Liminal Spaces in Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama: 8 Real Places, From an Underground Temple to Showa-Era Stations

South Kanto: Old Stations, Vast Underground Spaces, and Ruins Seen From Outside

Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama have several stations that are used every day yet still keep their look from the early Showa era. Get off when few people are around and time seems to move at a different pace.

The others are huge underground spaces normally hidden from view, and buildings left silent after closing. Most ruins are private or off-limits, so this article only introduces ones you can see from outside.

Kanagawa's Old Stations: Kokudo Under the Viaduct, Nebukawa Above the Sea

Kokudo Station on the JR Tsurumi Line opened in 1930 as a station of the Tsurumi Rinko Railway. Apart from moving the ticket gate, it is said to have had no major rebuilding, and a dim, arched passage runs beneath the viaduct. Bullet marks said to come from a 1945 strafing attack remain on the outer wall. People still live and run shops under the viaduct, so keep residents and doorways out of your photos.

Nebukawa Station in Odawara is an unstaffed station on a hill above Sagami Bay. In the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, a train arriving at the station was caught in a landslide and swept into the sea along with the station building and platform, and more than 100 people died. The current wooden station building was rebuilt in 1924 and has been in use for over 100 years. A memorial to the earthquake victims, erected by station staff in 1948, stands at the station.

A Game Corner by Lake Sagami, From 10 Yen a Play

Next to the boat landing on Lake Sagami is a game corner run by a long-established boat company that also operates sightseeing boats. Vintage machines such as a 1970s whack-a-mole can be played from 10 yen, and the place has been used for advertising shoots as a mecca of retro games.

With only the electronic sounds of old machines echoing in the quiet air by the lake, it has a nostalgia unlike an amusement park or a candy store, as if it had been left behind somewhere. Some of the machines have already been retired.

Chiba: Higashi-Narita, an Airport Station Whose Role Changed

Higashi-Narita Station opened in 1978 as "Narita Airport Station" when the airport opened. When a new station was built directly under the airport terminal in 1991, it was renamed Higashi-Narita. It is still the terminus of the Keisei Higashi-Narita Line, with through trains to the Shibayama Railway, but the former limited-express platform is no longer used, and station signs with the old name and old advertisements remain.

Outside the ticket gates, an underground passage about 500 meters long leads to Terminal 2 (open from 5:20 to 23:15). A ceramic relief installed in 1980 remains in the closed concourse, and although the station is in service, it has the stillness of a place where time has stopped.

Saitama: A "Temple" Built Underground

The Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel in Kasukabe is a national facility that takes in water from nearby rivers during heavy rain and sends it to the Edo River. Its pressure-adjusting tank, about 22 meters underground, is a space 177 meters long, 78 meters wide and 18 meters high, with 59 pillars weighing about 500 tons each, and it is known as the "underground temple".

You can only enter on guided tours, which must be booked in advance (no same-day bookings). The tours involve going up and down about 100 steps, and it is around 20°C underground even in summer. After the facility has been in operation, the tank may be closed for a while. Check the official website for courses and prices.

Ruins to View From Outside: Gankutsu Hotel, the Soro School, Sobu Hana Yuen

The Gankutsu Hotel in Yoshimi is a Western-style cave dwelling that Takahashi Minekichi carved into a rock hill with chisels and other hand tools, starting in 1904 and continuing for 21 years until his death in 1925. It was never completed as a place to stay, and it was closed after typhoons in 1982 and 1987 caused collapses. It is now fenced off, and only a small part can be seen from outside.

The former Soro branch school in Kamogawa is a wooden schoolhouse that opened in 1874 as Nishi Elementary School, became a branch school in 1909 and closed in 1967. Mizuta Mikio, founder of Josai University, studied here, and a monument and information board stand on the grounds. The building has deteriorated and it is dangerous to go inside.

Sobu Hana Yuen in Asahi is the site of a closed flower amusement park in front of JR Kurahashi Station. It is thought to have opened after 1990 and closed in the late 2000s. As of 2022, the entrance gate and the pond where swan boats once floated still remained. The gate is closed, and there are homes right next door.

Practical Notes for Visiting

Stations are used by local people every day. When taking photos, do not get in the way of trains or passengers, and keep faces out of the frame. Take particular care where homes are right beside the station, as under the viaduct at Kokudo. The Lake Sagami game corner is open from 9:00 to 17:00 (until 16:30 from November to February).

All the ruins in this article are private or off-limits. Do not go past fences or gates; view them only from the road. You can only enter the Outer Underground Discharge Channel on a booked tour.

If You Shoot It, Put It on the Map

South Kanto still has many old stations and underground passages no one has recorded. For Tokyo, see "Liminal Spaces in Tokyo"; for Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma, see "Liminal Spaces in North Kanto."

LIMap is a map for keeping places like these, with photos and locations. If you find one, please add it.