“Don’t celebrate Halloween in Japan?” Honestly, I was a bit shocked to hear that since Japan is so big into some other Western holidays such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day. As a big Halloween fan, I prepared myself to spend the coming October in a sadly terror-free land (oh, the first world problems ;_;). So, you can imagine my surprise when I was greeted by tacky black cat cardboard cut-outs and plastic jack-o-lanterns in literally every konbini (convenience store) and shopping mall I found myself wondering through.”Well, this is a pleasant surprise.” I thought, thinking back on what my friends had told me. I would have called them liars-liars-pants on fire, however, their claim would have been true only a few years back.

The truth is, Halloween is a very recent development in Japanese culture. That’s right, 10 years ago, Halloween was viewed as the day when scary gaijin (foreigners) would randomly roam the streets in outrageous costumes, haphazardly drink on public transportation, and perhaps accidentally summon satan (or a lesser oni) along the way. Nowadays, however, it’s not abnormal to see people on the streets decked out in their Halloween swag a week before the 31st. In short, it’s taken just a few years for Halloween to effortlessly go from an alien blood ritual to a legitimate holiday with all the toppings. The question is: why?

Japanese Theme Parks: Halloween Ambassadors

Up until about ten years ago, the only sign of Halloween in Japan was the occasional sighting of Jack Skellington on living room TVs. In other words, people heard about it through movies and other popular media sources, but Halloween still remained a foreign concept for quite a long time.

However, that all changed as soon as Tokyo Disney decided it was time to spread the party (and make more moolah). In 1997 Tokyo Disney had its first  ”Disney Happy Halloween,” inviting all guests to take part in the festivities. Although it took a couple years to spread the word, Japanese people started to become excited about this new tradition, and in 2000 Tokyo Disney was able to have its first “Halloween Twilight Parade” featuring 400 visitors and Disney characters in costume.

As Japanese people already had a fascination with Disneyland, it was easy to make the concept of Halloween seem enchanting and magical. Every year after 1997 the Halloween celebration has grown as word of mouth has spread, and now the party starts as early as late September. Of course, Disney isn’t hogging the fun all to itself. In 2002, Universal Studios crashed the party and introduced “Hollywood Halloween,” another major success. Together, these two theme parks have contributed to bringing the Halloween tradition to Japan.

Cosplay: We’ve Already Won This Contest

These girls are looking . . . foxy? Wouldn’t you say?

Although Tokyo Disney and other amusement parks sparked Japan’s interest in Halloween, it would be crazy to owe it’s growing popularity to them alone. Of course, there are other reasons why the tradition has spread like wildfire in the past decade. For example, there are many ways in which Japanese culture nicely meshes with the concept of Halloween, making it easy for the Japanese to adopt it as their own. One of the most obvious points is the appreciation of costuming.

I mean, just think about it. We’re talking about the country that gave the world the gift of cosplay. So, it’s only natural that a tradition involving costuming would catch on eventually. This might be playing into stereotypes too much, but seriously, can you imagine Japan turning down any excuse to run around the streets in a pikachu suit. I can’t.

The fact that many Japanese street fashions fit so seamlessly into Halloween aesthetics also makes it easy for Japanese people to participate in the festivities. Into Lolita fashion? Great! All you need to do is walk out of your front door and you’re part of the party. Plus, who would turn down the opportunity to dress in scantily clad outfits while still being accepted into mainstream society? Apparently, not the Japanese (or anyone else I know for that matter).

Scary Stories? Sure, We’ve Got Them, Too.

Another way in which Japanese culture meshes nicely with Halloween is the fact that it strongly resembles Japan’s own tradition of Obon. “Obon?” you ask. In summary, Obon is a Buddhist tradition in which families honor the return of the spirits of their ancestors. Although Obon takes place in mid-August, it too is a time for appreciation of the supernatural and is sometimes even called the “ghost season.”

As you can imagine, during “ghost season” people are especially aware of scary happenings, and ghost stories can be heard pretty much everywhere. Besides this, the Japanese have always appreciated a good scary story – just take a look at all the horror movies in Japan’s film scene.

