It can be scary to walk in the street at night when the area is dark, even if there are streetlights installed.

This is what happened to Twitter user 空弾シオン Kūdan Xion (@atago_xion) when they were out late at night. Something gave them quite a fright.

Please take a look at the sight which made some people say, "If I saw this at night, I'd be petrified!"

Reproduced with permission from 空弾シオン Kūdan Xion (@atago_xion)

"This is what gave me the fright of my life when I was out for a walk"

Why is there a Kokeshi* doll's face on top of a telephone booth? Combined with the dimness of the streetlights, it gives a scary feeling as if you have wandered into another world.

Kokeshi are traditional simple wooden Japanese dolls with no arms or legs, like the one below:

Batholith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

According to Kūdan Xion, this phone booth was taken in Naruko Gorge in Osaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, an area famous for its Naruko Kokeshi Dolls. You can see the kokeshi dolls and kokeshi motifs decorating mailboxes and all manner of things all throughout the area.

For example, here is a bridge crossing the gorge:

When Kūdan Xion posted the photo on Twitter, it went viral, receiving more than 185,000 likes and 34,000 retweets at the time of writing.

The kokeshi doll phone booth surely looks like a nice decoration when you see it during the day, but when you come across it at night, especially when you aren't expecting it, this is what happens...

Now you know there are two ways of enjoying the Naruko Gorge area: during the day for normal tourism, and at night for some thrills...


By - grape Japan editorial staff.