'Haunted' taxi in Osaka ready to send a chill down passengers' spines

OSAKA -- Chilling models of a freshly severed head, skulls and spiders, as well as eerie music await passengers who dare to board a "haunted" taxi that has begun operating in the central district of this city.

Milight Taxi in the city of Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, has decorated the inside of one of its cars like a haunted house. The idea is to send a chill down passengers' spines as an uncanny way to beat the summer heat.

The driver, dressed like a ghost with long, unkempt hair and wearing a mask speckled with "blood," creepily asks passengers for their destination in a whisper. The taxi is marked with the phrase "reikan" (psychic sense).

Passengers are not able to reserve the taxi, which will operate until Aug. 31 -- possibly giving other drivers on the road the shivers in the process.

(Japanese original by Toshiyuki Mano, Osaka City News Department)