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An empty Shinjuku Station | all photographs by Umeda

Shinjuku Station in Tokyo gets used by an astounding 3.8 million people per day. That’s almost the entire population of Los Angeles! So stumbling upon an empty Shinjuku Station or Shibuya Station, even in the middle of the night, is a rare occurrence. But last weekend, as the powerful Typhoon Trami moved through Tokyo, transportation operators were forced to shut down services and residents were advised to stay home.

Shinjuku Station typically handles 3.8 million people per day. But not on this day.

Unaware that transportation would be shutting down, Umeda, who is a Tokyo-based photographer, headed out to his shift after his company called him in to work. At around 10pm, he passed through Shibuya Station, and later Shinjuku Station, only to find startling scenes that looked like they had come right out of a post-apocalyptic movie. It was as if “everyone in the city had disappeared,” wrote the photographer.

Umeda typically shoots Tokyo in all it’s packed, chaotic glory. And so these photos represent a stark difference and a scene that only presents itself at the right time and place. You can keep up with Umeda and his work on Twitter, as well as Instagram.

an empty platform at Shinjuku Station

It was as if “everyone in the city had disappeared,” said the photographer

bus terminals outside Shinjuku Station

“omoide yokocho,” right outside Shinjuku Station, is packed with eateries and is typically overflowing with people

before going to Shinjuku the photographer also passed through Shibuya Station

While not as crowded as Shinjuku, Shibuya still services 1.8 million per day, making it the 6th busiest train station in Japan

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