Stripped bare and left to rot: Haunting pictures show abandoned Japanese hospitals that have remained untouched for decades
- September 2nd, 201
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Stripped bare, rusting and deserted, these abandoned Japanese hospitals have been out of action for decades.
Eerie snaps of the clinical, run-down buildings show vacant beds, empty operating theatres, scattered patient files and old medicine bottles and surgical tools.
The poignant pictures were taken by German urban explorer Florian Seidel, who lives in Osaka on the Japanese island of Honshu.
Decaying: This hallway of the Sankei Hospital in Hokkaido collapsed due to underground cracks widening from magma intrusions, months after nearby volcano Mount Usu erupted in 1977
Haunting: The surgery room of an abandoned hospital on an island once populated by about 20,000 people
Eerie: Scalpals, forceps and other surgical equipment rusting away at the abandoned Hokkaido Hospital
The 39-year-old has been exploring the abandoned hospitals all over Japan for the past six years.
He said: 'The photos were taken at several different hospitals, ranging from countryside clinics in beautiful mansions to Western style hospitals.
'Some of them were run by single practitioners from as early as the 1930s, featuring patient files written in ink and smelly pharmacies.
'Others were founded as late as the 1980s, with modern equipment like pristine CT scanners.
Vacant: Wakayama Hospital was closed down after going bankrupt - meaning this perfectly fine equipment goes to waste
Empty: Four metal beds in a room at the inpatient ward of an abandoned mental hospital in the outskirts of Tokyo
Stripped bare: A patient's room at the Wakayama Hospital, a medical cooperative that went bankrupt in 2007
Left to rot: An abandoned mental hospital in Saitama, protected by a low fence with barbed wire and a large construction fence
Knowledge: The study room of the Tokushima Countryside Clinic included countless books in German, which was the leading language for physicians in Japan until the late 20th century
'I've always been fascinated by the aesthetics of abandoned places - back in Germany I studied world history and Japanese history.
'After moving to Japan and settling in, I found that urban exploration would be a good way to combine my interest in Japanese history and the aesthetics of modern ruins.
'When I first saw these hospitals, my first thought was of finding a way in without breaking anything!
'My favourite shots are the ultra-wide shots of architecture, and close-ups of unusual objects.'
Creepy: The swimming pool of an abandoned tuberculosis hospital for children in Osaka, which closed in 1992 and was afterwards used for emergency drills
Ghostly: Surgical lights and a stretcher in a a purple room insidea an abandoned hospital which closed in 2008 in Kanto
Stocked up: The most common chemicals were stored in the main room of the pharmacy at the Tokushima Countryside Clinic
Wilderness: This countryside clinic in Tokushima closed in the early 1980s - the handwritten patient files dated back to the 1930s
Abandoned: The consulting room of a small hospital in Hokkaido in the north of Japan which was abandoned in 1995
Disturbing: A complete set of attachments and other equipment at a dentists chair in an abandoned hospital in the south of Japan
Ominous: A gamma camera in pristine condition at the Wakayama Hospital, closed in June of 2007
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