Explorers Find Forgotten Resort Town in Japan
Explorers recently stumbled upon Japan’s Kinugawa Onsen, a ghostly resort town left undisturbed for over 30 years. The remnants of a large hotel can be seen crumbling along the river, almost like a scene from a forgotten film.
Luke Bradburn, a 28-year-old explorer from Greater Manchester, initially traveled to document the Fukushima Exclusion Zone. However, while roaming the region in early 2024, he discovered this eerie locale.
“I was scouting other areas when I encountered this entire district filled with abandoned hotels,” Bradburn shared with SWNS. “It truly felt like stepping into a ghost town.”
Kinugawa Onsen was once a thriving destination, renowned for its natural hot springs. However, it began to decline during Japan’s economic challenges in the early 1990s, leading to the closure of many hotels. A strict legal framework meant that as properties became ownerless, they weren’t demolished but left to decay.
“It’s quite different in Japan,” Bradburn explained. “Thanks to the low crime rate, these abandoned sites aren’t vandalized or destroyed. Sometimes, destroying them requires formal permission, and if an owner passes away, it can remain untouched for up to 30 years.”
The scene today is quite haunting. Long-abandoned structures are succumbing to nature’s embrace. Bradburn remarked, “From the exterior, everything looks overgrown and decrepit. Yet inside, some rooms appear as if they haven’t been touched for decades.”
He spent around six hours navigating through dilapidated corridors and precarious staircases, weaving his way through about five or six of the twenty buildings. “It was intriguing to see a hotel lobby filled with remnants of the past, like a giant taxidermy deer and a falcon still on display,” he recalled.
Bradburn felt a poignant sense of nostalgia. “It was a surreal experience,” he noted, somewhat struggling to articulate the emotions of his journey. Some spaces felt like time capsules, preserving a moment long gone. “We even found an arcade machine stuffed with toys and a table set with drinks—things that looked like they’d been undisturbed for ages,” he said.
However, many parts of the site pose dangers. “There were missing floors and unstable stairways, leading us to backtrack at points,” Bradburn cautioned. “You had to be extremely careful moving around.”
In the end, he described his exploration as both captivating and sorrowful. “You get the sense of what life was like at its peak here—but then it all just stopped. It’s creepy and yet strangely charming.”
While Kinugawa Onsen may still attract some curious visitors, it serves primarily as a haunting reminder of the rise and fall of Japan’s tourism economy. Bradburn’s experience highlights that many hidden treasures from the past—still awaiting discovery—are lurking in plain sight.
