Uncanny Japan

Bloom and Gloom or Cherry Blossom Folk Beliefs or Sakura: The Wonderful and the Worrisome Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our communi...

Today we're going to talk about a yokai I've always be quite fond of, a little fella called Akaname or the Scum Licker! Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Pa...

Shippei Taro is both a folktale and a nanafushigi (strange occurance). I'll tell you all about this local legend as well as read you my translation of the famous story. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a b...

 Explore the parallel world or ikai, and how it is inhabited not just by ghosts or spirits but also by yokai. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Ple...

The Ushi Oni is a Japanese legend of an ox-headed demon/ogre. It has different appearances but is often depicted as a giant spider with ox head, soft body and red horns. They are commonly found near water bodies like oceans, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and in forests & caves. They are stealthy creatures, with long tongues and claws, and are most dangerous around water. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa...

Which of the Seven Lucky Gods is your patron deity and what does it mean? Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our community forum! https:...

No cleaning for three days straight. No knives. No fire. And definitely no fighting with your family. Sound impossible? There were the six strict rules Japanese people followed during oshōgatsu—the New Year holidays—to avoid angering the toshigami, a visiting deity who decided your luck for the entire year. Break one rule, and you might wash your fortune down the drain. Literally. From the aku (sc...

While strolling through the grounds of a Japanese temple or shrine you have no doubt seen the endearing sight of a statues decked out in red bibs. But why? Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story...

The myth and superstition around Japanese crows/karasu is long and fascinating, sometimes quite weird. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please joi...

Goshuin are special stamps you can get when you visit a shrine or temple. In this episode I'll tell you what exactly they are, how to get them, and the manners involved. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a...

My version of a creepy Japanese legend called Uji no Hashi Hime/The Maiden of the Bridge. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our communi...

In part 2 of the ōkami, the Japanese wolf, I talk more about the legends and lore behind the beautiful beast. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Ple...

Kitsune are everywhere, games, manga, anime, artwork, guarding shrines, possessing people. But what do you know about Japanese wolves? Maybe not so much? Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story re...

The tsuchinoko is a mysterious, mythical creature that can be seen and heard all over Japan since ancient times, but not one has ever been captured. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to...

Who is your own patron Buddhist deity? Listen and find out! Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our community forum! https://japanforum.u...

Graves with no one to care for them are called muenbotoke. Learn about a temple that gathers all those ashes and bones and makes Buddhist statues out of them. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime sto...

What do you know about the yōkai, the sickle weasel or kamaitachi? Imagine an adorable little weasel sporting obnoxiously long blades on its paws. It appears out of nowhere so suddenly you don't even realize its attacked you, until later when you notice you've got a deep cut that strangely isn't bleeding and doesn't hurt. Today, let's talk about this furry little madman and a few other related cre...

Do you remember when I talked about Kagome Kagome back in episode 53? A Japanese children's song that had curiously unnerving lyrics about a bird in a cage ("Oh when will it be let out?") And then the lines: "Tsuru to Kame ga subetta -- the crane and the turtle slipped"; and "Ushiro no shoumen dare? -- Who's behind me?") Guess what? That's not the only goosebump-raising children's song in Japan. T...

For the last Listeners' True Spooky Tales we're going outside again. Weeping women, grabbing hands, and great big walls that block your path. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you mo...

Listen to some spooky real life stories that happened in the great outdoors. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our community forum! htt...

More listeners' true Japanese ghost stories as well as one of my most terrifying experiences. This is part two of a three part series. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly,...

To commemorate our 100th episode, we're sharing listeners' true ghost stories they've experienced while visiting or living in Japan. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, pl...

Today I'll talk about a local legend: Nekozuka and Nezumizuka, the Cat's Grave and the Rat's Grave. It's not only a nanafushigi (one of the Seven Strange Happenings), it's extra special because an old man who has lived his whole life there told me the tale along with some extras his grandfather passed down to him. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast a...

Let me tell you all about the gods that are lurking in your loo. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our community forum! https://japanfo...

The nekomata is a mysterious feline with two tails and a penchant for dancing. Uncanny Japan is author Thersa Matsuura. Her other shows are Uncanny Robot Podcast and The Soothing Stories Podcast. Check out her books including The Carp-Faced Boy on Amazon. If you'd like to help support the podcast and have a bedtime story read to you monthly, please visit Patreon. Please join our community forum! h...