Izu has many beautiful places to visit and sometimes also some mysterious things to see.

I've already wrote about the Old Amagi tunnel, where is said that ghosts come out at night.

As unfortunately there aren't many opportunities for young people to work and live here you can also see many abandoned buildings too.

I've always been curious about old abandoned buildings and similar stuff. It is fun to imagine and create a story in my mind about how they were when the business went well.

So, sometimes I try to drive on narrow mountanious roads, ending most of the times at a point where it is not possible to move on with the car, because of fallen trees or broken asphalt.

This is a place where I've accidentally arrived while driving through the Nishi Izu Area:

https://www.nishiizu-kankou.com/sightseeing/shirakawairei (Japanese)

At the end of the Pacific War, there was a mine of alum stone, a substitute raw material for aluminum, in this area. Many Japanese and Koreans were working in this mine, but it wasn't enough and soon many Chinese were forcibly taken away and forced to work. More than 100 Chinese died on the way to Japan and under harsh working conditions and less than half made it back home safely after the war. This cenotaph was built to console the spirits of the martyrs and reflect on the war that caused such sacrifices.

Also, in Akazawa, South-East of the Izu Peninsula, you can still see a road that was supposed to go from there to the central part of Izu, but was left uncompleted after a while due to the bankrupcy of the construction company in 1993.

Soon or later I will visit it, but until then you can see some pictures of it in this interesting blog (in Japanese):

https://itamiwake.com/akasawa-loop-bridge/

Some time ago I've seen this old looking bus when driving near Izu Nagaoka.

It is named "The Jack Knife" and it looks like it was used as a restaurant in the Yokohama Bay.

Its place has always been nearby the sea and maybe also for this reason now is here, just in front of the sea.

But why is it here??

This is what I thought when I went back home.

So I started searching on the internet some info about it and found out that it is here temporarely, to be renovated and will become "The Old Bus", probably to become another bar and restaurant in the city of Numazu.

It was supposed to be renovated within summer 2018 but... was still there in bad conditions.

Hope it will "recover" soon!

Come on Jack Knife!

Alberto