Our Japanese-language crack reporter Mr. Sato examined his surroundings warily as soon as he stepped out of the train and into Machida Station in Tokyo.
While he would’ve loved to visit to the nearby Squirrel Garden to see hundreds of cute furry critters, today he was on a mission. He he was here for Bic Camera, a huge electronics chain store that recently opened one of its branches in the connecting Odakyu Department Store.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Mr. Sato strode toward the western exit where elevators would supposedly take him to a shopper’s paradise.
Yet he must have taken a wrong turn despite all the directional signs, for he arrived at another platform with a train just about to leave, right back where he started.
A close inspection revealed that everything was cleverly designed to fool people into thinking it was an actual train: warning labels, lanes to queue in, sliding doors, even the windows offer a peek into convincing scenery. The only detail betraying its true function was the floor indicator displayed on top of the doors.
