Featured Image Credit: Philip Fong/AFP / PHILIP FONG / Contributor / Getty
One of Japan's most mysterious locations is an otherwise 'normal' train station, as it manages to garner hundreds of visitors a day despite not having a single exit for most passengers.
Trains and train stations are an attraction in of themselves for many, and Japan is one of the best places you can travel to if you happen to be a railway enthusiast.
Complex stations, old tracks, and the Shinkansen - otherwise known as the bullet train - are all worthy things to visit across the country, but one quaint stop just outside of Tokyo has somehow become one of the most well known pilgrimage spots.
Umi-Shibaura Station located in Kawasaki just south of Tokyo is a small and basic train stop that only hosts a number of limited services every single day. Its immediate draw is the magnificent sea that it neighbors, making for a wonderful view as you step onto the platform, but it's real attraction for many is much stranger.
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It's perhaps the only train station in the entire world that doesn't have an exit - at least to anyone who doesn't work at the adjoined factory of $872,000,000,000 tech company Toshiba.
Indeed, you're only able to leave the station and make your way to the Toshiba factory if you're an active employee, and the rules are so strict that you're not even allowed to film or take photos of that side of the platform or the building itself.
YouTuber Tanner has gone to the effort of capturing the journey to the station himself, showing off the wonderful view, thankfully avoiding the rule-breaking shots of the exit in the process.
While only a couple of people stepped off onto the platform when he was filming, it serves as a popular spot to watch the sun rise on New Year's Day.
The Japan News reported that around 300 people made the trip to the mysterious station at the start of 2023, taking advantage of the views despite the otherwise industrial and 'plain' feel of the station.
Thankfully it also has a spot of greenery to the side for visitors to enjoy, with Umishiba Park offering a few benches, some lovely plants, and the perfect place to enjoy the views for anyone stopping over.
It also serves as a lovely break spot for Toshiba employees too, as revealed by Risako Kawai who was interviewed by The Japan News.
"When I take a break and come out to look at the view from the station," they explain, "the exhaustion I feel from work flies away."
Another added that they bring their children to the park on days off, remarking that "it's nice to see that the station, located at the company where we work, is revered by so many people."
