Born of disasters, war and massive infrastructure projects, 21st-century Tokyo has plenty of ghosts buried underground. If you ride the subway these days, you can catch a fleeting glimpse of two of them but, if you blink, you¡¯ll miss them. The Ginza Line is marking 90 years since its opening with the illumination of two ¡°ghost stations¡± abandoned long ago. Manseibashi and Jingumae stations have been brought back from the dead as part of a tribute to the Ginza Line, which was the first subway line built in Japan and East Asia.
Dec. 18 marks the last day of a special event in which the timeworn platforms of Manseibashi and Jingumae stations appeared in the darkness outside the windows of passing trains, like apparitions from another world. Passengers keeping a weather eye peeled may have spotted the tiles and station names as they pass by; some trains paid tribute to the stations by traveling slower than usual, giving riders a better chance at looking into the past.
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