World's Shortest Escalator (Less Than 3 Feet) Is A Glorious Experience

This is one of those little pieces of information that may seem useless right now, but when you’re fighting for victory in a game like Trivial Pursuit someday, this could secure your status as the unmistakable winner. Do you know where the world’s shortest escalator is and how short it really is? It turns out, it’s in More’s department store in Kawasaki (a Japanese city between Tokyo and Yokohama). Reddit user etegamiguy visited this escalator last weekend. When he was there, he rode it seven times. His 57-second video of his “glorious experience” is one of the latest viral videos on YouTube.

From what I’ve read, the escalator apparently goes up or down depending on what time of day the foot traffic is the most busy in that area. It is only 32.8 inches (83 cm) long (or should I say short). The funniest thing about it is that there is a little staircase that you have to walk down (or up) afterwards. Why would someone build an essentially useless escalator? I have no idea. Maybe it was to snag the Guinness World Record, maybe it was to create a tourist attraction, or maybe it was just all for fun. Either way, strangely, I want to know what it’s like to ride on it.

As awesome as this itty-bitty escalator is, it’s still doesn’t beat my favorite escalator in the world which is in the city hall building in Tel Aviv. It has the opening crawl from Star Wars painted on it. You can check that one out at A Real Star Wars Escalator. And to all the little kiddies who may be reading this – No, you won’t get sucked into the thingy at the bottom of the escalator if you don’t get off fast enough. But it can eat your shoes. Yup. I had one partially eat one of my Crocs once, but those shoes were ugly anyway so it didn’t matter.