Many grandmothers come complete with an attic or a basement full of hidden treasures. Dirty and ill-lit, it's a heaven for kids to secretly explore.

Now, take the same desire you had when you were six years old, project it some twenty or thirty years forward, and you're stuck with Haikyo. Haikyo is a Japanese word which literally means ‘ruins,' but as a verb it means exploring ruins and abandoned places. It's also called Urban Exploration. So, Haikyoist/Urbexer is a person who regularly undertakes haikyo or urban exploration.

Aral Sea - Ships in the Desert

Nuclear test sites, airplane graveyards, ghost towns, hospitals and sanatoriums, army bases, industrial plants, ice-bound russian wrecked ships, you name it. I guess you can call it a hobby pretty much anywhere you live - places which were once used and then left to slowly decay can be found in all corners of the Earth (even in the supposedly overcrowded Japan). It has its legal concerns, but doing something you're not supposed to has a strong appeal for many people.

Airplane boneyard, Mojave desert, USA

Doctor's Shack, Japan

Matsuo Ghost Town, Japan

Abandoned frozen ships, Kamchatka, Russia

US Air Force Base in Tachikawa, Japan

Osarizawa Chemical pools, Japan - chemical pools coloured blue with solution of copper sulfate

Ashio Dozan Ghost Town, Japan

Keishin Radiology Hospital, Japan

Sports World Theme Park, Japan