Man discovers 'ghost town' full of empty, eerie hotels: 'Like a time capsule'
An urban explorer has uncovered a hauntingly preserved resort town in Japan where towering hotels sit crumbling along a riverside cliff It's been untouched for over three decades according to reports Luke Bradburn stumbled upon the forgotten tourist destination of Kinugawa Onsen during a trip to Japan in early While his original goal was to document the Fukushima exclusion zone Bradburn ventured beyond the area and ascertained a ghost town TOWER OF LONDON DIG REVEALS BLACK DEATH-ERA SKELETONS BELOW POPULAR TOURIST SITE 'TIP OF THE ICEBERG' I was scouting other nearby locations when I came across this entire district of abandoned hotels Bradburn stated news agency SWNS It was like walking into a ghost town Kinugawa Onsen was once a bustling resort town renowned for its natural hot springs It began to decline in the early s during Japan s economic downturn As tourism dried up a large number of hotels shuttered But due to the country s strict property laws the buildings were never demolished Several remain in legal limbo after owners either died without heirs or disappeared altogether according to SWNS It s very different in Japan Bradburn explained The crime rate is so low that abandoned buildings don t get looted or destroyed as hurriedly TOURISM SURGE CREATES 'NEW CHALLENGE' AS VISITORS TRANSFORM MT FUJI INTO 'TRASH MOUNTAIN'He added In specific cases they need the owner s permission to demolish and if the owner died they legally can t for years What remains at present appears to be an eerie scene with an entire street of massive multi-story hotels slowly rotting away Bradburn who is from Greater Manchester and is now a full-time explorer spent six hours navigating overgrown paths broken staircases and precarious drop-offs around five or six of the roughly structures noted SWNS He would often move between buildings through interconnecting corridors From the outside it s all overgrown and decaying he noted But inside particular of the rooms were pristine - like no one had touched them in decades Bradburn exposed himself in hotel lobbies filled with forgotten remnants of the past - traditional Japanese onsen baths untouched rooms even drinks still sitting on tables the same source informed One of the strangest things was walking into a lobby and seeing a massive taxidermy deer and falcon still standing there he recalled It was bizarre I d seen pictures of it online before and then suddenly we were face to face with it Particular spaces felt like time capsules he explained NEW TSA VENTURE LAUNCHED TO ELIMINATE DOUBLE SCREENINGS FOR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS We ascertained arcade machines still filled with toys tables set with drinks and rooms that looked like they hadn t been touched in decades Bradburn noted It was surreal He declared much of the area was extremely dangerous to address There were floors missing staircases hanging down parts where you had to backtrack because everything had collapsed he announced CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER It was really unsafe in particular areas You had to be so careful Bradburn reported the entire experience overall was emotional and disorienting Each building felt like stepping into a time capsule he disclosed For more Lifestyle articles visit foxnews com lifestyle You get a sense of what life must ve been like here at its peak - and then it just stopped he reported It s eerie sad and fascinating all at once Kinugawa Onsen still draws particular curious visitors noted SWNS but the ghost town of abandoned hotels stands as a quiet and mysterious relic of Japan s tourism boom and bust Much of it remains hidden in plain sight as Bradburn's experience indicated - still waiting to be further discovered
