
Ghost Taxis of Japan (2016) - xrd
https://hyakumonogatari.com/2016/02/18/ghost-taxis-of-japan/
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JoeDaDude
Old joke: A hitchhiker, looking for a ride late at night, gets into a car that
is traveling very slowly. Once in, he realizes the car has no driver! Soon,
the car going very slowly up a hill, reaches a graveyard.

At this point, the hitchhiker jumps out of the car and flees in terror. He
looks back and sees someone getting into the car. He yells back "Don't get
in!! That car is haunted!". The person getting in replies, "It can't be, I've
been pushing it uphill for the last hour".

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ALittleLight
In a not too distant future, when taxis have been replaced by driverless cars
these ghosts will cause a real problem. I can imagine being tasked with
figuring out why we sometimes lose fares.

"Yep. Another passenger faded into nothing without paying. Resolve as 'ghost
passenger.'"

~~~
yoz-y
How do you not pay for an Uber right now? Your card has to be valid to be able
to get a ride in the first place.

~~~
popotamonga
Dont have enough balance. I have a 40e uber bill to pay on my revolut but not
enough balance. They keep trying to charge.

~~~
cortic
Got to have a look into revolut, my bank will charge £40 for _not_ paying a
charge and as high as 300% interest if they allow the charge and it puts me
past my overdraft.

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choonway
It's 7th (ghost) month here in Singapore. Same thing happens here. Solution?
Organize concerts (getai) for them.

[https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/hungry...](https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/hungry-
ghost-festival-superstitions-getai-performers-follow)

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krapp
Probably a bit off topic, but here is voice actress Tomoko Kaneda in a "ghost
taxi" skit on the Japanese TV show Monitoring[0].

[0][https://youtu.be/IdFuMsRrzj8](https://youtu.be/IdFuMsRrzj8)

(and yes just in case anyone's wondering, that reaction is completely
staged...)

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tomcam
Anyone familiar with urban legends will recognize these themes as almost
identical to stories passed down through the generations in the USA for
roughly 80 years. Pretty cool to learn they aren’t unique to this area.

~~~
sampo
There is also a version of the vanishing hitchhiker in the bible, Acts
8:26-39.

