February 21, 2006

• At night, the Gods arrive
• Very cool pics. Maybe someone can explain this to me: since land is at such a premium on the crowded Japanese islands, how can they let an amusement park rot? Why not raze it and build something else?
• Creepy, and beautiful. I have to say I'm a bit surprised it's still standing, though -- doesn't land come at a premium in Japan? My understanding is that population density is incredibly high on their island. Why wouldn't this land be developed?
• Dammit, Ralph beat me.
• Wow, that's eerie.
• IT WAS THE GHOST OF THE AMUUUUUUUUUSEMENT PAAAAAARRRRRRK....
• Great pictures! But it raises the question -- why didn't they dismantle it and sell the property? Isn't land at a premium in Japan?
• We need someone, say, gomichild, to translate for us. Maybe it explains why, when land is at a premium in Japan, they haven't pulled the place down and redeveloped.
• I would buy that property, but I heard somewhere that land is at a premium in Japan and it would probably cost too much.. /resists making lewd comments about some of the other photography on the site..
• Wow. At first, I was astonished that, when land is at such a premium in Japan, that this place hasn't been torn down and redeveloped. But then I remembered the radioactivity, and Mothra's need for a hideout. And those questions disappeared.
• 
• Get over it. Justify your premium land in Japan however you like. I don't see any gorillas though
• What a set for a skeeery movie! Unfortunatly, with land at such a premium in Japan, it will probably be dismantled and the land sold at a premium before a movie can be made.
• Maybe someone can explain this to me: since land is at such a premium on the crowded Japanese islands, how can they let an amusement park rot? Why not raze it and build something else? Well, i'm suprised that y'all don't remember what Scooby Doo taught us: Its being protected by the former groundskeeper, old man Yakamoto, who scares off potential developers, dressed as a seaweed-bog monster. He is hiding a nearby, undiscovered diamond mine he and his brother have been excavating in secret. /sheesh people.
• Ghosts! Ghosts! Even the creepy stuff in Japan is cute...
• That land looks so ridiculously cheap. It is no wonder that the place is abandoned as no one obviously lives anywhere near there.
• Seriously, that country is so overcrowded they should just bulldoze the park and build a golf course.
• If you look closely you can see that, while admittedly being premium land, it has been peppered pretty good.
• Awww Koko, those little 'ingies spoooked me so much when watching that movie! The woooden sound their necks make... *shudder*
• *rattle*
• Awesome... -looks at other pictures on the site- Japanese Schoolgirls! Le GODS! -hides eyes-
• What a set for a skeeery movie! Unfortunatly, with land at such a premium in Japan, it will probably be dismantled and the land sold at a premium before a movie can be made. Several moviews are probably being made there as we speak--each one more disturbing than the last.
• moview = movie for someone who blazes through "preview" without paying attention.
• If the Japanese real estate business is anything like ours, I'd bet the property is tied up in lawsuits. Or, it might have something to do with the radish spirit...
• Maybe they've spent all their money on premium land and have nothing left for this bit? /aw, don't stop!
• Ah, I really like this one. And I can just imagine what she's thinking in this one: "Ah, why do you look at me like that, you dirty pig?"
• -looks at other pictures on the site- Japanese Schoolgirls! Le GODS! -hides eyes- *bookmarks site*
• Mmh, if you mute the horrible soundtrack, the video is really spooky... those red hands on the wall, wow. *too scared to sleep alone, now*
• It is hard to believe that it occurred to no one here that this was a piss poor use of premium land. I guess you just need to be a monkey.
• Nah, Flagpole, she's clearly thinking, "Jeez, I wish real estate wasn't at such a premium. I'd build me an amusement park. Oh, well."
• Why does the radish spirit have tits on his cheeks?
• I thought these pictures were from somewhere else, because any such land in Japan would be sold at a premium. Heres the big index: http://home.f01.itscom.net/spiral/research3.html
• Why does the radish spirit have tits on his cheeks? Because he's the radish spirit.
• OK, if this reproduction carousel horse is $6,000, why is nobody selling the ones in the photos? If I were the photographer, I'd be swiping them. Please excuse typos, arm in a sling
• Also, way cool site!
• Got peppered, Lara?
• Like Zorro?
• I was salted, peppered, dipped in milk and dredged in flour. Like Zorro!
• It really looks like the coaster is built on a mountainside. Desppite land being at a premium here in Hawai'i, most of the mountainside is undeveloped, and is staying that way. The fact that there's a need for property doesn't make the land become useful. I guess it's pretty similar to swampland real estate. (I was amazed, when first looking at a map of the island, at how much of the island was not in the map, because there's nothing there to map. It's like a third or half of the island) And even on this tiny island, there's land not being developed because it's to far away from the population center. I'm sure Japan is the same in that regard. Those are a couple speculations. Plus the land is obvouisly haunted, so there you go.
• Mothra will be pleased.
• And slash or the radish spirit.
• Well had a quick scan around - the dude doesn't appear to give any reasons for why the places have been abandoned - although apparently he is a non smoker in in his 20's, blood type A and his hobbies are driving and photography.... Mr. Knickbocker has hit the nail on the head rather. Most of these places are butt-fuck nowhere in relation to major population centres. Most small amusement parks in outlying areas (mainly ones I've seen on telly) are lucky to get a couple of people a week. Why go to some dodgy small place when a shinkansen or highway access can now take you to a major theme park, with the latest hip rides? This is why so there are several abandoned amusement parks to begin with. SO why isn't the land redeveloped? There could be several reasons: - although the impression is that every square kilometre of Honshu is packed with people and neon, in reality there are huge parts with not much there at all - the land these are located on is no longer in a high-population concentrated place and not considered viable - zoning laws may not allow for certain types of redevelopment - the owner has died, and the huge amount of inheritance tax that you have to pay here may mean that the recipients have refused the inheritance, or have paid it and been unable to either develop the land themselves, or prepare it to sell - there may no longer be facilities (public transport etc) supplied to this area, decreasing it's potential and value ..oh and of course it could be haunted. It may sound silly but some people are really superstitious about the ghost thing. Would take a troupe of ostentatious priests humming stuff all over the place before some people would consider stepping onto it. Much of rural Japan is cursed with the drain of the sparkly young people to the bigger cities such as Tokyo and Osaka. Several towns have been experimenting with incentive schemes - such as the city paying for worker commutes - to try and get people to live there. Also they have been wooing big companies with tax breaks and what not to establish themselves in the town. And it may surprise you to know but there is still serious discussion about moving the centre of government outside of Tokyo, to a more sparsely populated area.
• And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why that land isn't developed, despite the fact that land comes at a premium over there, what with the high population density in Japan.
• hehehehe at mct This map (in English - possibly a little outdated) might help to give some perspective. Not sure about this comment though: During rush hour, the Tokyo-Yokohama subway system has about five people per square meter. I swear on the train home from Tokyo last night it was about 9 per square metre. A friend once counted how many people were touching his body on a super crowded train once - that number was 12. tune in next week when gomichild dispells the myth of all Japanese people being rich
• I can't wait until next fucking week now.
• It may sound silly but some people are really superstitious about the ghost thing. Would take a troupe of ostentatious priests humming stuff all over the place before some people would consider stepping onto it. I've noticed that island people tend to believe in ghosts much more than your average mainlander, and this observaation has led me to the theory that ghosts can't traverse the ocean. So on the mainland, they can disperse all over the place, but they just build up like some sort of ghost coagulation.
• You're right. Even on my local island Anglesey, where land is at a premium, the place is half empty cos of all the Welshy ghosts hanging around and talking about you in their native tongue when you go in their shops. Creepy, I can tell ya.
• A lot of times it costs more to safely tear shit down thatn you'd make off the land, even if, as is the case in Japan, it's at a premium. I am surprised more of the rides haven't been gutted for parts as Lara suggested. Of course, the horse she linked to was a reproduction of a Charles Looff piece in the popular, florid Coney Island style, and the Japanese ones looked more Colonel-Parker's-County-Fair-ish. Yes, I am a nerd with too much time on my hands. Begin the taunting...NOW!
• You. Big. Nerd.
• Lara's right. Ride equipment can easily be swiped and sold to use as displays at Old Navy. To help pay the land or inheritance taxes. On land that's at such a premium in Japan.
• Why, 'cause the population's so dense?
• No, that's just kit.
• Ladies and Gentlemen, you've been a wonderful audience -- petebest and I would like to thank you, and to remind you that our next show is at eleven o'clock...
• MonkeyFilter: some sort of ghost coagulation.
• I've noticed that island people tend to believe in ghosts much more than your average mainlander Interesting observation there, knickerbocker. I know England and Scotland have a tremendous wealth of ghost stories (don't know about Ireland, but wouldn't be surprised). Also, Java has an abiding traditions of spirits and ghosts. One anthropologist noted that every hill and curve in the land seemed to have it's own spirit: some benign, some less so. Strangely, Javanese ghosts tend to lurk around outhouses or similar structures. How does New Zealand fare with ghosts?
• I believe that ghosts come at a premium in New Zealand, mostly because of the high Ghostbuster population density on their island.
• No, there is a lack of premium quality ghosts in New Zealand because people there don't have souls, and they are all very dense.
• You are so banned.
• Ah shit not again
• Ha! Ha! /Nelson
• If anyone suddenly appears with the name "teh nun's quick kiln", we'll all know.
• Following on that -- I've decided my login-while-under-bannination will be "six performing seals". I just think it'll look kinda neat -- "posted by six performing seals". Shurely, I would NEVER get bored of that...
• No, no, it's "Lara" . . not Shurley.
• petebest, you can't be serious.
• Dang, it won't be any fun violating a nun's corpse. Not even one with a quick kiln.
• Why I oughta!
• Please don't stopa!
• Re ghost coagulation on islands: wonder if the frequency of fog has anything to do with this? Are fog-bound ghosts more likely to hang around and and not dissipate quickly, as those frequenting desert and dry landscapes seem to? You can visit ghost towns in the American west and never see one single damn ghost.
• boo!
• boo who?
• Don't cry! HAW HAW HAW!!!!
• Nerd. Alert.
• Thanks for warning us of your presence MIDDLECLASSDROOL!!!1
• oooo burn! ssssss!
• I'm surprised this thread hasn't been torn down, what with bandwidth being at a premium and all.
• bees, it's never ever foggy here, so I don't think that's it.
• Well, that shoots that theory, then. Is there a next wild guees?