe most of these should be locked up as well. Oh, that was just been sealed off on an old Japanese toilet here. And in an area with this many animals, I'm always just a little extra cautious about opening doors and peeking inside. You have the toilet area in there. Just because you never know what's going to be utilizing that as a nest or a home. And you don't want something jumping out at you. And like, look at this. It's like shantytown style. Just tin panels here to create the walls of this shed here. It's just a shed really. What more do you need? That old chainsaw has been and is completely collapsed inside. But again, there's still quite a bit left behind. You get tools down over here, old buckets and baskets, we've got tires, chicken wire in the back, old barrels. The last resident to leave here left in 2015. Now we will be going down this way because there's more to check out over here. So let's start with that. Because actually, up this way, there's a little bit of a special surprise I want to save for a bit later on. These stairs are a little bit slippery and steep, so I'm trying to proceed with as much caution as possible. For example, this gate here is completely shut. I don't respect the shut gate. I'll leave it as is. This moment has been preserved exactly as it is. We will leave it like that. No need to go past the gate. And then come over this way here. But the way everything is built up a hill with the number of earthquakes that Japan has always has its own risk. But clearly it's built well because it has survived. And we have a ton of old tools in here. A ton of farming tools. Sai and Kama. Big old battery there. It's not really an old tool. It's just a battery. And yes, I said tool weird. So far we've been lucky on the animal front, aside from the one snake. And this door does look like it opens. So we'll take a quick peek inside. Again, while proceeding with caution in here. Hopefully... Wow. Okay. That has just completely collapsed there. These are the spaces where we're most likely to run into looters or animals. So we're going to proceed slowly and with as much caution as we can. There we go. Just a whole living room set up here. Something seems like it was nesting over there, which again is just one more reason to be cautious. A CRT there. Classic old phone here. And a tatami room in there. I don't want to be going up on the tatami because we don't know how well those floors are supported. And it seems there was also an attic area up here. But again, so much is left behind. And when you're just using that little rail to take things back and forth, it was probably hard enough to get things in here to begin with. So going through the extra work of taking them back down is quite a struggle. And there's the bath in here. And then in here, there's an indoor toilet. Old Japanese style. Again, for all the places that we've been, I do my best to respect the space. Closed doors that were open. We found and shared a village a couple months back that actually has a society of people or had a society of people trying to preserve it. So they actually encourage people to come out. But for the most part, there we go. There. I think that's as close as we're gonna get. We're good. We're good. For the most part, as long as you are respectful and you are not going in and taking or smashing things or doing damage, I gotta remember to stop as we go along. And you do not go past any locks and do not enter anything that says tachi-iri kinshi. Do not enter. If you follow those rules, then generally in Japan, you're okay to explore these places. But you still need to do so with common sense. And as safe as Japan is, a reasonable sense of caution and understanding that not everybody is safe and good comes with the territory. And you get a lot of people who are like, oh, it's Japan. You're never gonna run into any problems. But Japan still has humans. And so you come out to places like this, being prepared, making sure that your location is shared or updated, etc. is not necessarily a bad idea. And the last time I came here, I cannot remember if I went down this path, but I know there are more dwellings down this way. It's kind of coming back to me, maybe. We are definitely in the Star Wars universe right now with this lack of railings going on. And we proceed each step with caution. Make sure we actually have our footing before moving forward. Because you never know when. So there's a rope here. So I'm going to assume that there's again, there's a rope, there's no tachi iri kinshi. So I'm gonna assume that that means it doesn't want us entering any of these. Because it has all the doors and windows boarded up on this one, as well. And it also has a collapsed building back here. And it continues on back down this way. More homes and sheds. And again, it's really difficult to show the perspective on this. But that goes down quite some quite a ways. So safe footing is essential. But there's at least one very special point or surprise in this village that I love. And I think you're gonna love too. And really want to show you. Seems like. But yeah, they do not want anybody