No, I did not go to Japan and no the nuclear bunker is not in Japan. That out of the way, a Japanese nuclear bunker is situated here in Central Estonia and I visited it with my friend back in late April. It is located in the middle of nowhere, in a forest, and is actually a bit hard to find
It was built in the early 2000s by a shady Japanese guy named Yoshiteru Akiyama. It's unclear why he even started to build it but he did. He was rich due to a huge legacy his father left him after his death so he decided to spend it here. Some sources say that he wanted to build this nuclear bunker for extremely rich people in case of a fallout event. Well, the building never got finished and now only a structure still stays there. I don't know for what but Yoshiteru Akiyama was sent out of the country in the middle of the building, as I said he was a shady guy.
It absolutely does not look like something special. Just a concrete pile from the outside.
When you step inside, a huge open room appears that is held up by many concrete pillars. I guess the weight of the roof is a lot because it needs to stop the radiation.
A big hole in the ground that leads to the levels below. There should be at least two floors under there or even 3. I'm not entirely sure. The problem is that you can't go to check it out. All the floors beneath are submerged in groundwater.
The echo was crazy when we shouted into the hole.
At this time there was still ice. I could have walked on the ice because it was very thick but that still doesn't look too appealing. The first floor might not even be intended to be lived in, in case of a nuclear disaster. Only the floors below the ground might be safe after radiation waste falls onto them.
I tried to walk on the concrete structures to peek under the floor but I did not see much. You can probably go there in the summer with scuba gear and dive the place but my gut says that there is not much to see besides concrete and empty rooms.
When walking inside, you have to keep a look out for the holes in the floor. You definitely don't want to fall into one.
One hole in the roof created quite cool lighting conditions. I guess some can take some pretty cool portraits there. Here is one I let my friend take of me.
We also managed to make our way to the roof. There is nothing to see but we had to go to make ourselves feel that we saw everything there is to see. Just a flat roof with an at coating it looks like.
Overall, it's a cool and unique place with not much to see 😅. Nobody still knows why this building was really built by this Japanese guy and that remains unknown, unfortunately. I was just glad to see something new in my home country Estonia and have a short road trip with my friend.
