Halloween in Tokyo rarely gets scarier than the price of imported pumpkins, but I've heard that Honancho — a terminal station on the Marunouchi subway line — hosts an uber-spooky obakeyashiki (ghost house). Navigating the station's dank, barely-lit stairwell at Exit 2, I'm already apprehensive.

At the top of the stairs, I find a little shop of horrors, Detatoco (literally: "Where You Emerged"), selling what appears to be bottled blood. Detatoco's manager, Katsunobu Endo, 34, explains that the bottles are actually sloshing with fresh tomato juice.

"Our place generally offers all kinds of organic produce, but today, there's a special event," he says, brushing fake cobwebs aside. He hands me a flyer advertising "Walking Dead" — a local zombie-themed happening, inspired by the eponymous U.S. TV series and arranged in collusion with Fox Studios Japan.