The earthquake that struck Japan on Friday 11 March 2011 was the fourth most powerful in the history of seismology. It knocked the Earth six and a half inches off its axis; it moved Japan four metres closer to America. In the tsunami that followed, more than 18,000 people were killed. At its peak, the water was 40 metres high. 2,500 people were reported missing.
The phenomenon of “Ghost Passengers” in Japan emerged in the years after this tragedy, taxi drivers in some of the hardest-hit areas, particularly in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, began reporting unusual encounters that captured public attention and sparked discussions about the supernatural.
Yuka Kudo, a sociology student at Tohoku Gakuin University, conducted interviews with over 100 taxi drivers as part of her graduation thesis research. Her work brought these stories to light, revealing a pattern of experiences that many found both eerie and compelling.
One of the most notable accounts came from a driver in his 50s who recounted picking up a young woman near Ishinomaki Station. She was wearing a coat, which seemed unusual for the weather. The woman requested to be taken to the Minamihama district, an area that had been devastated by the tsunami. When the driver informed her that the area was almost empty, she asked in a trembling voice, “Have I died?” Upon turning around to respond, the driver found that the back seat was empty. The woman had vanished.
Another driver in his 40s described picking up a young man who appeared to be in his 20s. The passenger got into the taxi and pointed towards the front. When the driver repeatedly asked for his destination, the man finally replied “Hiyoriyama” (mountain). Hiyoriyama is a significant location, as it served as a refuge for many survivors during the tsunami. However, when the taxi arrived at the destination, the young man had disappeared from the vehicle.
These experiences were not isolated incidents. Out of the 100 drivers interviewed by Kudo, seven provided detailed accounts of encounters with supposed ghost passengers. While this represents a small percentage, the similarity in the stories and the conviction of the drivers lent credibility to the phenomenon in the eyes of many locals.
Interestingly, the drivers did not report feeling fear during these encounters. Many viewed the experiences as meaningful or even positive. One driver stated, “It is not strange to see a ghost here. If I encounter a ghost again, I will accept it as my passenger.” Some drivers even paid the fares for their vanished passengers out of respect or sympathy.
It’s worth noting that in Japan, taxi doors are often automatic or operated by the driver, which adds an element of mystery to how these “passengers” could enter and exit the vehicles unnoticed.
The ghost passenger phenomenon was not limited to taxi drivers. Other residents in the affected areas reported seeing spectral figures in destroyed residential districts and spirits queuing outside shops that no longer existed.
