Japan's Creepiest Station

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proggy

Creepy is subjective of course, but it’s pretty high on the list for the most isolated and/or inconveniently-located platform in the country. The only access is via a narrow footbridge leading to a 486-step staircase that goes 70m underground (230ft). Unlike most other 50+ meter deep train stations, there are no elevators and no escalators. The only way in or out of the station is via those stairs, which makes platform-to-street time a non-trivial part of the overall journey.

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zoeysmithe

Yep its not creepy its just a train station. I live in a big city and not-well-lit stations are common and its just a boring fact of life no one even notices here. But to an outsider trying to exoticize things, suddenly its "creepy" or "weird." I mean "the descent is terrifying?" It just stairs. We have this in DC, NYC, and Chicago. To a Chicagoan like me, these 'terrifying tunnels' are just our train station and where we go everyday. There's a real anti-urbanism and anti-public trans aspect here that is concerning.

The notes aren't "Silent Hill" like but a cute way human social need expresses itself. Its community. Its not weird or scary at all, in fact its the opposite.

The alternative to 'terrifying' stairs and trains are the actual terror of driving which has a much higher injury and morality rate than riding a train.

No one wants to have this conversation but if you wonder how egyptomania happened, well, its happening here with people fetishizing Japan and its people.

I wish orientalism was taken more seriously. Japan has sort of become this fictional and stereotypical thing and it percolates down with stuff like this. Its just a train station. Its someone's boring work commute. Its not GITS or a catgirl hideout or cyberpunk in real life whatever. Its a place that doesnt have the social, political, and capitalist capital to get much needed renovations, same with the many 'creepy' stations on Chicago's west and south sides, which the North side ones (wealthy, white dominated) have had renovations, new paint, new lighting, etc. Its just the everyday corruption of how many societies work.

Go ahead an put "DOAI EKI" into google images. It looks quite normal. The "tokyo cowboy" website inserted that dark green filter. Its just a boring, if not ugly, tunnel with a but of colorful moss to break up the monotony:

https://wikimapia.org/16698934/Doai-Station-%E5%9C%9F%E5%90%...

If anything, the external facade is quite striking with its big triangle face. I mean, this is just a train tunnel, albeit a deep one. Not the Chernobyl exclusion zone and entirely safe and honestly, if you're anything like me, you'll enjoy the quiet and seclusion of a train tunnel.

I've been to Japan and when people find this out and start ranting to me about how they'd love to go for stereotype-heavy reasons, its very hard for me to tell them it isn't actually a cybperpunk or anime heaven, but its just a normal developed economy and it and its people are not very different from them, many of whom without a strong interest in the otaku culture they think defines this entire society. Nor is it easy to talk about its many serious political issues, as Japan has many faults orientalism doesn't present.

Japan is full of the same working class people as you, with the same worries and joys as you. Maybe they ride the train more than you but their tunnels and stairs aren't "terrifying," they're instead the cherished memories of their hometowns. Maybe the L in Chicago is ugly to you, but its my, sometimes difficult, but beloved train system I ride every day. The L is the source of many of my warm childhood and young adult memories the same way stations like this are to the Japanese there too. I dont know if its accurate to portray these systems as weird exotic and dangerous things. Its just everyday rail. Its our daily lives.

So much of this orientalism is dishonesty to get engagement, fame, ad impressions, etc. I'd love a good hearted and honest appreciation and criticism of Japan's rail lines over sensationalist writing like this. The Atlas Obscura style of writing and profit-making is practically ruining the internet and making people divorced from the actual reality of these places and its people. You get the McTourist version of things that don't reflect the reality and people there much, or if at all.

I think the older crowd remembers what it was like before wikipedia got big, near everything was sensationalist and 'blogger' and 'personal diary' like this. You couldn't just bring up the data and facts about stations like this or an article written with journalist ethics, instead you'd be pummeled with "Atlas Obscura" style narratives like this made to be sensational and often inaccurate and engaging in stereotypes. The people who wrote this article are motivated by money, not information sharing, hence the style. I dislike we're moving back towards "Anime fans facts on Japan webring" type writing. I really hope people stop and think about this stuff and stop promoting this kind of stuff, especially now when you can just tell an AI to write Obscura-style sensationalism trivially and use many SEO tools to promote this writing for profit.

I come to HN to get away from stuff like this and its just disheartening to me to see these types of articles becoming popular here. This isn't the first one and I'm afraid this is becoming a trend.

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jfoster

I caught a train through this station last year without knowing about it. It was very noticeably different from any other station I've caught a train through in Japan.

I generally agree with you that a lot of ridiculous fake information about Japan gets posted online, though. (especially in spammy Facebook groups and AI-assisted Instagram reels)

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zoeysmithe

That's fine, but were you terrified? Scared and having a panic attack and clutching your purse? Were you worried you ended up in "Silent Hill" like the author of this sensationalized piece?

