Exact makeup of strange liquid still unknown.
Tokyo’s Shinjuku neighborhood is one of the busiest districts in one of the busiest cities on the planet. Filled with business, dining, and entertainment destinations, Shinjuku also draws crowds to such landmark attractions as the Tokyo Metropolitan Building, full-size Godzilla head statue, and RocketNews24 headquarters.
With so many people milling about, Shinjuku is served by multiple train and subway stations, which are connected by an extensive underground walkway network called Shinjuku Subnade. It’s an incredibly useful way for pedestrians to get around, especially since it means you don’t have to worry about waiting at traffic lights or dealing with the blazing sun, driving rain, or other unpleasant atmospheric elements.
But on July 20, many of the people walking through Subnade probably wished they had taken the surface sidewalks instead.
Shortly before 4 p.m., a dark liquid began seeping out of an unknown source and spreading across the Subnade floors in the vicinity of Seibu Shinjuku Station. The subterranean complex is actually quite well-lit, particularly in the sections that have retail shops in them, which served to highlight the ominous, opaque nature of the seeping substance.
▼ Witnesses describe the liquid as “foul-smelling,” which only makes this video all the more terrifying.
Thankfully, no one was injured or stranded. By 7:30, though, the situation had become bad enough that the affected portions of Subnade were shut down while the facility’s management investigated the cause and contents of the leak. Roughly an hour later, a statement was given that while investigators still didn’t know what the liquid was, they had confirmed that it wasn’t coming from the water supply pipes.
As of the morning of July 21, the leak has stopped, but there’s still no official word as to what the ooze was. The most popular theory, though, is that a sewage pipe cracked or ruptured. If that’s what really happened, Subnade actually got off sort of easy, and thankfully, its floors are now once again dry and stench-free.
All the same, we’d watch your step if you’re using Subande to get around Shinjuku over the next couple of days.
Source: NetLab
Check out Casey’s Twitter account, which has been foul ooze-free for over 90 days!