Entries this day: Haiyko

Haiyko

7:05am JST Sunday 5 June 2011 (day 15047)

Haiyko is the transliteration for the Japanese word meaning "ruin," or something, the noun form of an abandoned structure.

Today is the first time that Mike's haikyo exploration schedule has allowed me to join him. yay!

We're on the train now with Jan Jornmark from Sweden; Jan is does urbex (urban exploration) professionally.

12:35pm JST Sunday 5 June 2011 (day 15047)

Just finished exploring Western Village, the holy grail of which would be climbing to the top of Mt Rushmore. The way to the top requires climbing over a rail onto a roof by way of a piece of facade that probably wasn't designed to support a person's full weight.

In the end, I did not climb on top, for that reason, and for the reason that there'd be no one at the bottom to photograph me.

6:57pm JST Sunday 5 June 2011 (day 15047)

Back in Utsunomiya now. After Western Village we went to a gravel factory, which was *MUCH* more fun in terms of sheer numbers of things to climb. I did the whole thing barefootedly, having explained to Mike, "if my feet start to slip, my sandals don't tell me soon enough."

The only injury I sustained was on my finger, when picking up a big rusty chain. When I got one of the links unstuck, a section crunched down on my finger. Ouch!!

Photos tell the story; I promise I'll put them up soon.