Hi gang!
We are headed to Japan in March next year for 16 days and while we have 95% of our itineraries planned, we have a few spare days here and there – one in Beppu, one in Osaka and about three in Tokyo.
I love ghost stories and dark history. I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for spooky places or ghost tours, dark history museums or tours, especially in and around Tokyo as that where we have the most time (but open to other suggestions if we can make it work)?
This will be my first time overseas and I am excited beyond all reason!
Thank you for reading!
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I couldn’t recommend a tour or museum but I have came across this area which is a tunnel that is reportedly haunted
[https://www.google.com/maps/dir//2-ch%C5%8Dme-24-1+Sendagaya+Shibuya+City,+Tokyo+151-0051+Japan/@35.6757279,139.7115644,16z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x60188c962a835bcb:0x9f433f2da8207dae!2m2!1d139.7115644!2d35.6757279?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/dir//2-ch%C5%8Dme-24-1+Sendagaya+Shibuya+City,+Tokyo+151-0051+Japan/@35.6757279,139.7115644,16z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x60188c962a835bcb:0x9f433f2da8207dae!2m2!1d139.7115644!2d35.6757279?entry=ttu)
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I came across it from this youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@shinreisekai
Not haunted but fun in a haunted way.
https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-tokyo_suburbs/article-a0001639/
Not sure if your itinerary can accommodate it, but Matsue Castle and Matsue Ohashi Bridge are both said to be sites of Hitobashira. Pretty morbid folk history. Or if you’re stopping by Himeji Castle while in Osaka, Okiku’s Well on the castle grounds is part of a popular ghost story. Poison Gas Museum on Okunoshima is obviously a different kind of dark history, but you can pet some bunnies while you’re there to balance it out.
Here is a list by Japanese people:
[https://ghostmap.net/spotlist.php?precd=8](https://ghostmap.net/spotlist.php?precd=8)
Or you can reference the Manga/Amine: Dark Gathering, it has many real life haunted spots.
There are a couple temples in kyoto with bloody footprints visible from past samurai deaths. We went to one and it was a very cool experience, and beautiful shrine as well
There are a couple temples in kyoto with bloody footprints visible from past samurai deaths. We went to one and it was a very cool experience, and beautiful shrine as well
How about Okunoshima?
Hit a couple of places on my last trip but only one is even remotely close to where you’re going
Aokigahara Forest near Mt Fuji
Some abandoned building in remote Hokkaido was the other one (doesn’t seem to be coming up in a quick google search but it was a hexagonal or octagonal building that’s been taken over by nature)
In 2016, I went and stayed at a buddhist temple in Koyasan, which has the largest buddhist/shinto cemetery in the world. It has a mile and a half long path through it, lined with stone lanterns. It is pretty spooky to walk through at night.
I would 100% recommend it.
If you find ‘abroad in japan’ on youtube I think he went to some haunted places in one of the videos. It’s a fairly recent one so the scripted video plot is horribly obvious unlike his earlier work.
What’s the name of that famous tunnel that’s said to be haunted in Tokyo? That’s a good one, especially if it’s actually haunted
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Hachioji castle remains is rumored to be haunted, it located in Tokyo
Kiyotaki tunnel north of Arashiyama has a few stories attached to it.
in Beppu there was a gruesome murder like 10 years ago at a natural onsen in the forest. Some locals have started using it again, but some people say it’s haunted. https://goo.gl/maps/ntGtvXuVMe5UvJit8
and here’s a different onsen on the same path https://goo.gl/maps/cDYRiifBZTqm3dd99
間瀬隧道
Maze Tunnel in Niigata prefecture. Was featured on Abroad in Japan
山中トンネル
Yamanaka Tunnel in Fukui prefecture. Long narrow dark tunnel, as well as a couple of shorter ones on the south side. And next to it at one end is a switchback tunnel where old trains used to turn around to go back the other way
There is a great book you should read: Haunted Japan: Exploring the World of Japanese Yokai, Ghosts and the Paranormal by Catrien Ross. It’s a bit old, but it will provide you with many places and great backstories.
This might not quite fit, but how well versed are you in Japanese mythology?
In shimane, there’s a folklore site called yomotsuhirasaka based on their founding mythology. It’s the entrance to the underworld. Visiting it is atmospheric and Japanese people talk about the site as having these desolate, haunted vibes.
All old traditional onsen hotels are rumored to be haunted or spooky, especially those that come with an armour of samurai displayed in the corridors 😂. So really no need to go anywhere else specifically 😜