Going Alone

Here is the result of my evening walk through Toi. I estimate about 40% of the homes in this town appear dark and deserted. This video is...

While enjoying my evening walk just now I passed a house which is significant in my family’s history. About nine months before I went to...

I’ve begun moving videos from my Abandoned Japan channel to my main channel in an effort at gradual consolidation ahead of our return to...

This photo was ten years ago. I found this abandoned farm in an area of the mountains in Japan where I had hiked for over a decade...

Check out this very well produced Portuguese video documenting my Abandoned Japan YouTube channel. The man who made this video, Egito,...

This was one of the very first videos in the Abandoned Japan series. The location is roughly 30 miles deep into the rugged coastal range on the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu. This area was my usual haunt during my Japan adventure years, and I was at the time travelling along the only road into a very remote area I sometimes referred to in my videos as the “Deep Mountains.” Over the years I’d routinely drove past the old house featured in this video, though I’d n

One day five or so years back I was exploring an abandoned trail in the deep mountains near the Japan Southern Alps. It was the height of summer and the danger of giant hornets was very real, as was the threat of moon-bear and wild boars. But my most immediate threat were the dinner plate sized spiders which sat like knowing mountain gods upon broad leaves which bent deep with their weight. The spiders were everywhere, and the fact that few ever came this way meant the trail

I sometimes found antique trails in the mountains of Japan. Pathways which connected high mountain villages before the age of roads, when the fastest way to the other side of the mountain was along steep ridges and around tall waterfalls; through dense forests haunted by moon bear and fierce boar and giant spiders and resounding with the hum and whir of insects. The best way to pick up such a trail was to ask the oldest man in the village “how did folks in the old days get to

Enjoying a lunchtime stroll through the historic neighborhood near work. I’m admiring 80 and 90 year old homes with bronze plaques commemorating their architects and builders. I’m reminded of the 200+ year old farm estates I so frequently discovered in the remote mountains of Japan. Enormous homes designed to house three generations and perhaps a dozen or more family members. Homes built by the village from giant old growth trees, hewn with hand tools and held together withou

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

And here is the original video when I first discovered this abandoned farm. Sometimes the time is not right for adventure. Other times the moment is pressing yet the opportunity is not present. In both cases a second try might be what’s needed to turn a previously failed endeavor into a success. Here’s one hike which required both a second try as well as a renewal of resolve to overcome both physical barriers as well as some lingering trepidation over uncertain fears which, t

This short video captures one of the more dangerous moments I’ve experienced while exploring abandoned places in Japan. Near the end of the video I unwittingly cross over the rotting wooden roof of an abandoned water cistern. On the return track I spotted a crack in the leaf debris and found myself peering into a large, deep hole full of dark, cold water. I carefully made my way off the structure without incident while noting several large cracks which could have easily swall

It was only after a long day of exploring the mountains west of Yui Japan that I found an abandoned road leading high into a canyon of abandoned orange and tea farms. After hiking to the very end of the road I found this farm some ways back off a dirt road. While exploring I felt an eerie tug to return back down the canyon before nightfall swept across the landscape. I don’t often get spooked though this place definitely creeped me out. Perhaps it was because I was alone, dee

Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of Japan with me. I’m available on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as at the Sons of Grizzly website and forum. All links are listed below. I look forward to meeting you on-line. Have a great day! Sons of Grizzly website and forum: http://sonsofgrizzly.com Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Be my friend on Facebook: http://www.fac

Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of Japan with me. I’m available on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as at the Sons of Grizzly website and forum. All links are listed below. I look forward to meeting you on-line. Have a great day! Sons of Grizzly website and forum: http://sonsofgrizzly.com Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Be my friend on Facebook: http://www.fac

A once bountiful farm valley in coastal Japan now the sole possession of snow monkeys, wild boar and mountain sheep. Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of Japan with me. I’m available on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as at the Sons of Grizzly website and forum. All links are listed below. I look forward to meeting you on-line. Have a great day! Sons of Grizzly website and forum:.

It’s always a bit disturbing and unsettling when I discover abandoned religious sites in the forests and mountains of Japan. Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of Japan with me. I’m available on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ as well as at the Sons of Grizzly website and forum. All links are listed below. I look forward to meeting you on-line. Have a great day! Sons of Grizzly website and

I discovered this unlikely shack very high up a deserted canyon where farmers once raised wasabi radishes from hand-placed stone terraces. There was only the faintest remnant of a trail leading to the place beyond which the canyon became the possession of a very dark and tangled region of wilderness. —- Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of Japan with me. I’m available on Twitter, Facebo

I’ve been watching green tea farms become abandoned in Japan for more than a decade. Given enough time the farms will disappear completely into the surrounding natural green. In this video we explore three farms; one operational and two in various states of “rewilding” back to nature. Here is the link to the canyon hike video “Hike into wildness” referenced in this video: http://youtu.be/AWsDIhQL96k Welcome to the Abandoned Japan blog. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted