Genkan Type:Unframed Coal production ended in 1990

Coal production ended in 1990

When Yubari filed for fiscal rehabilitation in 2007

the steam-driven plant once ran four Babcock and Wilcox boilers

layered in years of graffiti

first as a tuberculosis sanitorium and later as a geriatric facility

Genkan Type:Unframed Coal production ended in 1990A genkan inside the Ogurawa settlement, a pair of shoes left on the step under a layer of dust, the entryway open to fading light. Company housing at Chichibu Mine served a community of workers and families who built their lives around the mine's fortunes. When metal extraction ceased in 1978, families began leaving; the last permanent resident departed in September 2006. Part of the Nichitsu Mining Village series.