Liminal Underground Malls and Passages: 11 Real Places, From Showa-Era Arcades to a Tunnel Under the Sea

Why Underground Malls Feel Like Nowhere

Above ground, the color of the sky and the angle of shadows tell you the time. Underground there are no windows, only the same lighting morning and night. Corridors and shops are built to uniform widths and designs, so after a short walk you lose track of where you are.

Because these passages are usually packed, the quiet before shops open or after they close stands out all the more. They are among the places closest to the feeling of Exit 8 or the Backrooms: the same scene repeating without end.

Showa-Era Malls: Asakusa, Nagoya, Sapporo

Tokyo's Asakusa Underground Shopping Street opened in 1955 and is said to be the oldest surviving underground mall built after the war. Just outside the ticket gates of Asakusa Station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, a low-ceilinged passage about 50 meters long is lined with eateries and a barber.

Nagoya's Fushimi Underground Mall (Chojamachi) was created in 1957 as an underground wholesale street linking the textile district above with the subway station. It is a straight 240-meter corridor with shops on only one side. Meieki Sun Road, also opened in 1957, was built together with the Higashiyama subway line, so its corridor curves along the tracks; similar shopfronts continue around a bend you cannot see past.

Sapporo's Pole Town opened in 1971, the year before the Sapporo Olympics, and runs about 400 meters straight from Odori to Susukino. When the shutters are down, only the long underground passage remains.

Designed Underground Towns: Tenjin and Kamiyacho

Fukuoka's Tenjin Underground Mall opened in 1976 and runs about 590 meters. Cobblestone floors and arabesque iron ceilings inspired by 19th-century Europe continue throughout, and the lighting is deliberately kept dim. After closing, the passages look like an alley in a foreign city that exists nowhere.

Hiroshima's Kamiyacho Shareo, opened in 2001, crosses beneath the central Kamiyacho intersection in a cross shape. Before the shops open or after they close, long corridors and plazas lit only by bright ceilings become spaces with no clear destination.

Passages Made Only for Passing Through: Sapporo, Marunouchi, Shiodome

Sapporo's Station Front Underground Walkway, known as Chi-Ka-Ho, opened in 2011 and runs about 520 meters between JR Sapporo Station and Odori. White pillars stand at regular intervals along the 12-meter-wide corridor, open from 5:45 to 24:30. Early in the morning, just after opening, there is only an endless wide hallway.

The Gyoko underground passage in Marunouchi, Tokyo, was converted in 2007 from an underground car park completed in 1960. It runs straight from Tokyo Station toward the Imperial Palace, with glass showcases along the walls for about 220 meters. The Shiodome Sio-Site underground walkway, linking Shimbashi with the Shiodome high-rises, is likewise a passage of concrete and light, in contrast to the glamour overhead.

Deep Under a Station, and Under the Sea

The Keiyo Line platforms at Tokyo Station lie deep underground, far from the other platforms, because the line, which arrived in 1990, took over space originally planned for the Narita Shinkansen. Transferring means a long walk along a passage lined with moving walkways.

The Kanmon Tunnel pedestrian walkway, opened in 1958, lets you walk under the sea between Moji in Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi. An elevator takes you down about 60 meters to a straight passage of about 780 meters under fluorescent light, with the border between Fukuoka and Yamaguchi painted on the floor partway. It is free for pedestrians and open from 6:00 to 22:00.

Practical Notes for Visiting

Underground malls are where people work and pass through. Keep shops and faces out of your photos, and do not set up tripods or block the way. Tenjin Underground Mall requires advance permission for commercial photography.

Some malls and passages have set hours. Fushimi is often closed on Sundays and holidays, Chi-Ka-Ho closes late at night until early morning, and the Kanmon walkway is closed from 22:00 to 6:00. For quiet scenes, go just after opening in the morning.

If You Shoot It, Put It on the Map

The underground transfer passage you walk every day may be exactly the scene someone has been looking for. Other places in each city appear in the regional articles.

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