The spooky season is here! Halloween is celebrated annually on October 31 and revolves around fun and creativity, involving costumes, lanterns, and more. The festival is commemorated in memory of the deceased and has made its way through many cultures and continents. Japan kick-started its Halloween celebrations with ‘Zombies’ invading a bullet train. On October 19, a regularly scheduled train from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka Station organised an event in collaboration with Kowagara Setai, offering passengers the literal feel of the superhit South Korean movie, Train to Busan. According to the South China Morning Post, the organisers planted actors as victims on the seats, who further undergo a horrifying transformation and create fear among fellow passengers. The video of the event is stirring up attention on social media. Watch here: 世界初！走行中の新幹線を使ったお化け屋敷『ゾンビ新幹線』が東京～新大阪間で開催🚅#ゾンビ新幹線#エンタメ@___maria48 pic.twitter.com/GDnUGLRL3J — 大阪じゃーなる (@kitajournal) October 19, 2024 Event organiser Kenta Iwana of the group Kowagarasetai, which translates to the “scare squad”, intended to “depict the normally safe, peaceful shinkansen (bullet train)" collapsing in seconds, making it the “world’s first haunted house experience on a running shinkansen”, South China Morning Post reported. The ticket for the 'haunted experience' was priced at 50,000 Yen, which is approximately Rs 28,000. “It was very immersive. And the appearance of so many different kinds of zombies kept me entertained all the way," South China Morning Post quoted a passenger. Halloween’s origins can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. It was believed that the souls of the dead returned to their homes on that day, making people dress in costumes and light bonfires to pay tribute to the spirits.
