Hyogo: ‘Exit 8’ That Should Not Exist Appears Out of the Blue, Kobe Municipal Subway Collaborates with Movie of Same Name

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:16 JST, September 20, 2025

KOBE — An exit that should not exist has appeared out of the blue in an underground passageway at a subway station in Kobe, drawing many people’s attention.

The underground passageway at Shin-Nagata Station on the Kobe Municipal Subway’s Kaigan line is supposed to have exits 1, 2, 3 and 4, but recently, an “Exit 8” has appeared, allowing people to go above ground from the exit.

This is a collaboration event with the movie “Exit 8,” which is currently in theaters. The movie follows a man wandering into an underground passageway and looking for Exit 8 in order to get out.

The film is based on a video game of the same name that a player cannot finish unless they notice anomalies somewhere in a passageway. The game has sold over 1.8 million copies.

Although the movie was not filmed at the station, the city’s transportation bureau approached Toho Co., the distributor of the movie, about the project. A large number of anti-smoking posters were put up in the underground passageway outside the ticket gates leading to a commercial facility and a panel of the “Walking Man” from the movie was installed in the passageway.

“We have re-created the world of the movie as faithfully as possible. We hope that many people will go out from Exit 8 and enjoy the town of Shin-Nagata,” an official from the transportation bureau said. Another collaboration project with the nearby Shin-Nagata Ichibangai shopping district is also underway.

The station’s Exit 8 will be available through Oct. 31.