Where to Photograph Liminal Spaces in Kansai: Real Spots in Osaka, Hyogo, Nara and Shiga

In Kansai, Liminal Spaces Gather in Planned Districts and Places That Have Finished Their Work

The liminal spaces you find in Kansai tend to fall into two groups. The first is large, carefully planned districts and complexes. Spaces built to receive crowds, such as an artificial island or a complex connected directly to a station, show a peculiar emptiness when few people are around.

The second is places such as railways and mines that have finished the job they were built for. Their function is gone, but the structures remain, and they let you feel the passage of time. Every place in this article was chosen on one condition: you can actually go there.

Kobe: An Artificial Island's Waterway and a Complex Attached to the Shinkansen Station

Rokko Island is an artificial island built off the coast of Kobe. The River Mall that runs through its center is a man-made waterway fed by water from the Sumiyoshi River; its northern section was completed in 1990 and its southern section in 1993. The elevated Rokko Liner runs overhead, above orderly plazas and sculptures. When few people are around, only the well-kept space itself seems to remain.

Shin-Kobe Oriental City, directly connected to Shin-Kobe Station, is another liminal space typical of Kansai. It is a large complex of a hotel, shops and a theater; the shopping zone was renamed KOTO no HAKO KOBE in 2019 and is still open. Although it sits right in front of the station, its wide corridors can be nearly empty at certain times of day.

Related spots on LIMap Rokko Island River Mall Shin-Kobe Oriental City

Osaka: The World's First Capsule Hotel and a Department Store Rooftop Amusement Park

Capsule Inn Osaka in Umeda, designed by the architect Kisho Kurokawa and opened in 1979, is the world's first capsule hotel. Its corridors of identical sleeping pods are still in use today. This is a liminal space you experience by staying the night rather than by visiting.

On the roof of the Matsuzakaya department store in Takatsuki is Skyland, a rooftop amusement park that has been open since 1979. Rooftop amusement parks were once common on department stores across Japan, but only a handful remain. Showa-era rides lined up on top of a building bring nostalgia and strangeness at the same time.

Related spots on LIMap Capsule Inn Osaka (New Japan Umeda) Rooftop Amusement Park Skyland (Matsuzakaya Takatsuki)

Hyogo's Sea and Mountains: The Remains of a Railway Bridge and an Ore-Dressing Plant

Amarube Viaduct Sky Station, in Kami Town on the Sea of Japan coast, is an observation deck built on part of the old Amarube Viaduct, which was completed in 1912. The viaduct was replaced by a concrete bridge in 2010, but the piers on the Amarube Station side were preserved, giving a view of the sea from about 41 meters above the ground. Since 2017 you can also ride an elevator to the top. Beyond the point where the old track ends, there is nothing but sea and sky.

The Mikobata Ore-Dressing Plant Ruins in Asago are the remains of a large processing plant built in 1919. It stopped operating in 1987, and its aging buildings were demolished in 2004. Today only the stepped concrete foundations remain on the mountainside. The buildings are gone, yet you can still read their shape.

Related spots on LIMap Amarube Viaduct Sky Station Mikobata Ore-Dressing Plant Ruins

Nara and Shiga: Tunnels Under a White Rock Hill and a Former "Bright Ruin"

Donzurubo in Kashiba, Nara, is a hill of exposed white tuff with strange rock formations. Beneath it lies a network of tunnels about 2 kilometers long, dug by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of the Pacific War, and several of the entrances can be seen from outside. The contrast between the white rock and the dark openings is strongly unreal.

Pieri Moriyama in Moriyama, Shiga, is a large shopping mall on the shore of Lake Biwa. After opening in 2008 it lost tenant after tenant, and images of its nearly empty interior earned it the nickname "the bright ruin." It reopened after a renovation in December 2014 and many shops now operate there. It is no longer a ruin, but you can walk its wide atriums and long corridors with that memory in mind.

Related spots on LIMap Donzurubo Underground Tunnels Pieri Moriyama

Practical Notes for Visiting

Most of the places here are open facilities or public spaces. Check each facility's rules on photography so you do not disturb shops or other visitors, and take care not to capture people's faces clearly.

At Donzurubo, look at the tunnel entrances from outside only. The interior carries risks of collapse and uneven footing, and part of it is used as a research facility.

LIMap also records abandoned sites that are closed to the public. For this article we chose only places that can be seen from outside or that are open for business. Please do not enter private property or restricted areas.

If You Shoot It, Put It on the Map

Much of Kansai is still unrecorded. The underground mall on your commute or a new town on a quiet weekend may be exactly the view someone else is looking for.

LIMap is a map for recording those places with photos and locations. If you find one, please add it.