Ruins Trek - to the Seika Dormitory (GXR A16)

Japan is renowned for it's high technology, hip fashionable spots at the cutting edge of style and futuristic skylines, but there is another side to Japan IMO just as (if not more) interesting.

Just after the Great Kanto Earthquake and fire in 1923 that destroyed much of Tokyo, the Japanese government turned to more modern building techniques. Of course not many new concrete structures were made and much would soon be razed agin in bombings of WWII, but a few notable buildings went up in this period, including my personal favorite the Dojunkai apartments (tho only 1 or 2 remain there are tons of good pics online, do a google image search and you'll find tons).

A few weeks ago I hopped over to visit one such site.

Hop out of a tiny local train line and walk down narrow streets and you see an old, tired concrete structure peering out from the overgrowth (above).




This is the edge of the bunt-out remains of the old Seika Dormitory (精華寮). Now surrounded by vegetation it's hard to get up close, almost like the ruins themselves shun life around.




I tried to circle the building but found a block of small apartments and houses, many looking as old as the dorm itself. Here you can see a resident protesting the construction of new apartments that would bring shame to the feel of the area. Someone smashed one of the fences in the construction site.




A modern apartment in the foreground. Behind is the dorm. You could probably jump to one of the old gaping windows.




The other side of that new apartment. You can see how close new construction was made to the dorm, which burnt in 2007.




Despite the fire, if you peer up through the windows you can see there's still something inside. Some glass remains.




Zoom in on the weathervanes and antennae and they look like scarecrows, scowling down on the world below.




Peer over another fence and you can see in a little. There is a hint of something.



Now we come to the front entryway, roped off with "no trespassing" signs around.

Oddly enough, just as I stood there taking this pic, a young woman carrying her groceries passed by. I stopped to ask if there was a way to get closer. She said she'd gone under the ropes once, but there's nothing there anymore...

Looking in, you can see tents put up, signs that someone's taken over the site. Not the kind of place you want to go nosing around.



The whole area felt like it was a part of the same black hole, closing in on itself. Here is a pic of a much more recent building that stood about 100 yards from the Seika Dorms. How long will it take till these ruins take on a similar flavor?

***

The Seika Dormitory was built in 1927 and was used by a Taiwanese company as a dorm for workers over the years. The fire in 2007 gutted the first floor and reportedly killed 2, and since then it has been (mostly) abandoned. Ordinarily a site like this might be torn to the ground, but arguments between the local government and Chinese and Taiwanese officials have made it hard to decide who even owns the place now.

IMO it is a beautiful example of early Japanese concrete apartment construction styles - big and foreboding almost, but if you look close made with a real craftsmanship and pride.

It is said that on the 2nd floor you could still find things the workers left there in the blaze - everything from bibles to porno mags. I wasn't inclined to stick my nose into the now way overgrown ruins, but if you want to look there are a few photoblog archives of the site as it was just after the fire. I recommend haikyo.org's page, or Michael John Grist's more extensive and very impressive photo archive.