Ghost Town Gala: No Ride For Old Men

9 November 2025

Ever since the idea of cycling adventures popped into my mind almost decades ago now courtesy of Tokyo Cycling Club, I have wanted to do a ride to the Nitchitsu Mining Town, an abandoned ghost town in Saitama Prefecture, but never got around to it. I’d tried and failed a couple of times before, but even that was more than half a decade ago. Yesterday, I finally got to tick this off my bucket list.

The ride was everything and more than I had expected, making for a truly memorable ride through the mountains of the Chichibu surrounds in Saitama Prefecture.

Of course, it was the visit to the abandoned mining town owned by Nichitsu Co., Ltd. that drew me there, but I also got much more.

The once thriving tin mining town had a population that peaked at around 3,000 in 1978 until it was shut down and left to rot, though Nitchitsu still has a partially operating mine a little lower down the mountain in the village of Arakawa.

I was also delighted that we got to see a deer feeding on the grounds of the town. It showed absolutely no fear of humans.

Having yearned to see this place for years, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to take my bike inside for some shots.

Sadly, by doing so I caused more strife for the huge group we were traveling with. I lingered too long and was slow climbing, something that had affected me all day.

I’m deeply grateful for my cycling buddies cutting me some slack, as well as helping me out in all sorts of ways across the day.

Fortunately, as my good mate from Japan Biking reminded me all those years ago, cycling people are good people. Considering there were some amazing cyclists in our group, I must have been a frustrating presence. But people were kind, patient and encouraging all day, under all circumstances. I truly felt blessed.

It was an extremely long day, as well as being arduous.

In hindsight, I was silly to join the group that rode into Chichibu from central Tokyo. Another of the many valuable lessons I learned on the ride was that my opinion of my cycling ability is far more inflated than it deserves.

But, oh, the scenery was sublime!

The mountains of Chichibu would look wonderful at any time of the year, but they are especially so when the autumn leaves turn the mountainsides into a visually spectacular patchwork of yellow and red. We were blessed with blue skies that made the views even more spectacular.

It wasn’t all good, though. While descending from the ghost town, I slept and hit the ground fairly hard. I saw my leg twist and feared the worst. But I could get up and walk, much to my relief. I was also pleased not to have gone through with my original plan to bring my DSLR camera as the fall would have crushed it. I hurt, but thought I could hold on through the pain, and ultimately did. This morning, I found out my ankle is broken.

I broke more, too. The derailleur on my bike was bent. When I finally got my bike back to Komiya Station to ride home, I managed to get it caught in the spokes on my back wheel, breaking a couple and basically mangling the gear changing mechanism. By this stage, I could barely walk. I eventually made it home with lots of wonderful memories….and it seems lots of time to enjoy recalling them as I will be off the bike for a while.