Halloween just offers another opportunity to indulge in all the spooky spectacles anyone could ever dream of – just pick you poison. The difference, though, comes from the fact that Halloween is a recently imported holiday and that takes off some of the cultural edge that Obon carries. So instead of terrifying yuurei, or the vengeful spirits of Buddhist tradition, you’re dealing with harmless, and even sometimes cute, obake, or ghosts. For this reason, some people have called Halloween “The children’s Obon.”

In mean, you can actually tell your kids about Casper without mentally scarring them for the rest of their lives. Yuurei on the other hand? *shutters*

Halloween in English Classrooms: Because We Would Die of Boredom Otherwise

As many people know already, English is a required subject in Japanese school systems. Therefore, everyone has to learn it (or at least pretend that they are learning it) these days whether they like it or not. Not only that, but the age in which children start learning their ABC’s was recently lowered from middle school to the 5th year of primary school in 2011. By 2020, they’ll be beginning their English educations in 3rd grade. What I’m trying to say is that children are learning English from a very young age (and it’s only getting younger).

So, what does this have to do with Halloween? Well, I don’t know about you, but at the age of 10 it was pretty hard to keep my attention, and last time I checked, learning English in Japan is just about as exciting as watching an episode of “Days of Our Lives” with your grandmother . . . while waiting in the dentist’s office. So, something had to be done to keep kids semi-conscious during English class, and what better way to do it than by giving them obscene amounts of candy, I mean, by giving them a healthy cultural education.

And so, Halloween was born into the public education system. Thanks to the Japanese school system, no more will your おばあさん (grandmother) throw you into the funny farm when you come home demanding to carve pumpkins together or asking what costume she is going to make you this year. Well, she might consider it, but in all seriousness, cultural education in English classrooms from a young age is vastly contributing to the familiarization of Western holidays such as Halloween.

Halloween in Japan: Putting a Spin on Things

Hooray! So, Halloween has become somewhat of “a thing” in Japan. All my dreams have come true. But, that doesn’t mean Halloween is exactly what you would expect. Like anything else, Halloween has changed a little here and there as it’s crossed borders, and of course, Japan has put it’s own spin on things.

The first thing I noticed about Halloween in Japan is that things are noticeably less scary and a whole lot more “Hello Kitty” (surprise, surprise). You might see a little ketchup-like blood on some costumes here and there, but the scare factor doesn’t reach anywhere near what it is in the USA. I mean, my Halloween decorations include a transparent, mixed-berry scented candle decorated with cripplingly cute black kittens and a plastic pumpkin with a smiley face on it. That was the best I could do.

In general, there is a lot more focus put on merchandising and the novelty of the whole thing, and that gives Halloween a totally different flavor (one can only take so much Halloween Hello Kitty…). For example, on a trip to the grocery store you might see pumpkin shaped bread filled with kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin, seasonally flavored Kit-Kats, or better yet, something like this:

In terms of events there are a few large Halloween parties and parades in Japan such as the Kawasaki Halloween Parade in which about 4,000 people participate by dancing and costuming.  However, don’t be surprised if you hear Rihanna or Lady Gaga rather than the Monster Mash at a Japanese Halloween celebration.

On a smaller scale, there are plenty of Halloween events in various cities. Whether it’s bar crawling events or sexy costume contests, you’re bound to have a blast. Unfortunately however, the tradition of trick-or-treating has yet to catch on except for in a few strictly controlled areas, which in my opinion takes all the fun out of it.

Costumes in Japan are exactly what you might imagine, and more. Common costumes include popular anime characters, full-body suits and onesies, men in cross-play, Japanese fashion trends such as lolita, sexy nurses and cat girls, and well, the plain bizarre. The fun thing about seeing costumes in Japan is that you can see culturally specific things you would never see in other countries. My personal favorite in this group is gokiburi-san (Mr. cockroach). Below is a picture of the Japanese onesie fashion, Halloweenified!

In short, Halloween in Japan is highly commercialized and has a lot to do with seasonal marketing, but it is also a fun way for people to let their hair down without all the cultural subtext. Although it is not celebrated by everyone, it seems that Halloween is gaining significant popularity with each coming year. Personally, I’m very excited to see where Halloween will go and what spin Japan will put on it next.

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Bonus Wallpapers!

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[box type="alert"]The legend warns that after you hear the story of Kashima Reiko, she will visit you within a month’s time. So if you’re a big baby, now would be the time to stop reading.[/box]

The Spine Tingling Legend

Here is the tale of Kashima Reiko – the woman with no legs who haunts your bathroom at night. As if going to the bathroom in the dark wasn’t already scary enough, right?

