What is Kisaragi Station?
Kisaragi Station is an “otherworldly station” that does not exist in reality. The legend goes like this: you board your usual train, but it does not reach the next station for a long time, and when it finally stops, it is at an unfamiliar, unstaffed station called Kisaragi.
A live report on a message board
In January 2004, a poster calling herself “Hasumi” wrote on the occult board of an internet forum that something was wrong with her train. Exchanging messages with other users in real time, she reported a series of strange events after getting off at Kisaragi Station and walking along the tracks: hearing drums and bells, and being called to by a one-legged old man. Her posts stopped after she wrote that she was getting into a stranger’s car.
How the legend spread
The live-report format gave the story a sense of immediacy that only the internet could, and similar “otherworldly station” accounts began to be posted one after another. In 2022 the film Kisaragi Station was released, and the legend is now widely known among younger generations. Similar stories include the Shimokitazawa time slip and the man of time and space.
