Heian Wedding Hall & Pachinko
Written by | July 4, 2010Up early in the morning and departure for the Ibaraki prefecture. I rent a car there to travel with my friend Satoshi and see the haikyos. I have many haikyos on my list today, but I would mention the two most important. The first is a kind of false church for weddings.
Twelve o ‘clock?
L
A beautiful chandelier.
Is this doll welcoming us?
We can easily imagine Japanese couples lining up in that establishment to get married here.
L
A small table, just to discuss and negotiate with in-laws.
Cupidon and… Cupidette ?
The hallways are covered with tags, which mostly represent the names of the authors.
The wedding hall, convertible. There is a huge window on the roof, it must be well …until the fire.
Satoshi believes in ghosts, so he is not at ease. At all!
The toilet. Strangely there is no odor, only an explosion of color. Another way to see the little corner.
A box-sauna that has nothing to do here.
We leave Heian Wedding Hall to continue our road to Mito City.
A Love Hotel abandoned, but mostly empty.
We pass a school that also seems abandoned. Sato is tempted by a small dunk, on the way.
Sometimes in Japan it is difficult to know whether a place is really abandoned
On the road, we come across two wonderful abandoned pachinko (a kind of Japanese-style casino, with a kind of noisy pinball machines). The first is completely impenetrable, but the second is completely open.
Pachinko Taiyo.
Small souvenir photo, just before entering the haikyo…
We enter through the first floor…
Here I am in the pachinko hall. Satoshi did not follow me, because apparently this room is full of ghosts!
Bodies.
Post-apocalyptic scenes.
Oh, wait! We could believe to be in the Skynet factory!
We go to three other haikyos, but it’s really too difficult for Satoshi to walk with confidence. We therefore take our time, and we enjoy the country air. I will return to visit this place with a French, it should be easier :).
Look, papa Satoshi, our mission is complete, we return to Tokyo now!
This is a true delight to get off the beaten tracks and hunt down haikyos. Sometimes we know the history of these abandoned places, sometimes we imagine it, but in these two cases it is interesting. From a photographic point of view, these are real opportunities to learn, improve, and take photos with style while offering different sensations than those from the tourist guides. A breath of fresh air (if I may say!)that moves us from Tokyo and its surrounding areas that I see every day.
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