Daibutsu, Kamakura

Daibutsu, Kamakura
Daibutsu in Kamakura, June 2010. There were thousands of school kids visiting that day. It was still great fun.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Abandoned Road to Nowhere

I found these cool Haikyo abandoned places pictures from this website. These are some pretty impressive pictures of an abandoned elevated roadway somewhere in Japan. If you know where, let me know.

I wonder if the roadway collapsed due to an earthquake, neglect or some other reason. Pretty bizarre to see this collapsed roadway just sitting there abandoned.






I wonder what would have made this section collapse?



























The way this section is twisted it doesn't look like it will take too much more to bring it down such as a moderate earthquake or minor soil movement.


Friday, May 16, 2008

Haikyo - Exploring Japanese Ruins

I previously posted pictures of an eerie abandoned hospital. There are all kinds of abandoned places in Japan including theme parks, hotels, hospitals and resorts. Exploring these places is called haikyo.

Here are some pictures of what appears to be an abandoned hotel or resort.








This one is really strange because it looks like the people just disappeared one day and left all their stuff in the room. I have seen lots of other haikyo pictures of places that also look like the people just up and left one day and left all their stuff. Very odd.




This one looks like a meeting room or dining room. Most businesses in the Unites States that go out of business would have a going out of business sale and everything would be liquidated such as the furniture, etc. But many of the pictures I have seen of abandoned places in Japan such as this one show that alot of stuff is just left there. Maybe Japanese people don't like to buy used stuff.




These look like pachinko games.






The pictures are from this good haikyo website.

Monday, May 12, 2008

The Joys of Public Transportation

Recently I saw a homeless man urinating next to a busy elevator at the North Hollywood subway station in Los Angeles. Not something you look forward to seeing during or morning commute to work, or any other time. Just as he finished his business, a transit security officer walked up to him and tried to arrest him. The homeless man scuffled with the security officer and the officer had to use pepper spray on the man. Two other security officers ran to assist their partner so I assume they were able to subdue the homeless man.

I am advocate of mass transportation, specifically light rail and subways as they are the fastest and most efficient. I like it mostly because I am saving boat loads of cash now due to the high gas prices. It is also nice to know that it is beneficial for the environment.

Unfortunately, there are some negative aspects to public transportation. Crowded buses or trains, rude people, smelly people, uncomfortable seats.

And homeless people urinating in public.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

In Japan, Frivolous calls clog emergency lines

I thought the problem of idiots calling the emergency phone lines with stupid questions was limited to the United States. Well, apparently it is a problem in Japan too.

A recent article in the Daily Yomiuri Online stated that frivolous calls to emergency lines increased to 950,000 in 2007. Below is a paragraph from the article:

In one such case, a person called police in Yamaguchi Prefecture to ask them to get someone's phone number. In Kyushu, a person called to complain they were unable to turn on their new mobile phone. In Saitama Prefecture, a caller asked police to bring toilet paper as they were stuck in a public toilet without any paper. And in Shiga Prefecture, a person called to ask whether the police could help them get a job.

I agree these are some pretty frivolous calls. Except for the one where the caller asked the police to bring toilet paper as they were stuck in a public toilet without any paper. If you ask me, that is a true emergency.