The Yomiuri has a report (Japanese) about how night time factory tours are becoming popular and are attracting a growing number of young women. Four years ago, the magazine Kansai Walker for the first time included shots of an oil refinery in Takaishi City as part of a regular feature on night time views around the region and this encouraged photographers to search out similar spectacles. The current boom, though, appears to have been sparked by the publication last spring of Kojo Moe which has sold around 30,000 copies. A calendar released for 2008 also sold well. Municipalities in Tokyo and Chiba with large industrial zones took note of the trend and began to offer tours from late last year. The eager response surprised them and even more so when they noted the number of women applying. Other areas around the country are considering similar tours to encourage appreciation of the role of industry. One commentator suggests that the popularity of the tours might be a response to the onset of the digital age and increasing miniaturisation: the factories and refineries offer a more tangible sense of power and effort. He doesn't mention thrusting pistons once.
More factory shots here
) from the largest series of oil refineries in Europe, and when we went to visit family in the city we always had to go on the same highway parallel to the river the refineries are on. At night the sheer endlessness of all the little light was just that: beautiful.
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