entering this property. Probably because of the danger aspect of structurally sound. And so we will head back this way. Remembering every now and then I got to remind myself to stomp as I go along. So that this also might be part of it. In case at any point, power is running through. Again, there are very clear signs that will typically be given in Japan. Like, tachi iri kinshi. Do not enter. Locks and gates. There you go. Just pylons and ropes. Tend to be more guides. But obviously that kind of read the atmosphere as well, right? Like if you see a rope and a pylon and all that, use your brain. Think of why it might be there and take extra caution. Look around at what's going on. If it's like, you know, an orange and black rope and it's zigzagged across, clearly they do not want you going in. So don't. But coming up this way. I think I've showed the majority of the main points of this village. But it's still amazing to me just how many of these there are. But also the speed at which they're starting to get packed up and disappear is a little bit concerning as well. You see, a lot of places are starting to have, for example, corporations buying out the land. And I can't remember if I've been up there. I'm very distracted because I see this stairway up here and I can't remember if I've been up there. But I've promised you guys the beautiful surprise. So we're going to go this way. And I will show you that first because I personally don't want to wait anymore. And there is that collapsed roof from the other angle. What an angle that is, too. What an absolute view. All right. So we've got a rail system here. But this beautiful set of stairs leads to a torii gate and shrine right here in the abandoned village. And if I had to count among the top 20 most beautiful torii gate and shrine presentations I've been to in Japan, this would definitely make that list. Just because considering that nobody has been out maintaining this place for the better part of a decade, it's just they definitely chose the right materials. And it's beautifully, beautifully made. It feels large and almost even extravagant considering the location, the amount of work that it would have taken just to get up here and get it installed. It would have taken a lot. And if it's locked, we leave it. You can take a peek inside. I will not enter. You've got a taiko drum there. What an absolutely tremendous shrine space for such a tiny little village just tucked on the side of a mountain. It feels, well, I lose my English sometimes. I want to say goka. But luxurious doesn't really feel like the right word. It feels also lush and special doesn't feel right. I can't find the right words. My English escapes me. And remember our friend the pulley system? Well, it comes all the way up here as well. I feel like a lot of this had to be made. And again, to give you an idea of how steep this is, I don't know how well you can see this, but down here, down there is where that track system or I was able to show you the second set of tracks starting. And we've come all the way up and it's a very, very steep climb, but this system here continues to go up. It seems mounted to a tree trunk up there. And the stop point for this looks like it was right about here. So there's a very good chance that this was for the shrine, but I see another building up here and we should be able to access it. So we're going to head down this way. Every single time I come out to an abandoned village where they've managed to build it up the side of the mountain like this, and you stop and think of, you look at it and you take it for granted, really. Just look at what's here and think of the pathways we took to get here. Think of that for a second. Somebody needed to bring all of that up. Rocks may have been collected from somewhere in the area, but the wood and everything had to be brought up and somebody had to use their time to build this. Was it one person? Was it five? Was it 10? How long did it take? Was it a couple weeks? Was it a few days? A month? Was it several months? The questions continue on. And there's a set of stairway that leads up to yet another house there. But I feel like we have a bit of a camel-no-michi style mountain path here that should take us up to the building over there, provided we don't fall along the way like whatever tree was originally here. Okay, getting closer. Again, with everything brown as we approach fall, it's considerably harder to keep our eye out for snakes and whatnot. This is steeper than it looks. Oh, can we make it? Can we make it? There we go. Wow, there we go. And again, this, all the way up here, shrine space. Gorgeous, gorgeous shrine space. Properly close that, come down this way. This one doesn't seem to want to slide as well as it once did. Take a peek through like this. Marvelous is the word we will use. And incredibly, as I look now, I see a black power line that just runs up. It's literally just laying down through the forest. And that may lead to power lines up there, or may lead to another home or settlement up there. But we are very high up the side of this hill now. The only