I’m pressed to find much information on Kuwashima Hospital. I know it closed at least seventeen years ago but given the difficulty of research here, I thought, this time, I’d focus on my experience.


Kuwashima Hospital was an unexpected discovery which came about while creating the Streetscapes of Yubari Gallery, one of the many remnants of shopfront and building facades that make up the face of a dying city.

I was making my way down a backstreet just outside the city centre photographing old cinema signboards when this...Read More

I’m pressed to find much information on Kuwashima Hospital. I know it closed at least seventeen years ago but given the difficulty of research here, I thought, this time, I’d focus on my experience.


Kuwashima Hospital was an unexpected discovery which came about while creating the Streetscapes of Yubari Gallery, one of the many remnants of shopfront and building facades that make up the face of a dying city.

I was making my way down a backstreet just outside the city centre photographing old cinema signboards when this eerie three storey building caught my eye.

After capturing a couple of shots of the facade, I noticed that the door was ajar, temptation got the better of me so, I had to have a look inside, I wouldn’t ordinarily do something like this but… No, just kidding. I do it all the time!

Upon entering the first room, I saw the doctor’s office with an examination table and X-ray light box.

The doctors’ desk was scattered with different kinds of blister packaged pills, former patient x-rays and documents and old cigarette packets.

As I made my way down the hall and into the upper levels of the building, I came across the x-ray machine and the rehabilitation ward and realised it was, in fact, a hospital.

When I squeezed my way through a partially stuck door to discover an operating theatre, the discomfort of my surroundings began to set in.

There’s something very unsettling about an environment like this, in such a state of decay and disrepair, when it’s typically recognised to be so clean and sterile.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so, in saying that, I’ll let them do the talking.

I hope you enjoy looking at the photos more than I enjoyed taking them. Read less