Twentythree

There’s one level in this underground dungeon that can only be seen, but not accessed, by the public.

“There’s something that’s been bothering me on my commute, so could you please look into it?”

That was the message our Japanese team received from a reader recently, and it immediately piqued our interest. The message went on to reveal that at Korakuen Station in Tokyo, on the way from the Marunouchi Line to the Namboku Line, there’s an elevator with a button for a floor labelled as “B3”. Due to the setup of the station platforms, however, the floor doesn’t seem to make sense, but with the reader feeling too timid to press the button, they asked our team of reporters to investigate.

▼ So we headed out to Korakuen Station to visit the mystery floor.

After arriving, we walked along the Marunouchi Line platform, where we noticed a wall mural that resembled a castle from Dragon Quest. This seemed like an apt artwork for our adventure, but it also made us fear that difficulties and dangers might lie ahead.

Japanese train stations are so vast they’re often referred to as dungeons, and this mural seemed to be challenging us to push through to the final stage, defeat the boss, and rescue the princess.

▼ Feeling emboldened, we scanned the signboard and headed to the elevator.

▼ It didn’t take us long to reach the lift, which looked like any other ordinary elevator.

The Marunouchi Line is located on two above-ground floors, while the Namboku Line is located on six underground floors. With a difference in elevation of approximately 41 metres (134 feet), these are two of the largest subway lines in Tokyo.

Stepping into the elevator on the B1 level, we looked at the control panel, where we saw buttons for B1, marked “改札階” (“Ticket Gate Floor”), B5 (“都営線連絡階” [“Toei Subway Connecting Floor”]) and B6 (“ホーム階” [“Platform Floor”). This was the same as the floor listing on the sign posted outside the lift when he got in, but inside, there was also an unmentioned “B3” level, which unlike the other levels, had no explanation next to it.

Finger quivering, we reached out to press the B3 button. However, after pressing the button it refused to light up, and what’s more, it triggered an announcement, with a calm-sounding pre-recorded voice saying: “There’s no stopping on that floor”.

With other passengers in the elevator, the announcement hung in the air, creating an awkward moment. We could feel everyone’s eyes on our back, as if they were wondering why we’d pressed the button, but our embarrassment was soon forgotten as the lift began its descent.

▼ Camera poised to capture images of the mystery floor, we shot this video of the B3 level.

As indicated by the announcement, the elevator didn’t stop on this floor, and from what we could see of it, it didn’t appear to be intended for public use. Although it was brightly lit, there was no sign of life there, making it seem like a foreboding area in a zombie game, where the undead might burst through the door at any moment.

Looking closer at the sign on the door reveals the reason for its existence, as we could make out the words “変電設備” (“Electrical Substation Equipment“). This indicates that B3 is actually a floor dedicated to equipment that supports the underground workings of the station. Substations are facilities that convert high-voltage electricity sent from the power company into a voltage that can be used at stations and on trains. Stations consume a huge amount of electricity, running the subway, turning on the lights, and operating the escalators… and the beating heart of it all is housed on the mystery B3 floor.

While ordinary members of the public aren’t able to access this level, it needs to be accessed by maintenance workers, who likely have a way of bypassing the normal controls, either through a special key, code or prior permission from station staff, hence the existence of the B3 button.

Photos ©SoraNews24
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The ume of Ikegami grow up a terraced hillside, and under the radar.

Though they tend to get overshadowed by the more famous cherry blossoms, Japan’s plum blossoms, or ume, are not to be missed. Flowering in a range of colors from pure white to a deep purplish pink, ume are lovely to look at and have a sweet scent that can get carried on the breeze. Because they blossom in February, the coldest winter weather is usually over and done, but since it’s not quite spring yet, plum blossoms don’t attract the same sort of rowdy (i.e. drunken) revelry that cherry blossoms often do, making for more relaxed, soothing excursions to see them.

We recently took a look at a handful of ume-viewing day-trip candidates from Tokyo, but there’s actually a very beautiful place to see them without even leaving the capital, one that’s in a part of the city most tourists don’t ever visit.