I'm guessing like any unbiased person you just noticed this is a deep tunnel and that's interesting on its own and can be written about and expressed non-sensationally and without Matrix-like filters on photos.

Imagine instead of exoticizing and orientalizing this, we had an article about its unique architecture style, who the architects were, why it is so deep, quotes from the people there, a comprehensive history, information about the surrounding town and region, etc. Its bothersome to me that we're regerssing back to the world of grifters and sensationalists. I feel like the popularity of Atlas Obscura-style stuff is a sad reflection of the times we're in. We collectively decided facts, respect, diversity, respecting other cultures, challenge, and merit are put on the backburner for sensationalism, ego pleasing, rent-seeking, mindlessness, intellectual dishonesty, and engaging in popular stereotypes.

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jfoster

That's true. It wasn't scary, of course. Just a very interesting station because I noticed that it must be more or less in a mountain. The train had been traveling through a tunnel for quite a while before stopping there, so I hadn't been expecting the stop.

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deadbabe

In a world where everyone already knows and has seen everything, people will seek to make mundane things more mysterious and exotic. Just the way it is.

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Trasmatta

I really don't think it's that deep. There's nothing about this article that screams "orientalism". It's just an article about a weird train station. You can probably find similar article's about some of the weird subway stations in NYC.

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leonewton253

I nominate you for a Woke Grammy. Congrats!

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gedy

I wouldn’t read so much into it, I think it’s just a bit exaggerated for the clickbait. It's a few gloomy pics.

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rayiner

Why was it built like this?

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bdonlan

It was originally a switching/signalling waypoint, and later started seasonal passenger service for skiiers in 1932, before later switching to year-round service. Apparently it used to be a popular hiking destination as well, but with the establishment of more convenient rail and road routes became less popular in the 80s.

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toss1

Convenient — your hike (or climbing with skiis) starts immediately at the train platform!

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koakuma-chan

I would rather take stairs instead a really long escalator, it's scary af (when going down).

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gruez

Really? I've gone down long escalators before and it doesn't feel scary, and I'm scared of heights.

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koakuma-chan

I took this^[0] in Kyiv, it was really uncomfortable. Apparently it's "Deepest Metro station in the world, and a long escalator ride"^[1]

[0] https://dynamic-media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/15/9...

[1] https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294474-d80742...

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kccqzy

I think it has more to do with lighting as well as the height of the ceiling. In NYC the escalator going to Grand Central Madison is very long and yet it doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. It has way more lighting than your picture and the ceiling seems higher too.

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koakuma-chan

Do you feel nothing at all when you're on a very long escalator and you look down? What if someone pushes you, or a person behind you? People would fall like domino.

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incone123

Lots of people will grab the handrail which will dampen the domino effect.

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stronglikedan

no it doesn't. long escalators are just really fucking scary. regular length are scary too, so it just follows

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sho_hn

I'm reading and acknowledging all these comments, but I don't get it. Can one of you describe the fear?

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plasma_beam

I'm going to guess the person suffers from vertigo, as have I to a small degree - particularly on the metro escalator in Rosslyn, VA (across the river from DC). The sensation occurs going down or up very tall escalators in a tunnel. When it hits, you feel like you are traveling horizontally with some weird tunnel vision. This is terrifying and can cause you to feel like you're falling - even when you know you are going down or up, your eyes are telling you you're traveling horizontally.

I've also gotten this driving a car through long tunnels as well, going down or up (Baltimore 895 harbor tunnel can do this).

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nocoiner

I’m pretty scared of heights and generally haven’t been triggered by any long escalators into subways, but there’s one on the DC Metro (Adams Morgan maybe?) that kind of freaked me out.

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jsight

I'd guess that a long narrow escalator could make someone feel "trapped", in a way that regular stairs generally wouldn't.

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stronglikedan

Yes, really. Avoided if at all avoidable-really. Regular length is terrifying and more than that is no-go territory.

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rkuykendall-com

This would have been a great opportunity for an Akira Elevator:

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/why-the-mysterious-love-aff...

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sixothree

You might enjoy this (now 2 part series) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2oELc61XHE

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m463

486-step staircase
service for skiiers

Can't help but think of trudging up the gondola stairs at heavenly in ski boots at the end of the day.

this is why snowboarding will win in the end.

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rthnbgrredf

Do you have a green filter on all of your images to make it look more creepy?

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Insanity

Was thinking so too, green is a colour that makes humans feel something is 'off' / makes us feel uncomfortable. The Matrix used the same colour tone to differentiate inside/outside The Matrix.

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woodpanel

that makes humans feel something is 'off'

Uhm, yo do realize that the human eye can differentiate the most colors in the green spectrum? Green is literally inscribed in our genes to not be "off" but rather our home.

