Abandoned Kansai in Hokkaido… Who would have thought that? Up till now I never made it further east than the center of Japan’s main island Honshu. I limited myself to the western half of Japan, because that was the reason I started this blog. Heck, initially I wanted to limit myself to the Kansai region; hence “Abandoned Kansai”, not “Abandoned Japan” or “Abandoned West Japan”. But then the “once in a while” hobby urban exploration turned into a regular thing and only weeks later I went to different regions, then to different islands – and in spring of 2012 I did a *haikyo trip to Okinawa* together with my urbex buddy *Michael Gakuran*. “What’s next?” was the big question, and the answer was found quickly – we already explored Japan’s most western prefecture, so we kind of had to explore Japan’s most eastern prefecture, Hokkaido!
Usually I plan my urbex trips on short notice. One time I brought my urbex equipment to work on Friday to see how I feel during the day, booked a hotel in the afternoon and left for a weekend trip right after work. Flexibility like that is impossible when partnering up for a long distance trip, so Michael and I booked plane tickets weeks ahead – and according to the weather forecast we ended up with a rainy weekend; a long weekend even, to which we added some days. Luckily the forecast was as reliable as always in Japan and so 4 out of my 5 days in Hokkaido were sunny and slightly snowy, only the last one came with 8° Celsius and rain.
Since I arrived almost a day earlier than Michael the original plan for me was to do some sightseeing in Sapporo. To my surprise the weather was sunny to cloudy, no rain at all, so instead of visiting indoor classics like the Sapporo Clock Tower, the Ishiya Chocolate Factory or the Sapporo Beer Museum I opted for a little hike to Mount Teine, once home to some of the sports events at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo. One day of good weather? I had to take advantage of that! Then it turned out that the next three days were pretty nice, too – which is a big advantage when doing urban exploration as you spend a lot of time outdoors…
On the last day Michael and I split – while he drove for hours to infiltrate a location he asked me to keep secret for now, I went on to do some really touristy stuff, like visiting the old harbor town of Otaru and taking a glass blowing lesson. My favorite touristic place though was the Sapporo night view from the freshly renovated observation platform on top of Mount Moiwa – stunningly beautiful! It was soooooo cold up there, but the view was absolutely amazing! I went there on the first day before visiting the Sapporo White Illumination and I strongly recommend to pay Mt. Moiwa a visit – I would love to shoot a time-lapse video from up there…
Overall the trip to Hokkaido was a great mix of urbex and tourist stuff. Five days I really enjoyed, probably more than any five consecutive days I spent in Osaka this year… So this is a list of the abandoned places I ended up visiting:
Advantest Research Institute
Bibai Bio Center
Canadian World Park
Hokkaido House Of Hidden Treasures
Horonai Coal Mine Substation
Mt. Teine Ski Lift
National Sanatorium Sapporo
Olympic Ruins Of Sapporo 1972
Sankei Hospital
Sapporo Art Village
Showa-Shinzan Tropical Plant Garden
Tenkaen – Japan’s Lost China Theme Park
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whats glass blowing?
It’s when you blow air through a blowpipe into molten glass and then for it with different tools. There are several glassmiths in Hokkaido who offer lessons – I did two glasses and a vase. Not cheap (5000 Yen plus shipping since the glass has to cool down slowly for hours…), but an interesting experience and well worth it.
Amazing photos.. It looks like an ideal trip to me. North is rarely explored thoroughly by the tourists as far as I know so this is a very nice compensation for all those who usually stay in the traditional locations, thanks.
Would have absolutely loved to see Hokkaido House Of Hidden Treasures and infiltrate it as well – I can’t even imagine what would we find there.
Take care on your trips!
Thanks a lot – I actually was positively surprised, especially since I miss winters in Osaka and Sapporo has more winter in late November than Osaka has all year long… A really relaxing and exciting vacation with a great buddy of mine. I’d relive that one at any time!
Hello Florian!
A while back you liked a post of mine on my blog of my travels abroad so I decided to check out your stuff. I’ve always been fascinated with urban exploration and abandoned buildings so I was quite surprised to stumble upon your incredible blog. Thanks for bringing me to it, and I hope you keep up the amazing photos! If you’re ever coming to the Kyoto area for some exploration, let me know, I’d love to join!
It’s an unusual topic and I would have never thought that a blog so limited could be a success, but once people know about it they seem fascinated – so thanks a lot for stopping by! I’ve been to about a dozen places in Kyoto, but I am running out of new ones. I’ll let you know though if the opportunity comes up to explore together!
We lived in Tokyo for 6 years. Never made it north. Quite the photographer. Thanks for dropping by my blog.
I’m in my seventh year now – Hokkaido is massively underrated!
Love to go to Japan and check this place out.
Japan is a wonderful place to travel to! Just be careful at abandoned places – you won’t be welcome everywhere…
Very interesting!
Cheers!