Top image credit: @LuciferPapu
Between its “used underwear” dispensers and its notorious suicide forest, Japan has become known for some pretty unusual things. None of these, however, seem to come close to a recently discovered Bra Temple that takes “hair raising” to a completely new level.
On the outside, the building appears harmless enough. Inside, it’s a completely different picture. In one room, with its walls painted a light pink, an unadorned mattress sits at the far end while pieces of lingerie (bras and stockings mainly) are draped across the ceiling. Behind the mattress, light filters in through an open window.
While the location of the temple seems to be a well-kept secret at the moment, at least one urban explorer has mentioned that it lies deep within the mountains in Irabaki Prefecture. According to ‘Tommy’ who calls it the Swindler’s Cult Temple, the temple was built with donation money collected from deceived Japanese folks. It was later closed because of a fortune telling fraud case. It has also been mentioned on social media that the unlikely decorations began appearing about 6 years ago.
In Japanese, the word haikyo refers to abandoned ruins, of which there are plenty all over Japan. There is even an entire website dedicated to the hobby of urban exploration, which haikyo also describes. Admittedly, most of the forgotten hospitals, theme parks and industrial sites featured on the website are far less sinister than this newfound Bra Temple.
Perhaps the creepiest part of the Bra Temple is a strange naked doll which is nailed to the wall along with photographs of a smiling woman. The same woman’s pictures also appears on strips of paper around the room. As for it’s purpose, the Bra Temple yields no answers and it’s still anyone’s guess what any of this is for.