There are almost and totally abandoned places in Japan that can give you a prolonged goosebumps. As it happens in reality, it is a lot creepier than the run-of-the-mill Japanese horror movie we have all seen. So if you plan to scare yourself now that Halloween is coming, well, you've landed the right article. If you are brave enough, you can also go and visit these places to see yourself.
1. Ghost Island in Nagasaki
This secluded battleship-island is called Hashima Island, or Gunkan-jima. The 6.3-hectare island was then known for its undersea coal mines, fully-operational during Japan's industrialization. It is one of Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining, which was newly-designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Being one of the symbols of fast industrialization of Japan, it has also known being the site of forced labor prior to the last world war. Upon the depletion of coal, the mine closed and the residents left the island soon after. The remnants of this heavily-industrialized and prosperous island are proofs that it already turned into a barren wasteland.
2. A village where scarecrows replace the dead
There is a hidden village in Shikoku, called Nagoro Scarecrow Village, where life-sized dolls, scarecrows, and puppets replace the departed. Because of the severely-declining population of the place, a Japanese woman creates these dolls, whom she treated as neighbors, to make the residents feel that their place is still occupied. It rooted in fast urbanization and immigration of locales to major cities in Japan for employment. They also failed to attract people to reside in their village.
3. Suicide Forest in Mt. Fuji
Aokigahara, located in the northwest base of Mt. Fuji, is the place where people do not to hike for fun, but to end their lives. Well, some of the tourists do not aim to ghost hunt, but to actually see the stunning forest. The sea of trees, thick woods, and seclusion makes it as lethally alluring and one of the most "popular" suicide destinations in the world. The average bodies discovered every year is 70-100.
4. Gas Mask Island
Miyake-jima was once striken by high level of volcanic activity. forcing the residents to wear gas masks, or else they will inhale the poisonous gas leaked from the earth. The eruption of Mount Oyama in 2000 fumed the island with toxic sulfur gas, making the place uninhabitable. The gas mask island draws tourism, although it is still unsafe to go out without face covers.
Would you dare to go there alone?
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