Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed over 15,000 people in Japan, and destroyed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, several taxi drivers have reportedly experienced a similar supernatural phenomenon. According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which cited a graduation thesis by a local sociology student, at least seven taxi drivers in the Ishinomaki prefecture have admitted to ghostly encounters with the victims of the tsunami.
All of the stories play out in a similar way. The taxi driver picks up a passenger in an area that was hit by the tsunami. After asking for a destination, the passenger gives a response that doesn’t make sense, and a short time later the passenger disappears.
One taxi driver told the story of a woman who asked for a ride to the Minamihama district, to which he asked her if she was sure because the area was practically deserted. The woman then fearfully asked “have I died?” When the driver turned around, she was gone.
The student who compiled these stories, Yuka Kudo, interviewed 100 drivers for her thesis. She found a common thread in all these stories, in that all of the apparitions were young people. Whether they really saw any apparitions is of course, up for debate. However, she thinks that all of the cabbies at least believed that they were picking up real passengers, because in each story they started their meters before the ghosts disappeared.
WebInvestigator.KK.org - by F. Kaskais 