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stairs

Injuries on stairs in Tokyo highlight an overlooked design flaw

Japan is usually known for its world-class design, but this site didn’t see the optical illusion.

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Secret stairs at Tokyo Station dungeon come with a serious warning

This train station dungeon wants you to turn back at this point, but what happens if you go ahead?

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Looking for cheap sightseeing in Tokyo? How about these rad stairs at Za-Koenji Public Theatre?

These stairs draw a lot of stares.

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Tokyo station becomes first in the city to install an inclined elevator

All part of Japan’s dedication to “people friendly movement” in public spaces.

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Why do Japanese stairs have red-and-yellow marks on them?

Even people in Japan are surprised to learn what they’re for.

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Japanese staircase fanatic finds beautiful spot that looks like a real-world M.C. Escher painting

Who knew you could cram that many stairs into one place in reality?

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The University of Tokyo is a difficult school to get into, and also around, it seems.

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Video of cute cats playing on stairs is filled with relaxation and adorable gazes

This family of cats is so good-looking every move they make is like a pose from a magazine.

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The impossible circular staircase is just that… impossible【Video】

Need a break from reality? Take a look at this video created by a student from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

The video features the mythical Escherian Staircase (aka Penrose Stairs), or the never-ending staircase where you go up two flights of steps and end up at the same place you began. It’s said that Filipino architect Rafael Nelson Aboganda is the genius who built the “Impossible Staircase.”

There is something fishy, however. This physics-defying creation – first thought up more or less simultaneously by the Lionel and Roger Penrose team, and M.C. Escher in the 1950s – was built by Abgonda in the 60s, yet no one knows about it― not even students at the school, despite being a seemingly physically impossible feat! Hmm….

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This set of stairs at Kitakata Station really cares

When it comes to going up and down in life, stairs really seem to be the most inconsiderate. Rather than carrying you along like your friends the escalator or elevator, stairs just seem to lay there without moving an inch to help you.

Even in Japan where politeness is a way of life, the stairs still just sit there waiting for us to do all the heavy lifting. All except a few flights of extremely well-mannered stairs located in Kitakata Station in Fukushima Prefecture. While they don’t physically help you to go up, they do still have power… the power to move you.

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Recently the image of a Dragon Quest style floor mat was released on Twitter caused many long-time role playing fans to rise up as one and say “Take my money!”

Unfortunately for me and for thou, this mat, dubbed “Quest Mat”, cannot be bought by conventional means such as gold. In true Dragon Quest fashion it can only be found by searching the urban dungeons known as “video game shops” and then wrested from the clutches of the evil “staff” who are keeping them locked away from us.

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