We all know the feeling. Empty parking lots, highway rest stops, abandoned convenience stores. They all give us an eerie sensation due to the fact that they are transitory or liminal spaces where we aren't meant to stay. Higashi-Narita Station is arguably such as space.

In its heyday as part of the Keisei Electric Railway line, it was known as Narita Airport Station and serviced Narita Airport. Passengers took a shuttle bus or walked to the airport from there. However, when a dedicated railway station was built at Terminal 1 in 1991 with the same name, it was renamed Higashi-Narita Station. Shortly afterwards, a 500-meter (1,640 feet) underground tunnel was built to connect it to Terminal 2.

Today, Higashi-Narita Station is much less frequently used, most traffic in and out of Narita Airport being handled by JR and Keisei Lines going into Narita Airport (Terminal 1) and Narita Airport Terminal 2-3 Stations. The few stores and restaurants where passengers used to eat and shop are now abandoned and closed off, and one of the two island platforms can no longer be accessed. As for the 500-meter tunnel, it hardly ever sees any traffic at all.

As a result, Higashi-Narita Station feels like a place which time forgot.

It's hard to imagine such a place exists just a short distance from the world's tenth busiest air hub.

On March 3, Twitter user Koiwai Miura (@miura84) posted pictures of the journey through the passageway, and the tweet quickly went viral, with over 12,000 likes and nearly 6,400 retweets at the time of writing.

---"After walking forever along the underground passageway from the ruin-like Higashi-Narita Station, you come out and there are people everywhere. I felt like a person who was convinced humanity had been wiped out but then stumbled upon a place where civilization still existed."

Staring at the entrance to the passageway really feels like you are about to embark on a journey to a different dimension. Considering average human walking speed is 1.4 meters per second, it takes 12 minutes to reach the end.

Other Twitter users, like Srak-chan (@srak_chan) and Komugi-aji Panroducer (@tyojyukuP), chimed in with their own pictures testifying to the dilapidated condition and otherworldly mood of the station (including the vestiges of the old Narita Airport station) and its facilities.

Perhaps inspired by all the attention, Koiwai Miura then reposted edited versions of his original pictures:

---"Since [my pictures of] the passageway from Higashi-Narita Station have been retweeted so much, I edited them for a horror film effect and posted them here. The final picture expresses hope.

If you'd like to experience the otherworldly atmosphere of Higashi-Narita Station for yourself, take the Keisei Electric Railway's Keisei Main Line from Ueno Station to Higashi-Narita Station and then transfer to the Higashi-Narita Line for 5 minutes to Higashi-Narita Station. It can offer a memorable detour on your way out of Tokyo from Narita Airport. Just be sure to factor in the extra time you'll need to walk through the underground passageway.