Ota is the southernmost of Tokyo’s 23 main wards, and aside from Haneda Airport, doesn’t have many places that feature too prominently in most travel itineraries. However, Ota’s Ikegami neighborhood is definitely worth a visit at this time of year to see the Ikegami Baien (Ikegami Plum Garden).

Built on land originally owned by Japanese painter Shinsui Ito, and later by a wealthy restauranteur, ownership of the plot was transferred to Ota Ward in 1978. The terraced garden has some 370 plum blossom trees, representing 30 different of subspecies of the flower, and a winding pedestrian path that leads up the slope to let visitors view the blossoms from various angles as they make their way to the top.

While the garden is quite pretty in the daylight…

…it gets especially enchanting after sundown, when the colors of the gently illuminated ume pop against the night sky.

Though the garden, which has other seasonal flowers, ordinarily isn’t open at night, an exception is made in plum season, when it’s open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Adult admission is just 100 yen (US$0.65), which is a bargain for someplace that looks this cool.

Access-wise, Ikegami Baien is a roughly 15-minute walk from Nishi Magome Station, the last stop on the Asakusa subway line, which can be picked up from Gotanda Station for those coming via the Yamanote train line that circles downtown Tokyo. And if you’re coming all the way here, adding a visit to Ikegami Honmonji, an impressive temple complex with one of Tokyo’s few five-story pagodas, is highly recommended, as it’s just a five-minute stroll from the plum garden.

▼ Walking route from Ikegami Baien to Ikegami Honmonji

▼ Ikegami Honmonji

Ikegami Baien’s light-up event is going on now and continues until March 1.

Garden information
Ikegami Baien / 池上梅園
Address: Tokyo-to, Ota-ku, Ikegami 2-2-13
東京都大田区池上２丁目２−１３
Website

Source, images: PR Times
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Purple bread, all in my Japanese convenience store sweets.

With Valentine’s Day chocolate being such a big deal in Japan, it’s generally a bad idea to try to tempt people with any sort of non-chocolate sweets during the first half of February. There’s simply too much chocolatey goodness out there to compete with.

But once we get past February 14? Then the sweets schedule opens up considerably, and rushing to fill our about-to-expand dessert needs is 7-Eleven Japan. You won’t find this new treat next to the cookies or in the ice cream cooler, though, because it’s a sandwich.

Arriving next week is the Blueberry Sandwich, 7-Eleven’s latest entry into Japan’s fruit sandwich genre. The filling of blueberries and cream cheese looks enticing on its own, but what really makes this eye-catching is the purple bread.

If you’re yet to have the pleasure of biting into a Japanese fruit sandwich, they’re definitely not savory in terms of flavor profile, but they’re not as sweet or rich as a slice of cake. That sweet-but-not-too-sweet balance is what 7-Eleven is going for here as well, and after looking at sales data for fruit sandwiches, the chain found that they’re a popular evening purchase with younger shoppers, so it’s pitching the Blueberry Sandwich as a “nighttime comfort” food, an easy-to-enjoy sweet snack to reward yourself with after putting in a solid day’s effort at school or work.

The Blueberry Sandwich, priced at 328 yen (US$2.10), goes on sale February 18. And if you’re bummed about the Valentine’s chocolate season ending, we’ve got a super-easy recipe to make some sake chocolates of your own with.

Source. images: PR Times
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Are you ready to go on the scariest cruise of your life?

Escape rooms in Japan know no bounds, with people being encouraged to escape from hotels, trains, and haunted manors. Now, the boat is being taken out even further, quite literally, with the opening of a zombie ship from which there’s said to be “no escape”, and it’s been created by a company called Obaken.

A play on the word “obake”, which means ghost, monster, or apparition, the Obaken Zombie Ship is said to be the “ultimate realistic horror experience aboard a vessel out at sea“. Described as a 120-minute entertainment horror cruise where you never know what’s going to happen, this is reportedly the first-ever horror event to take place on a boat in Japan, and it’s a one-day only affair, limited to two departures from Suruga Bay in Shizuoka Prefecture on Sunday, 8 March.