thing being that with the trees blocking us, it's a little tricky to grab a view of just how high we have climbed up. We'll go down this way, double check that there's nothing around that corner, and then see if we can't safely make our way back down. But if you have watched any number of the abandoned content on Tokyo Lens Explorer, or Tokyo Lens, are there any that have stood out the most to you? Oh, that's sad. I know this is kind of an international thing, but to come out here to such a beautiful space and see so much garbage dumped down the side of the mountain, which again, for perspective, it's that steep, is... Japan has a real dumping problem. But again, not unique to Japan whatsoever. But if you had one abandoned space that kind of stuck with you, and I ask because I had the opportunity to meet somebody a few weeks back, who said that I'd made this a piece about an abandoned village a few years back. And he's like, I've never been there, I really want to go there, because ever since you made that, that space, that place stuck in my mind. It felt like a place out of a dream. And I totally understood where he was coming from on that, because before I had actually visited there, I felt very much the same. I thought, this is a place that I've got to go check out. And after one visit, I found myself going back again, and again, and again. And one of the things about creating and sharing content is that you run the risk of feeling like the camera 100% always needs to be on, or it didn't happen. And to avoid getting sucked into that trap, I try to find my own enjoyment and take moments on road trips, for example, where I'll just go and visit or revisit places that I have always loved, or that I found years ago. There is an abandoned village in Chichibu, for example, that I have probably been to upwards of 20 times. And unfortunate to say, it's a little bit different each time. Also, if you have vertigo, watch out for this next section, because going down these steps is going to be... at least they're dry. That's all you can really ask for. But there we are. I did a 1 million seconds traveling Japan, where we did a Tokyo Lens Explore video or live stream every single day on the Explore channel. And during that, I think the very first day we found a gorgeous shrine in Wakayama. And that particular shrine had a set of stairs just as steep as this that were soaking wet. I genuinely don't get super nervous or scared when shooting. Proceed with caution for the most part, you're fine. But holy, coming down those, was I afraid and worried that I was actually going to slip and just bite it right there on camera, my final moments, because we are high up on a steep set of stairs. So there's one last house here. And I would not be able to forgive myself if we didn't hit every single... you can't hit most of the houses in the village and just leave one. If anything, it feels rude. So we're going to make our way up here to the last house. And then hopefully, it started to cloud over here in the mountains, which I don't mind because it was very, very hot. Oh boy, found another little staircase here as well. But for now, we'll come this way. There we go. I guess that this is going to be locked. Also, it's like a wasp or something. Climbing into that faucet. This gives us absolutely gorgeous view. Definitely don't want to be stepping onto this. It is all rotted and worn through. And I don't know if you saw the bee bounce off my forehead. It's cool. Just like give me a headbutt. I think that's his way of saying what's up at the barge coming through. Okay, likely just leads up to that rock and the last little bit of shrine that we were just at right up there. But again, no half measures. And as we go through this, gotta be extra careful. Because while this looks totally normal, these are very thorny. And we'll stab you in the back as you duck under them. There we go. Coming up these stairs here. This last little space. Again, somebody built this space. So I built this out. This is all intentional. And while now it just looks like a pile of rocks and one giant rock, at one point this was something. And considering everything that we've had the chance to look at and see today, from the tunnel to the walk here, the roadways, all the structures, the shrine, even the little trolley that brings things up and down. This is a beautiful piece of history that could be here for another 50 years or could get torn down at any time. Each one of the trolley things comes up to the homes. This is the only abandoned village I know of so far, by the way, that has implemented one of these systems. And I absolutely love it. I really wonder how much it cost. But we're lucky to be able to see all this, experience all of it, for me to be able to share it with you, look out over the mountains with a boat coming through. This is a good day. I hope that this has done something to brighten your day as much as this walk has brightened mine. Honestly, thank you so much for joining today. I would love to see you in the comments. If you're new, please hit that subscribe button, and we'll see you again real soon.