Urban explorer discovers ‘ghost town' full of empty, eerie hotels in Japan: ‘Like a time capsule'
Luke Bradburn, 28, stumbled upon the forgotten tourist destination of Kinugawa Onsen during a trip to Japan in early 2024.
While his original goal was to document the Fukushima exclusion zone, Bradburn ventured beyond the area and found a 'ghost town.'
'I was scouting other nearby locations when I came across this entire district of abandoned hotels,' Bradburn told 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 1990s during Japan's economic downturn.
As tourism dried up, many hotels shuttered.
10 The forgotten tourist hotspot of Kinugawa Onsen in Japan was visited by YouTuber Luke Bradburn in 2024.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
10 Luke Bradburn overlooks Kinugawa Onsen in the city of Nikkō, Tochigi, Japan.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
But due to the country's strict property laws, the buildings were never demolished. Many remain in legal limbo after owners either died without heirs or disappeared altogether, according to SWNS.
'It's very different in Japan,' Bradburn said.
'The crime rate is so low that abandoned buildings don't get looted or destroyed as quickly.'
He added, 'In some cases, they need the owner's permission to demolish, and if the owner died, they legally can't for 30 years.'
10 Ceiling tiles begin to fall down inside a hallway in one of the buildings.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
10 An indoor spa left abandoned in the city.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
What remains today 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 20 structures, said SWNS.
He would often move between buildings through interconnecting corridors.
'From the outside, it's all overgrown and decaying,' he said. 'But inside, some of the rooms were pristine – like no one had touched them in decades.'
10 An indoor pool with a view of the mountainside.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
10 Luke Bradburn sits on a chair inside a hotel in Kinugawa Onsen during his visit to the forgotten city in 2024.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
Bradburn found 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 reported.
'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.'
Some spaces felt like time capsules, he said.
'We found arcade machines still filled with toys, tables set with drinks and rooms that looked like they hadn't been touched in decades,' Bradburn said.
10 An overlook with great views of the abandoned city and its hotels in central Japan.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
10 Books. phones and chairs are left untouched where they were placed over 30 years before in the city.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
'It was surreal.'
He said much of the area was extremely dangerous to navigate.
'There were floors missing, staircases hanging down, parts where you had to backtrack because everything had collapsed,' he said.
10 A dining area with place settings untouched on a counter.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
10 Bradburn said much of the area was extremely dangerous to navigate.
Luke Bradburn / SWNS
'It was really unsafe in some areas. You had to be so careful.'
Bradburn said the entire experience, overall, was emotional and disorienting.
'Each [building] felt like stepping into a time capsule,' he said.
'You get a sense of what life must've been like here at its peak – and then it just stopped,' he said.
'It's eerie, sad and fascinating all at once.'
Kinugawa Onsen still draws some curious visitors, said 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.
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