What was once a picturesque main street is now a ghost town with many huge hotel complexes slowly crumbling along the river at the foot of the cliff. Share this article Share this article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy link Link copied Bookmark this Comment
An urban explorer has stumbled upon an eerie abandoned hotel town that has remained untouched for over 30 years. Luke Bradburn, 28, has discovered the forgotten tourist destination of Kinugawa Onsen in Japan, a once-bustling resort town famous for its natural hot springs.
In early 2024, Bradburn traveled to Japan to document the Fukushima exclusion zone. While searching for other nearby sites, he came across an abandoned hotel district. What was once a thriving main street was now a ghost town, with dozens of huge hotel buildings slowly crumbling along a river that ran at the base of the cliff.
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Some of them seemed to be stuck in time, filled with slot machines, taxidermy animals, and even drinks left on the tables. Luke spent six hours slogging through overgrown paths, broken staircases, and dangerous drop-offs, exploring several of the twenty or so sprawling buildings.
Luke, from Bury, Greater Manchester, said: “It was like being in a ghost town. There were abandoned cars on the streets and although you could drive through the area, all the buildings around it were just rotting away.”
He added: “When we walked inside, the contrast was striking. The outside was overgrown and crumbling, but inside, some of the rooms looked completely untouched – as if no one had touched them for decades.”
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Kinugawa Onsen began to decline during Japan's economic crisis in the early 1990s, when tourism slowed and many hotels closed. Due to Japan's strict property laws, many buildings were never torn down and survive to this day, as some owners passed away without leaving heirs or simply disappeared, leaving their properties in limbo.
Luke said: “In Japan, it's completely different. The crime rate is so low that abandoned buildings are not looted and destroyed as quickly. In some cases, the owner's permission is required for demolition, and if the owner dies, the law says demolition is not possible for 30 years.”
Luke estimates there are about 20 abandoned hotels along the river in Kinugawa Onsen. He was able to explore five or six of them, walking through interconnected corridors and passages.
Luke said: “Every time it felt like stepping into a time capsule. You get a sense of what life was like here in the best of times, and then it just stopped. It's creepy, sad and exciting all at once.”
Inside the hotels, he found magnificent lobbies, traditional Japanese onsen baths and entire rooms that seemed frozen in time. Luke said: “One of the strangest experiences was walking into the lobby and seeing the huge stuffed deer and falcon still standing there.”
“It was strange. I had already seen photos of this phenomenon on the Internet, and then suddenly we came face to face with it.”
Luke estimates there are about 20 abandoned hotels along the river in Kinugawa Onsen. He was able to explore five or six of them, following interconnected corridors and passages.
Some rooms were so well preserved that it looked as if guests had just left them. Luke said: “We found arcades full of toys, tables with drinks and rooms that looked like they hadn’t been touched for decades. It was surreal.”
But not everything was in its original condition. Luke added: “There were missing floors, ladders were sagging, you had to retreat because everything had collapsed. It was really dangerous in some places; you had to be very careful.”
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