After visitors descend stairs winding 50 metres (164 feet) below ground, they emerge to an otherworldly sight: a cavernous, dimly lit space with towering pillars reminiscent of a temple in ancient Rome.
โThe moment I stepped down the stairs and saw the entire space, I was astonished,โ said Chen, a tourist who visited the location in Kasukabe, a city just north of Tokyo, in Japanโs Saitama prefecture.
The facility, one of the worldโs largest underground stormwater discharge channels, has come to be described as an โunderground shrineโ by many.
The temple aesthetic comes from 59 towering pillars within the space, each measuring seven metres long, two metres wide and 18 metres high.
Officially known as the Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel, the facility is visually reminiscent of Istanbulโs ancient underground Basilica Cistern water reservoir.