Haunting photographs of Nara Dreamland, a rotting Japanese theme park

We love and celebrate the people who sneak into derelict themeparks and photograph their ruins! Beijing, Orlando, Sichuan, South Carolina, Japan, Berlin, New Orleans, even Walt Disney World!


So, from that widely traveled perspective, I hereby bring you Japan's Nara Dreamland, photographed shortly before its 2016 demolition by Parisian photographer Romain Veillon. Veillon spoke to CNN about his perspective on photographing ruins.

CNN: What do you think is the allure of photographs of abandoned places?

RV: When I encounter such places, my goal is to go on a trip through the past and allow viewers to make up whatever stories they want to along the way.

They can let their imaginations run wild as to why this place was abandoned, what happened to its owners, what used to happen in this room?

It brings out this inner child, letting your imagination run wild, and each… story is different from another, and that's what I love.

To me, my pictures act as a new kind of "Memento Mori"; they are here to remind us that everything has an end, and that we should enjoy it while it lasts.

Romain Veillon


Dreamland decay: The final moments of a forgotten theme park
[Zahra Jamshed/CNN]