▼ Truly no escape from this zombie ship until you get back to the bay.

Obaken has created immersive horror experiences in a variety of settings, and for this event, they’ll be zombifying the Fujisan Suruga Bay Ferry, or “Fuji” to use its shortened name.

▼ Fuji, looking less terrifying in the light of day, in front of Mt Fuji.

The Zombie Ship is limited to two afternoon departures, at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with a capacity of 90 people per departure. Boarding procedures take place 20 minutes beforehand, and once you’re on the ship, the horror story begins, with no escape until your return to the bay two hours later.

While the cruise itself is limited to two departures, there are three “courses” to choose from when purchasing tickets.

• Course 1. “Zombie Ship Cruise with Shinkansen” (departing from Tokyo, Shinagawa, or Shin-Yokohama Station) 29,300 yen (US$191.62)

Course contents:
・Boarding the “Obaken Zombie Ship Cruise” (valid only for the 4 p.m. departure)
・Round-trip Shinkansen and limited express train tickets from Tokyo, Shinagawa, or Shin-Yokohama Station to JR Shimizu Station
・All-you-can-eat nigiri sushi dinner (50-minute limit) at S-Pulse Dream Plaza Tairyo Market; shuttle bus to dock available

*Price is the same for adults and children and only junior high school students and older can participate (children under 15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian)

• Course 2: “Zombie Ship Cruise with Shinkansen” (Tokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama Station) 29,300 yen

Course contents:
・Boarding the “Obaken Zombie Ship Cruise” (valid only for the 6:30 p.m. departure)
・Round-trip Shinkansen and limited express train tickets from Tokyo, Shinagawa, or Shin-Yokohama Station to JR Shimizu Station
・All-you-can-eat nigiri sushi dinner (50-minute limit) at S-Pulse Dream Plaza Tairyo Market; shuttle bus to dock available

*Price is the same for adults and children and only junior high school students and older can participate (children under 15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian)

• Course 3: “Zombie Ship Cruise” (Meet at the venue) 21,300 yen

Course contents:
・Boarding the “Obaken Zombie Ship Cruise” (valid only for the 4 p.m. departure)
・All-you-can-eat nigiri sushi dinner (50-minute limit) at S-Pulse Dream Plaza Tairyo Market; shuttle bus to dock available

*Price is the same for adults and children and only junior high school students and older can participate (children under 15 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian)

With courses including return Shinkansen tickets from major hubs in and near Tokyo, this is a great way to add a daytrip to the sea, and the world of the undead, to your itinerary while in Japan. Although it looks like there won’t be any English support available, you can always bring along a friend or translator who speaks Japanese to enjoy the ride, although judging by the levels of realism that escape games manage to recreate in Japan, you’ll want to be sure they have a high tolerance for horror.

Event information
Obaken Zombie Ship
Port address: Shizuoka-ken, Shizuoka-shi, Shimizu-ku, Shimazakicho 149, Shimizu Port Pier,  Suruga Bay Ferry
駿河湾フェリー 清水港乗り場 静岡県静岡市清水区島崎町149番地
Website (Tickets can be purchased at this link from 12 February)

Source, images: Press release
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Life of crime or live baseball fan? You can only choose one.

There are a whole lot of reasons to not make the decision to lead a life of crime. Aside from the moral implications of profiting via harmful or otherwise unscrupulous means, there’s the legal repercussions one faces if caught and convicted.

And even if you aren’t bothered by any of those, choosing to be a gangster in Japan also means you won’t be able to go to any professional baseball games.

This is something that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police recently reminded everyone of, announcing the arrest on February 9 of Nobuo Kusuno, a 62-year-old resident of the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, which is about 30 minutes east of downtown Tokyo. On the night of September 10, Kusuno, along with three other men, attended a game between the Yomiuri Giants and Hiroshima Carp professional baseball teams at Tokyo Dome, sitting in season ticket seats along the third base-side of the stadium. The game was a tight one, with the two teams locked in a 3-3 tie through the middle innings, but Kusuno and his companions would not get to see the end of it. Part-way through the game they were approached by stadium staff who had seen tattoos of the type associated with yakuza organized crime organizations on at least one of the men. When asked, Kusuno admitted to being a member of a yakuza group, and the four men were then told that they would have to leave the stadium, which they did.