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adrian_b

Most colors are differentiated in the segment between yellowish green and reddish orange, passing through yellow and orange.

Inside the green segment, there is little color differentiation. All the green hues between 510 nm and 540 nm wavelength look pretty similar, while in the yellow-orange segment a change in wavelength of 1 nm may cause an easily noticeable change in hue.

Also in the blue-green segment, between blue and green, there is easy color differentiation, with the hue changing strongly even for small wavelength differences.

Inside the red, green and blue segments there is little ability to differentiate the colors, unlike in the regions between these segments. This is exactly as expected, because only in the segments between the primary colors you have 2 photoreceptors in the eye that are excited simultaneously, in a ratio that is a function of the color frequency/wavelength. In the frequency/wavelength segments where only 1 of the photoreceptors is excited, the ability to differentiate hues is lost.

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Insanity

I'd assume that's context dependent? Nature (natural green) vs things that look natural but aren't. e.g, green hue on a building? But I'm no expert on this :)

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Ylpertnodi

Why do surgeons wear green?

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woodpanel

Same reason they wear blue too: Less visual strain on the eyes.

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FuriouslyAdrift

Visual contrast with blood and organs.

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FuriouslyAdrift

Here it is in normal light: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doai_Station#/media/File:JR_Jo...

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ape4

Can anyone translate the sign?

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speerer

Autotranslate below. The 'unclear' was added by me and originally read "Welcome to Japan's No.1 Google", which seems like it might be ab error.

Welcome to "Japan's No.1 [unclear]"

・This staircase is 338 meters long and has 462 steps. Climb up the steps and go through a 143 meter (24 step) connecting passage to reach the ticket gate.

Also, the altitude of this downhill platform is 583 meters above sea level, and the altitude is 653.7 meters, and there is a difference in elevation of 70.7 meters between this and the downhill platform.

It takes approximately 10 minutes to reach the ticket gate.

Please be careful where you step.

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FuriouslyAdrift

Welcome to "Japan's No. 1 Mole Station"

-The staircase is 338 meters long and has 462 steps.

Climb the stairs to the top of the 143m (24 steps)

Go through the connecting passage and you will reach the ticket gate.

The elevation of the down platform is 583 meters above sea level, and the elevation of the station building is 653.7 meters, meaning the difference in elevation between the station building and the down platform is 70.7 meters.

It takes about 10 minutes to get to the ticket gate.

Please be careful of your step when climbing.

Doai Station

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varjolintu

ようこそ日本一のモグラえき土合へ Translates to something like: "Welcome to Doai, Japan's number one mole station (mogura-eki)".

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cedilla

Wow, that looks to be very well-lit. The bad lighting was the only really spooky thing about the station.

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tonyhart7

ok its not too bad

the only spooky thing is how much stairs you must climb not the lighting lol

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nottorp

Hmm. The article photo is misleading enough that I won't ever click on any other of their posts...

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jfoster

Seems like there probably is a green filter, but from my memory, the station was quite dark, so the filter might be setting the right mood.

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chrisjharris

This is a creepy station, green filters notwithstanding. The article repeats this statement that I've seen elsewhere and always found pretty questionable - that 800 people have died on Tanigawa. I've no idea where this data comes from but it seems very unlikely. If you just want to get to the top by the simplest route then it's a non-technical day hike up a not-very-high mountain. It's also a multi-pitch rock climbing area but I'd struggle to imagine that 800 rock climbers have killed themselves there over the past 100 or so years.

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minebreaker

I believe the number is correct. The source from the government: https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/common/001556845.pdf

I assume you've never been there. 一ノ倉沢 is really impressive and dangerous.

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chrisjharris

I've climbed routes in ichinokura a few times. It is impressive, and some of them are quite poorly protected. But 800 climbers seems like an exceedingly high number, and that report seems quite vague and unsubstantiated, even if it does come from the government. So I remain sceptical.

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minebreaker

Are you a professional climber? "Poorly protected" is ... not the word I'd use to describe those places.

https://4travel.jp/travelogue/11828856

I've only taken the tourist route of Tanigawa-dake. Those photos are scary enough that I won't try Ichinokura.

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jorams

Wikipedia also says the same thing, both in English and in Japanese, and in both languages uses this report^[1] as the source. This in turn sources a medical journal and a report by a mountaineering club. I don't know Japanese and can't really check whether these are reliable sources that actually exist. Essentially what this report says is that after WWII, particularly in the late 50s and the 60s, there were lots of climbers and unsafe routes, causing a large number of fatalaties. Afterwards there's a sharp decrease, though still pretty significant numbers.

[1] https://soka-yamanokai.com/study/study18.html

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jonnybgood

Japan train stations are interesting. Another interesting set of stations are the so-called “train stations of despair”. These stations, particularly in Tokyo prefecture, are in the middle of no where at the end of a line. If you live out towards these stations and you’re coming home from a night out in Shinjuku on the last train and you so happen to fall asleep and miss your stop, you’ll likely wake up at one of these stations of despair. There’s no return until the next morning.

