Nope! (Photo: Sorapop Udomsri / Shutterstock)

Tokyo’s Hottest Haunted Houses

Get your spook on

Nope! (Photo: Sorapop Udomsri / Shutterstock)
Serena Ogawa   - 6 min read

Flickering lights and unseen sounds as you wander down a long and narrow corridor. An old TV shows nothing but static until, a shriek behind you! You turn. Nothing. You turn back to the TV and are face to face with a black-haired girl drenched in blood.

If that sounds exciting to you, then you’re in luck! Tokyo has some truly hair-raising horror houses and other attractions. As no stranger to some super spooky places, here is a list of haunted houses done right!

Drive-In Haunted House

Do you want to be terrified but are apprehensive about meeting the undead face-to-face? Why not experience a haunted house from the safety of your car? That’s right! The Kowagaresetai (Scare-Me Group) is a troop of highly trained zombies who are ready to make you cry. With high-quality costumes, sounds, blood, and more they will scare you from outside your car to keep you safe from any virus or in-person contact. Think of it as a zombie safari.

They also clean your car with alcohol after the show so you don’t have to drive around with bloodied handprints on your vehicle. Look out for their events around Tokyo and Osaka. Or rent them for a private event!

Very nope!
Very nope! (Photo: Go-ahead / Shutterstock)

Terror at Joypolis

Joypolis in Odaiba is a fun amusement park with games and attractions for people of all ages. It’s the perfect escape on a rainy day as it’s entirely indoors. But it also houses some of the most terrifying haunted house attractions in Tokyo.

Murder Lodge is a guided experience with sound scares, as a caretaker guides you to a table to wait out a storm...but soon his murder-loving master returns home.

Or how about a haunting from the one and only Sadako. You know her: The stringy-haired ghost with a penchant for vengeance. Through the art of necromancy, she’s back and ready to spook the pants off of you!

If you want to blast ghouls, that too is an option with the House of the Dead action game! With seats for up to 12 people, it also makes for a great group activity.

Gonna nope right out of here!
Gonna nope right out of here! (Photo: Raiden Pictures / Shutterstock)

Ghouls and Murder in Obaken

With three locations around Tokyo, Obaken (Ghost House) offers interactive haunted houses. Investigate a house with a murderer inside and try to evade and escape the killer or be taken to the scene of your own demise. These 1-hour long experiences will give you thrills and chills as you navigate the confusing rooms and halls in order to survive. Remember, the scariest thing is humans.

Doom at Tokyo Dome City

Onryo Zashiki tells the story of the vengeful spirit of a woman wronged by her husband. It’s full of terror and twists and turns. You’ll experience the horror of the spirit firsthand as you walk through her domain as the man who killed her. Her revenge may be the last thing you know in the mortal world. There are also a plethora of other activities at Tokyo Dome City and they’re far less terrifying!

True Ghosts in Hanayashiki?

Visit Hanayashiki, the oldest theme park in Japan, for a haunted house with a dash of truth to it. For decades, the haunted house on these grounds has been terrifying visitors, some leaving with truly horrifying stories of sights and sounds that are unscripted. This has led many guests and even workers to believe that something truly supernatural is going on inside the Sakura no Onrei Haunted House.

Nope!
Nope! (Photo: Sorapop Udomsri / Shutterstock)

Day Trip of Terror from Tokyo

Fuji Q Amusement Park, outside of Tokyo, is home to some truly exciting and fun attractions. Their haunted house is exciting for sure...fun? Maybe if you’re a sadist. Welcome to the Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear. Don’t let the silly name trick you. There are some serious spooks here. Creep through a 1-hour-long haunted house that’s filled to the brim with human experimentation gone terribly wrong.

The attraction is reportedly so scary that some people have to leave midway through. Scaredy cats, like myself, beware.

Happy hauntings!

Serena Ogawa

Serena Ogawa @serena.ogawa

Associate Editor for Japan Travel.