However, leaving didn’t undo the fact that the four men had entered the stadium in the first place, and that means that Kusuno had committed a crime, as it’s illegal for members of organized crime organizations to attend professional baseball games in Japan. This isn’t a new wrinkle that’s just been added to the criminal justice system, either, as since 2003 Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s professional baseball league, has barred yakuza members from attending games, and in the case of Tokyo Dome, the ban extends to the entirety of the venue itself. “Those who belong to an organized crime group or any type of antisocial forces, or any individuals associated with those groups” are listed in the section labeled “Those not admitted to enter” on the Tokyo Dome website, and even when the stadium hosted Major League Baseball’s opening games of the 2025 season, the event’s official site included the warning that “Members of organized crime groups or similar antisocial organizations, or individuals closely associated with such groups” would be denied entry. Signs to that effect are also posted at professional baseball stadiums.

▼ The Tokyo Dome rules would ostensibly mean that yakuza members are banned from attending idol concerts that take place at the venue as well.

In addition to Kusuno, his three baseball-watching companions were also arrested. A 53-year-old man, also a resident of Funabashi, admitted to being a yakuza member, while the other two men, aged 51 and 57, are company employees who are accused of being yakuza affiliates, though they are currently denying the accusation. In addition, the season ticket seats that the men were sitting in are registered to a Chiba Prefecture-based industrial waste management business, which may also be in legal trouble if found to have acted as a front in the tickets’ purchase.

Of course, one could argue that, what with modern technology, there’s no need for sports-loving yakuza to go to the ballpark in the first place, as they could just stream the game on their phone…except that it’s illegal for yakuza to make mobile phone contracts too.

Incidentally, the third-base side of baseball stadiums in Japan is customarily where fans cheering for the away team sits, suggesting that the four men were rooting for the Carp, but Hiroshima ended up losing the game 4-3, meaning that nothing went their way that night.

Source: Kyodo via Livedoor News via Hachima Kiko, Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo Dome, MLB, NPB
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Pakutaso
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Special morning-only ramen is a great way to start your Tokyo day.

They say that you should never put off until tomorrow that which you can do today, and by that same logic, you should never put off until lunch or dinner that which you can eat for breakfast. However, with many ramen restaurants not opening until around noon, starting your day the ramen way isn’t always an option, but we recently stumbled across a fantastic spot for morning ramen with an extremely convenient location for travelers in Tokyo.

We start our morning at Tokyo Station, one of Japan’s busiest rail hubs, with over 800,000 people passing through it every day. From there we head out the Marunouchi Minamiguchi exit, walking south along the elevated tracks towards the Yurakucho neighborhood.

We don’t walk very far, though, because it’s just a very quick stroll to the ramen restaurant pictured above, Magorinsha (孫鈴舎).

▼ The walk from Tokyo Station to Magorinsha. Google says it takes four minutes, but once we were out of the ticket gates, we actually made it there in two.

Magorinsha isn’t a 24-hour ramen restaurant, but they open at 7 a.m., specifically so they can provide for fans who want ramen for breakfast. They even offer a special Morning Ramen (“Asa Raman” in Japanese) which is only available on weekdays between 7 and 10:30 a.m., so that’s what we ordered after putting our 600 yen (US$3.90) into the meal ticket machine.

Soon after that, the staff placed a bowl of very classy-looking ramen in front of us.

This isn’t some half-effort, can’t-be-bothered morning meal, as it boasts a complex cloudy broth that’s a combination tonkotsu (pork stock)/shoyu (soy sauce)/gyokai (fish stock) style. It delivers a solidly impactful flavor, and Magorinsha’s decision to serve it with grated ginger already mixed in, a unique choice for a ramen restaurant in Japan, also gives it a special eye-opening quality for a breakfast ramen.

