Tag Archives: Japan

Kesagake the Man Eater

Kesagake the Man Eater

A statue of Kesagake, the brown bear responsible for the worst bear attacks in Japanese history.

Sometimes humans get a bit cocky. After all, our big brains and ability to produce advanced technology put us head and shoulders above other animals, especially when it comes to killing power. Nobody can contest the fact that humans are the apex predator on planet Earth, but now and then nature reminds us that, when you strip away all our technology, we are nothing more than week, naked apes.

One such event occurred in Sankebetsu, Japan, between December 9 and 14, 1915, when a brown bear awoke early from hibernation and proceeded to terrorize the local population for five days.

The incident began when Kesagake, a huge Ussuri brown bear, appeared near the Ikeda homestead, in mid November, and spooked the family horse. When the bear reappeared, the Ikeda men went after it and managed to ...

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The Way of the Gods: Shinto and its Impact on Japan’s Strange Folklore

The Way of the Gods: Shinto and its Impact on Japan's Strange Folklore

Izanagi and Izanami in the act of creating Japan.

Delving into the world of folklore as much as I have, I’ve come across a lot of very strange beliefs. While weird beliefs aren’t limited to Japan, not by a long shot, the Japanese certainly don’t disappoint when it comes to bizarre critters. I’ve often found myself wondering why and how so much weirdness came to be concentrated on a relatively small chain of islands on the rim of the Pacific. Now, I am far from a scholar when it comes to Japanese studies, but it isn’t much of a stretch to say that Japanese religious traditions probably have something to do with it.

Nowadays, Japan is a mostly secular country. The bulk of Japanese tell poll-takers that they don’t consider themselves part of any religion. Certainly, many people observe various Shinto and Buddhist festivals, but the vast majority seem to do ...

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My Love/Hate Relationship With Tite Kubo’s Bleach

My Love/Hate Relationship With Tite Kubo's Bleach

I don’t typically write about anime on here, as I don’t know a whole lot about it and frankly most of it just leaves me cold, if it isn’t just outright annoying.  There are some that I like, however.  When I came across Bleach one night on Adult Swim, it had me hooked from the beginning.  It had a cool concept and likable characters. There were flaws, sure, but I could overlook those.  At the start I could, anyway.

Now?  I watch more out of habit than anything else.  There are so many problems with the show that I’m not even certain where to begin.  Let’s start with the characters.  There are some really cool characters in Bleach.  Ichigo, for starters. Rukia, and of course Kiske.  The problems is that there are TOO many characters!  Way, way too many.  I get that Tite Kubo doesn’t like to kill off his characters, ...

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Taijin Kyofusho–”The Disorder of Fear”

Taijin Kyofusho--

Recently, on my own blog I covered a culture bound syndrome called Grisis Siknis, the “crazy sickness” of the Miskito people of Nicaragua.  This got me wondering if there were any culture bound syndromes specific to Japan.  The interesting thing about these type of psychiatric disturbances is that in a very real sense they sum up what a given society stresses the most.  Among the Miskito, they put a premium on young women being pure until marriage, but then when they reach a certain age they’re expected to be sexually available.  These opposing expectations are believed by Western psychiatry to cause Grisis Siknis.

The Japanese culturally bound syndrome is no different in highlighting what the Japanese culture values.  Taijin Kyofusho, “the disorder of fear”, is a social phobia characterized by a fear of harming or offending others.  This differs from the social anxiety that we in the West are more familiar ...

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The Gashadokuro

The Gashadokuro

Japan is home to some very strange spirits, to say the least.  Not long ago I did a post about an odd breed of spirit that exclusively haunt Japan’s bathrooms.  Last night I was poking around, looking for more Japanese ghouls and goblins when I came across the Gashadokuro (also known as the Odokuro).

While classified as a spirit being, it seems that much like the yurei (and contrary to the West’s notion of ghosts), the Gashadokuro have a physical substance to them rather than being incorporeal.  These beings manifest as gigantic skeletons, fifteen times the size of a normal man which would put them at roughly ninety feet tall.  They arise from the gathered bones of people who died as a result of starvation or warfare.  Due to the terrible deaths that gave them un-life, the Gashadokuro are full of anger and a blood lust that can only be sated ...

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Japan’s Ghosts–The Yurei

Japan's Ghosts--The Yurei

Several months ago, I did a post about Aokigahara, Japan’s suicide capital and a purportedly haunted forest.  It is widely believed that the forest is haunted by Yurei, which are essentially Japan’s version of ghosts.  These differ from the traditional Western style ghosts.  On our side of the ocean, ghosts are ephemeral things that can only interact with the physical world with great difficulty.  They knock and creak and moan, but they’re generally harmless; in fact, they’re usually little more than annoying, at least according to the lore.  Their goal is usually to attempt some sort of communication with the living, in order to fulfill some sort of unfinished business, after which they can pass on to the other side.  Some are more malevolent, intending to scare folks away from their haunts or just to generally be pains in the butt.  In general, they’re said to be tied to our ...

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