JAPAN: Japan's Belching Smokestacks Draw Industrial-Strength Sightseers

Kojo Moe Fans Are Infatuated by Factories; Night Cruise Past Steel Plants

By DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI

YOKKAICHI, Japan—Armed with expensive and elaborate camera equipment, the tourists excitedly disembarking the charter bus have all the markings of a stereotypical tour group. But they aren't interested in the area's renowned pottery making or its tranquil Shisuian teahouse. They are here to see a giant power plant billowing smoke.

The newest trend in Japanese tourism? Kojo Moe. It means 'Factory Infatuation' and it's the term used to describe people who are thrilled by the aesthetics of industrial factories. WSJ's Daisuke Wakabayashi reports from Japan.

It's the first stop of a sightseeing trip catering to factory fanatics who caravan to Japan's industrial hubs to gawk at the aesthetics of power plants, oil refineries and other smokestack facilities once derided as polluting eyesores.

On a recent bus tour to factory hot spots around this central Japan city, passengers erupted into applause at the sight of circular liquefied natural gas tanks.

"Doesn't that look so amazing against the blue sky," said Naomi Tsukasaki, a 39-year-old saleswoman at an electric-parts maker, who says she goes sightseeing to industrial sites at least once a month.

Moments later, the bus stopped at a railroad crossing, as a train carrying cement rumbled past. Passengers stampeded off the bus to photograph the train with a factory set in the background.

What started as a fringe subculture known as kojo moe, or "factory infatuation," is beginning to gain wider appeal in Japan, turning industrial zones into unlikely tourist attractions. It's the Japanese equivalent of going sightseeing at industrial stretches along the New Jersey Turnpike...

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