Magorinsha’s noodles are thin and firm, which gave us a lot of surface area for the broth to soak into. It’s an excellent combination, and if you want even more noodles, you can ask for a kaedama (noodle refill) for just 100 yen more.

And even at the Morning Ramen’s affordable price point, Magorinsha doesn’t skip out on the chashu, as we had a nice slice of roasted pork waiting for us in the bowl.

Considering the ultra-convenient location in a pretty fancy part of town, this is a very impressive breakfast. With many hotels nearby, Magorinsha’s morning ramen is a great spot to hit at the start of your sightseeing day, and the proximity to Tokyo Station, where both the Shinkansen and highway buses come in, makes it a viable choice on the day of your arrival in Tokyo from elsewhere in Japan too.

Restaurant information
Magorinsha / 孫鈴舎
Address: Tokyo-to, Chiyoda-ku, Marunouchi 1-10-9
東京都千代田区丸の内1-10-9
Open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. (weekdays), 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (Saturdays)
Closed Sundays, holidays
Website

Photos ©SoraNews24
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Veteran contractor becomes senior thief.

A lot has been said about the reasons for Japan’s low crime rate. Some people point to Confucian philosophy, while others look for more modern factors such as high-density population centers leading to a strong sense of responsibility to be considerate to one another in all aspects of life, since there’s less physical buffer space between people.

A key factor that often gets overlooked, though, is that part of the reason Japan has relatively few thieves is because it has hardly any thieves who steal stuff just to be jerks. As a result, you’ll often see people leave things like handkerchiefs, pens, notebooks, or jackets unattended as they go to the bathroom while dining alone in a cafe or fast food restaurant. There’s not really much money to be made reselling those things, so why bother taking them?

So it must have seemed odd when the owners of a warehouse in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, noticed back in November that a single toilet bowl and water tank had been stolen. Sure, if someone had come in and taken a whole bunch of them, maybe they could sell off the entire set to a construction company for a nice wad of cash, but finding a buyer for a single toilet from a dubious, undocumented source wouldn’t be easy to do, and wouldn’t net the thief much profit from the caper. Also, this isn’t like cases of manholes or copper wire being stolen for their metal content. Porcelain can’t be melted down and repurposed, so there’s no monetary gain to be achieved by stealing a toilet for its material.

But the mystery was solved when the warehouse owners reported the theft to police and security footage showed that a 76-year-old man had let himself into the warehouse through its unlocked shutter and stolen the toilet. Investigators were able to identify the man as Kumi Yotsumoto, a resident of Chiryu, another Aichi town. When questioned about the incident, Yotsumoto admitted to stealing the toilet bowl, and when asked why, he said:

“I have been using the toilet that I stole.”

Yotsumoto’s job history includes working as a daiku, a term that’s often translated into English as “carpenter” but is often closer to “contractor,” in that it’s used for a broad range of roles involved in building construction, especially for houses, apartments, and other residential structures. After stealing the toilet, Yotsumoto took it back to his home, installed it, and had been using it up until when investigators came knocking on his door.

▼ It’s about a 30-minute drive from Toyota City to Chiryu, so it’s surprising that he apparently couldn’t find a toilet to steal that was closer to home.

As stolen property, justice would say that Yotsumoto should not be allowed to keep the toilet, but at the same time, it’s highly unlikely that the rightful owners want it back after he’s been using it for three months.

▼ Also, if the toilet is confiscated, do the police clean it, or do they have to leave it as-is, just in case they end up needing DNA evidence?

However, while Yotsumoto has admitted to stealing the toilet, he claims that that was all he took, and that he’s not responsible for the missing water tank. Assuming that investigators’ theory is that he would have stolen the tank to install within the toilet, their next task will likely be to remove the tank and check its serial number, so Yotsumoto may need to look for a replacement toilet while his case is ongoing, and hopefully will source it by more lawful means.

Source: Nitele News via Yahoo! Japan News via Itai News, Tokai TV
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Insert image: Pakutaso
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