Kashima Reiko is the ghost of a woman from Japan. Poor Kashima Reiko was attacked by a group of men who beat her and abused her, then left her to die. No one knows who these men were or why they would do such a horrible thing, but the important part is what happens next. Also, some versions of the story say that she was left in a bathroom to die, which makes sense as bathrooms became her choice place to haunt.

Anyway, Kashima Reiko didn’t die there. She started to crawl around, screaming for help. But no one was around to hear her cries. Searching for aid, she managed to crawl around for quite some time. Unfortunately, she didn’t find any help at all, and then she proceeded to pass out on top of some railroad tracks belonging to the Meishin Expressway. Eventually a train came along and ran over her, cutting her in half at the waist, and killing her.

As with many Japanese ghost tales, she was abused, died in agony, and became a vengeful spirit. Ever since that night, Kashima Reiko’s malevolent ghost has wandered the world in search of her missing legs. She is most often reportedly encountered in school bathrooms, but she might also appear in your very own bathroom at home. Are you regretting reading this story yet?

What to Do if You Meet Her

So what happens when Kashima Reiko shows up? Does she just scare you? Kill you? Maim you? Well, if she does show up – you do have a chance to survive if you answer her questions correctly. At least according to legend anyway.

Should you encounter her in your friendly neighborhood bathroom, this is what goes down. Upon entering the bathroom, Kashima Reiko will show up, scare the poop out of you (you are in a bathroom after all), and ask you some questions. If you cannot answer her questions correctly, she will tear off your legs.

If she asks you “Where are my legs?”, you should answer with “On the Meishin Expressway”.

If she asks “Who told you that?”, you should reply “Kashima Reiko told me”.

Sometimes she’ll ask other questions too, like “Do you know my name?”. The name you should tell her is “Mask Death Demon”. Ka-shi-ma equates to ka (kamen/mask), shi (shinin/dead person), ma (ma/demon), so that’s how that works out.

And she’ll probably ask these questions in Japanese and expect you to answer in Japanese, so – if that’s not motivation enough for you to study up on your Japanese, I dunno what is.

Teke Teke

Another variant of the legend is known as “Teke Teke”. Teke Teke is the ghost of a young school girl who fell on some railroad tracks and was cut in half by an oncoming train. Now a vengeful spirit (onryō, one of Japan’s many super ghouls ‘n ghosts), she carries a scythe or a saw and travels on her hands and elbows. The dragging sound her torso makes as she drags herself along sounds like ‘teke teke’, so that’s where her name comes from. If she encounters anyone at night and the victim is not fast enough (i.e. everyone), she will slice them in half at the torso. This is how she makes friends.

The story behind Teke Teke goes like this. A young school boy was walking home at night and he spotted a beautiful young girl standing by a windowsill resting on her elbows. The two smiled dumbly at each other for a moment and the boy wondered what a girl was doing at an all-boys school, especially at this time of night.

Since the kid was in an unfamiliar part of town, he thought the girl might be able to help him get his bearings. She asked “Are you lost?” and he walked over towards her. Before he could wonder more about the girl, she jumped out of the window and revealed that her lower half was missing. Frightened stiff, the boy stood frozen in the sidewalk as Teke Teke lunged forward and sliced him in twain.

So basically, you’re in danger even when you’re not in a bathroom. And you don’t even get a chance to save yourself by answering goofy questions. Scary stuff.

In Popular Media

The legend or variations on it have appeared in a handful of movies, manga, and anime adaptations. Probably the most well known are the two horror movies, Teke Teke, and Teke Teke 2.

In my expert J-horror opinion, neither of these movies are anything spectacular, but the first one stars Oshima Yuko from AKB48, so that’s a plus. The first Teke Teke can be seen in its entirety on YouTube here, but if you’re in the mood for a J-horror movie this Halloween, I’d recommend checking out my Top 10 List instead. Much better choices.

Between reading the story of Teke Teke/Kashima Reiko and seeing the trailers for these movies, the thing moves a lot faster than I thought it would. Most of the time in legends like this, the creature will move slowly and creepily to freak you out as much as possible, like *teke… teke… teeekeeee…* “Where are my legsss?” But in these movies, it’s all like *teketeketeketeketeketeketeketeke* *SLICE* YOU’RE DEAD.

