Photo= "Kyoto Yokai Taxi" visits haunted places in Kyoto. A Yokai model is seated in the passenger seat (Koshin Taxi, Minami Ward, Kyoto)

Koshin Taxi Co., Ltd., based in Minami Ward, has begun a service called "Kyoto Yokai Taxi," or taxi tour of haunted spots in Kyoto City which are related to spine-chilling old tales and psychic phenomena. The tour is tailored for fear, with ghost stories told in the moving taxi and more.

In order to show off the "unknown attractions of Kyoto," the company planned this guided tour of spots tourists generally don't drop by when sightseeing in Kyoto. The tour began in June. Tours run in the morning and evening by advance reservations.

On the tour, participants can visit Rokudochinno-ji Temple in Higashiyama Ward, a temple associated with Ono no Takamura, a Heian Period poet and scholar, and Ichijo Modoribashi Bridge in Kamigyo Ward, a bridge connected to a legend of the dead coming back to life. In the morning, the taxi travels to Kubizuka Daimyojin Shrine near Oinosaka Pass in Nishikyo Ward, a shrine known for the legend of Shuten Doji. Around sunset, it visits Mizorogaike Pond in Kita Ward, and Kiyotaki Tunnel in Ukyo Ward, both known as haunted places.

In the taxi, recorded recitations of ghost stories related to the destination are played. Along with that, images of "Yokai," supernatural beings or monsters, are shown on the monitor as eerie background music plays. The seats are also decorated with a model or a mask of a ghost. The tour lasts four hours. The cost is 20,400 yen for an ordinary-sized vehicle (four or six seats) and 24,000 yen for a large-sized vehicle (nine seats). The tours will continue until October 15.