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mcbobgorge

There's something similar in Philly- I went to Temple University and many drunk kids would either fall asleep on the Broad Street Line or mistakenly take the last express train, which skips over both of the Temple stops. As a result, you have to get off somewhere in North Philly (the worst part of the city) and wait for someone to pick you up.

Different kind of despair than Tokyo lol

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throwaway494932

If somebody wonders how those stations and the town surrounding them look like, you can see an example here^[1]

[1] https://soranews24.com/2024/12/21/station-of-despair-what-to...

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LargoLasskhyfv

There’s no return until the next morning.

No Bus, Taxi, Uber, E-Scooter?

No tengo dinero?

Too drunk?

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michalu

This looks like every other metro station in Paris.

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jfoster

I caught a local train from Minakami to Niigata last year and went through this station. I hadn't heard of it at the time, but it felt like you might imagine from reading this.

Condensation built up on the train windows. Afterward, there seemed to be a very active thunderstorm outside and it was around sunset time. The condensation made it impossible to see out the window besides some very surreal orange/purple tones and flashes of light. I hope I can experience that again one day, but I've only made the trip once so I'm not sure how common or rare it might be.

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dudefeliciano

i guarantee there are creepier stations in berlin - not talking about the appearance of the station, but rather its inhabitants.

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kuschkufan

certainly, certainly... i however guarantee comment OP is full of it

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binaryturtle

I visited this station ~3 years ago myself. There's nothing creepy about it at all. It's just unique and in that sense pretty interesting.

There's a draft/wind going through the tunnel… that perhaps can sound a bit spooky for folks with lively imagination?

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leonewton253

Cool article! Love the color grading. Would love to visit it sometime.

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MontyCarloHall

Surely I thought it would be either of the (now-closed) stations [0, 1] located in the Seikan Tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshioka-Kaitei_Station (located 149 meters below sea level, which made it the deepest station in Japan before it closed)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tappi-Kaitei_Station

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Anonyneko

Japan's creepiest station is objectively the Kisaragi Station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisaragi_Station

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smnplk

gotta love japanese urban legends :)

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ziml77

The only thing that is making this creepy is the color grading on the photos. Here's the first video I found of the station, which shows the stairs and the platform are well-lit https://youtu.be/V3vYuMdCsqs?t=557

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DemocracyFTW2

So how do you know it's the photos and not the video that has been altered to give a certain impression? Also, there's still this seemingly endless staircase...

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ziml77

Because the lighting in the photos simply make no sense. Look at how many florescent light tubes there are. The place should be much brighter and whiter.

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kingnight

Nice find. Agreed. The concrete bunker isolation in this clip is an entirely different vibe that's interesting on its own, doesn't need the horror color grade.

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sixothree

Wow. That get's the point across better than the article that this is a unique descent.

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tdeck

Interesting that people leave kegs of beer down there to age.

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igvadaimon

This is where they filmed Neo vs Smith

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rvnx

If you are interested into it, Matrix 1 was filmed in Sydney, Australia (because it was cheaper)

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tonyhart7

the only spooky thing is how much stairs you must climb not the lighting lol

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junon

Looks like half of Berlin's train stations.

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AndyKelley

全然怖くないよね

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latentsea

体力なかったら怖いよ

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AndyKelley

haha :)

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awaymazdacx5

murakami was entropic: swimming + train stations

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gorgoiler

Here’s a short horror game from last year that really serves that creepy Japanese subway vibe:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/The_Exit_8/

Tangential, but any opportunity to share something so good cannot be missed. It is brilliant.

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derr1

Exit 8 game is great, there is also a game called Platform 8 which is a similar thing, but in a train.

There is also an Exit 8 movie releasing in a few days.

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drewlesueur

Backrooms vibes

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jefurii

I encountered this station by accident one summer while on a cross-Japan trip. I was doing the cheap but slow Seishun 18 Kippu thing. All the passengers that had boarded at Kanazawa had gotten off and I was the only one in the car. I looked up from my book as the train neared a mountain and then it was dark outside. I'd been through lots of tunnels before, no big deal.

But then the train slows down and stops at this station in the middle of the mountain. There's an announcement but it's so echoey that I miss it. I think they're saying the train is going to stop for 10 minutes but I'm not sure. I poke my head out. I eventually look around but I take all my gear with me - I don't want the train to suddenly take off with my stuff on it. I stand for awhile looking up at the staircase going up into the rock, feeling it suck the air upwards, wondering what the heck is at the top.

I found this experience to be frickin' cool and random rather than creepy. Years later Google Maps let me visit the station at the top and it was pretty much just a boring local station with a couple unique features.