Ghosts

Here is a ghost town. Once you've left the Shibuya, Shinjuku and other locations that are supposedly representative of Tokyo, you navigate in residential districts, very often aligning detached houses packed in irregular rows. Be it in wealthy or shabby districts, they all share the same factors: deep silence, and very few if no people walking around. The silence is sometimes eerie, so much that you can hear you own heart beat. I had this strange experience myself a few weeks ago walking along some back streets close from Kichijoji. There are plenty of ghosts in this city, and as a matter of fact, all over Japan. I have never met one, but the atmosphere in back alleys, with anonymous shrines and a cemetery attached - a common sight in all Tokyo - is perfect to have a taste of the fantastic lingering around.