When a friend talked to him about an abandoned theme park in Japan called Nara Dreamland, it was all it took for photographer Victor Habchy to book a flight from France to Japan. He went to research the location, but when not much came up, he decided he’d be the one to photograph it. “It seemed amazingly interesting!” Habchy told weather.com.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

 “I went there during the sunset to have this kind of melancholic colors with nice [shadows], somewhere between the nostalgia and the past,” he said. The photographer is always conscious of the weather, as “it really influences the look you will get.”

His personal style translates well into this series with the abandoned theme park. “I love when it’s a very cloud day,” he said. “And when the sun finally appears at the end of the day, it gives such an epic look on the image, with the color of the sun going through the clouds.”

Modeled after California’s Disneyland, Nara Dreamland was opened in 1961, but closed its doors after 45 years due to low visitor numbers. Recently, the park was finally sold at a public auction to SK Housing, a Japanese real estate company—they were the only bidder at the auction.

Until SK Housing determines the ultimate fate of the park, it remains overrun by nature and left to the elements. This is exactly why it’s known as a popular destination for urban explorers like Habchy.