Haunted Places You Definitely Shouldn’t Visit in Tokyo
Japan is known for some amazingly terrifying horror movies like The Ring and Battle Royale, so it may not be surprising to learn that Japan (and Tokyo in particular) is home to some pretty terrifying ghosts and haunted buildings. Some in the most surprising of places. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, anyone can agree that some of these back stories are enough to keep the faint of heart far, far away.
Sunshine 60
Photo by J.Sorel
One of the most surprisingly haunted places is Sunshine 60, the 60-story shopping and office building located in Ikebukuro. There is a reason it was given such a happy, sunshiny name: to distract from the location’s unfortunate past. It turns out that this building is sitting upon what once was the Sugamo Prison. The Sugamo Prison was used to hold political prisoners before 1945. After the war, the United States Army incarcerated around 5,000 Japanese war criminals here. Sugamo was the place of execution by hanging for 7 Class A Japanese war criminals, including Prime Minister Hideko Tojo.
Photo by Adam Swank
Many people are unaware that they are shopping on an execution ground. There have been reports of unexplained incidents and accidents, ghosts sightings, and even fireballs floating in the air. Although seeing a ghost may be unlikely during the next visit, it will certainly be difficult to not think about the Sunshine 60’s dark past.
Akasaka Weekly Mansion
Photo by Knexon Cho
The Akasaka Weekly Mansion is arguable one of the creepiest and most haunted places in Japan. The weird thing is that no one is really sure why… Sure there have been a few suicides here and there and a couple unexplained deaths but those are pretty frequent anywhere in a city the size of Tokyo. What makes Akasaka so unsettling is just how… interactive… the ghosts seem to be. Visitors have reported seeing figures at the foot of their beds, white mist blowing through air vents, and unexplained temperature drops. Your typical haunting activities, right? But then it gets strange. Some visitors have reported feeling someone, or something, stroking their hair while they pretended to sleep or being pushed into bed and then frozen so that they couldn’t run away. The scariest one of all, though, is that one guest reported being dragged across the room by her hair by some unseen force. There were scratches all over her back the next day, as well. I may not be staying there anytime soon, but for those who are curious, by all means go ahead and check it out.
Hakone Yama in Toyama Park
Photo by yorozuna
This haunted spot surprised me quite a bit considering I have actually been to this particular park several times. Toyama Park is located very close to my university and makes for a great spot to hang out or go for a walk. I may consider rerouting next time now that I know the history behind the large hill within the park… Little did I know, Toyama Park was once the former Army Medical College and Hospital and is rumored to be the training center for the Imperial Army’s Unit 731. This unit conducted biological and chemical warfare research and was responsible for horrible war crimes like lethal human experimentation. Bodies from these experiments are said to be buried in and around the park. Human bones have been unearthed every now and again inside the park.
Photo by guen-k
When it gets darker, visitors passing through Hakone Yama have reported hearing sobs and cries from somewhere in the darkness… I’m curious enough to try and see for myself if I can find some ghosts after class someday, not without a couple dozen friends for back-up, of course.
Try and work up the courage and see for yourself whether or not these places are as haunted as people say. I know I’ll think twice the next time I visit any one of these places.
But I’m not scared. Nope. Not at all. Totally fine.
For more interesting story and videos on Japan, please check out http://moving-japan.com
Originally published at moving-japan.com.