Abandoned Experimental Pond

Tuesday, 16th September 2008 by

Here at Google Sightseeing we love to explore abandoned, off-limits places, much as the rest of the Internet does - from a safe distance. In the past we've featured abandoned towns, cities, mines and even whole abandoned islands, but we've never yet featured an abandoned experimental pond.

While not normally the subject of much experimentation (after all, ponds are already very good at being ponds), this particular pond was built in the early 1960s by the Nippon Steel Corporation as part of an investigation into the osmotic pressure produced between fresh and sea water.

As it turned out, the sea water was deemed "too salty", and just like that, Nippon Steel gave up on the whole idea.

Today the pond, known as 'Shintou Jikken Ike', is instead the cosy home to a colony of happy cormorants - which just goes to show you that sometimes a pond is just a pond.

Here's some ground level photos of the pond as discovered by a wandering Japanese photographer.

Thanks to Hide.