Mitsubishi Minami-Ōyūbari Station
The Mitsubishi Minami-Oyubari station is one of the remaining examples of the Mitsubishi mining empire in the Sorachi region and Yubari's industrial past.
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01 Streetscapes of YubariYubari2016
ISO 5001/60f/8.014mm
Series · 54 prints
Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap
Yūbari is a coal-mining city in central Hokkaido. Founded in 1943, its population peaked at around 120,000 in the 1960s and now sits at about 6,400. The colliery closed in the 1980s. The city's attempt to recover through tourism failed; in 2007 it became the first Japanese municipality to declare bankruptcy, owing 35.3 billion yen. These streetscapes were taken between the houses, shops, and schools the town no longer needs - most empty, some half-collapsed, some still in use by the people who stayed.
Hand-signed limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not reissued once they sell through.
Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.
Paper
Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.
Lead time
Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.
The Mitsubishi Minami-Oyubari station is one of the remaining examples of the Mitsubishi mining empire in the Sorachi region and Yubari's industrial past.
Read the noteOften I'd find myself looking at the machines and architecture and challenging myself to find one single object designed purely for aesthetics. Craftsmanship made way for efficiency in engineering long before I'd even left school.
The Guardian
On the LC archive.
People talk about what it was like to work or stay in these places, who they knew, what they did, how great the Christmas parties were, that store man nobody liked, what all the different machines were, how they worked and what became of them.
Broadsheet
On the LC archive.
There's this sense of wonder you get when looking at abandoned buildings. You try to imagine what these spaces were like when they were filled with busy workers trying to meet production targets. And why did they close?
The Guardian
On the LC archive.