Maya Kankō Hotel, Former hotel in Hatahara, Japan.
The Maya Kankō Hotel sits on the slope of Mount Maya and displays western Art Deco lines with large dining halls, a ballroom, and several baths that once used hot springs. The rooms spread across multiple floors, whose corridors and stairwells show the marks of weather and time.
Opened in 1929 to a design by Otsukichi Imakita for the Maya Cablecar Company, the building served during World War II as a base for anti-aircraft guns. Typhoons and floods damaged the structure severely in the following decades, until operations ceased completely in the early 1990s.
The name refers to Mount Maya, whose summit has been revered as a spiritual site for centuries and shaped the identity of the establishment. Today people from around the world come to photograph the abandoned building and explore its decaying interiors.
The approach requires a cable car ride to Hoshi Station, from which a steep and often slippery path leads to the building. The routes are barely marked, so sturdy footwear and enough time for the ascent and descent are necessary.
The so-called Green Room was originally a bath with an old-fashioned tiled tub and now draws visitors who want to document the slow decay of the space. Walls and floor have changed their original color through moisture and algae, giving the room its name.
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