Japan’s ‘zombie’ train haunts passengers before Halloween

It’s usually a serene two-and-a-half-hour ride on Japan’s famously efficient bullet train. But the trip quickly turned into a zombie apocalypse, with passengers screaming in terror.

Organizers of Saturday’s adrenaline-pumping trip, less than two weeks before Halloween, touted it as “the world’s first haunted house experience on a running shinkansen.”

Aboard a chartered shinkansen car – the Japanese word for bullet train – were around 40 thrill-seekers, ready to face an encounter with the living dead between Tokyo and the western metropolis of Osaka.

The eerie experience was inspired by the 2016 South Korean action-horror film “Train to Busan,” in which a father and daughter trapped on a moving train fight zombies hungry for human flesh.

Everything seemed normal at first when the bullet train departed peacefully on Saturday night, but it wasn’t long until the first bloody attack.
The victims – actors planted in seats by the organizers – shook in agony and then underwent a terrifying transformation before launching a violent attack on the other passengers.

Event organizer Kenta Iwana from the group Kowagarasetai, which means “scare squad”, said he wanted to “portray the normally safe and peaceful shinkansen – something we take for granted – falling apart in the blink of an eye.”

‘LIKE IT WAS IN THE MOVIE’

Sitting next to one of the actors was Joshua Payne, one of the many foreign tourists on board.

“I literally felt like I was in the movie, just sitting here watching it all happen in front of me,” the 31-year-old American told AFP.

“The fact that we can physically go from Tokyo to Osaka now and have this whole performance at the same time… I think it’s really cool and maybe a little innovative,” he said.

It was far from the Central Japan Railway Company’s first experience with the generally remarkably clean and accident-free shinkansen, a Japanese institution that turned 60 this year.

After demand for long-distance travel fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, the railway operator began renting bullet train compartments for special events in order to diversify its business.

A sushi restaurant, a bar and even a wrestling match were held on the high-speed train, and the cars can also be reserved for private parties.

Marie Izumi, from JR Central’s tourism subsidiary, told AFP she was surprised by the idea of ​​a zombie-themed route when Kowagarasetai approached her, thinking it would be “almost impossible to pull off”.

But the event convinced her of “new possibilities” for the bullet train, Izumi said, adding that concerts and comedy shows could be a good option in the future.

ACTION MOVIE

On Saturday, chainsaws and toy guns were used as props, but depictions of extreme violence and gore that could tarnish the shinkansen’s clean reputation were avoided.

To offset the mild horror, the two-and-a-half-hour tour was peppered with lighthearted performances by zombie cheerleaders, magicians and comedians, including a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

“Nobody wants to sit around for so long and be constantly exposed to horror,” said Ayaka Imaide from Kowagarasetai.

Many on board the zombie-infested train said the experience alone was worth the ticket price of up to 50,000 yen ($335).

“It was very immersive,” Naohiko Nozawa, 30, told AFP. “And the appearance of so many different types of zombies kept me entertained the entire time.”