Inunaki, the Village Outside the Law
A Japanese urban legend says that past an old blocked tunnel in Fukuoka there's a village where a sign warns: the Constitution of Japan does not apply here.
What was reported
Inunaki Pass, in the hills of Fukuoka prefecture, has an old tunnel, now blocked with concrete, beside a newer road. A legend that spread in the 1990s says that beyond it lies Inunaki village, cut off from the world, with its own rules.
At the entrance, the story goes, a sign reads 'Japanese law does not apply beyond this point'. Phones lose signal, cars stall, and visitors who go in don't come out. The legend inspired the 2020 horror film Howling Village.
Explanations offered
There was a real village of Inunaki, but its people moved away when a dam was built, and its land was flooded. No such sign or hidden village exists. The blocked tunnel and the lonely pass give the legend its atmosphere.
- When
- Told since the 1990s
- Where
- Inunaki Pass, Fukuoka, Japan
- Witnesses
- Japanese internet folklore
- Status
- Urban legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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