Will You Survive?

Regret reading this post yet? Nah, you’re a big strong human with rock solid mental fortitude – you’ll be fine. Maybe.

So what would you do if you encountered the Teke Teke or Kashima Reiko late one night? Would you be able to keep your composure and answer her questions if she asked them, or would you try and fight off the creature in some other way? Leave your thoughts and advice down in the comments… if you dare.

You’re probably asking: “Oh no, I was hungry last night! Does that make me a Hungry Ghost?”

Actually my slow friend, no, it doesn’t. There are certain strategies one may administer to greatly increase their chances of becoming one, though, should that be your heart’s desire. In fact, desiring to become a hungry ghost may cause you to become a hungry ghost, cursed to seek out other hungry ghosts while eating their feces… but I digress! Let’s learn more about this fantastic creature.

Hungry Ghosts And The Six Realms Of Existence

In Buddhism, there are six realms of existence (well, technically there are many more, but this is the simple version). The realms are, in order of awesomeness:

God Realm: Bliss and pleasure galore! You’re not immortal, but it sure is nice. That being said, you get addicted to how nice it is, which makes it harder to attain enlightenment. Too much good is a bad thing.

Demi-God Realm: Pretty nice like the God realm, though things tend to revolve around jealousy and competitiveness. It’s probably not unlike being born into a reality television show.

Human Realm: This is the realm you’re in… or is it? Get out of here, god. Okay, only humans left now? Good. This is sort of the “middle” realm. In it you can experience both “heavenly” and “hellish” experiences, but that’s good for you, at least when it comes to attaining enlightenment.

Animal Realm: A realm defined by ignorance. You can’t think for yourself and life is about survival.

Hungry Ghosts Realm: Constant desire and greed! You can never have enough and you always want more. Sometimes the thing you want has something to do with a desire that consumed you in a past life.  You’re an addict and probably have a huge beer belly.

Hell Realm: Hatred and rage! There’s no compassion and you’re constantly fighting with others. Fiery torture is also common. Luckily, once you’ve finished “burning” all that negative karma you can move up a realm or three! Nowhere to go but up for you!

Of course, the realm we’re most concerned about is the Hungry Ghosts realm. Second to the bottom… not bad, right? Anyways, it could be worse. As mentioned above, the Hungry Ghost realm is achieved by being too greedy or fixed on a certain desire. Maybe you ate too much. Maybe you drank too much. Maybe you sought out “other” pleasures a little too much (I’m looking at you, Mr. Hands). Whatever it is, you’re being punished for wanting too much. Your punishment? Wanting it even more.

Think of it like this… you catch your kid smoking a cigarette. Instead of taking the cigarettes away, you make him smoke the whole thing. Then, one lung later, he realizes that he shouldn’t be smoking anymore. Buddha’s like the father and you’re like the kid.

Now, depending on what country you look at, the Hungry Ghosts have some differences, though they’re all basically the same idea. Some of the “features” of being a hungry ghost.

• The desires you have are never attainable. You want them more than anything but you can never have them.
• Instead of “desires” like the above point, you feed on corpses or eat human feces.
• Some Hungry Ghosts find that they can eat their fill but not be able to drink anything. Others find they can drink there fill but their mouths are the size of pinholes so they cannot eat. Some are able to eat and drink anything, but it just turns to fire whenever they eat it.

Basically, things aren’t great. They also have similarities in terms of how they look all across the board.

• Not really “ghosts” as you might think of them. More like half rotten corpse bodies.
• Big pot bellies. Probably because of the extreme malnutrition they experience.
• So terrifying looking that when a person sees them they “freeze in place and can’t take their eyes off them.” I for one would take my eyes off them.

Here’s some artist renditions to give you an idea:

Even the demons of hell look down on the hungry ghosts, apparently.

Here’s a pleasant cemetery scene.

In the market, Hungry Ghosts gobble up excrement and skin flakes.

Happy birthday (yesterday), Bob Ross!

As you can see, it’s quite the fun-parade. So how do the hungry ghosts affect you and me (besides eating up our poop)? Well, there’s actually a ceremony for it.

Feeding The Hungry Ghosts

“Segaki” (施餓鬼) is a Japanese Buddhist ritual that’s performed to stop the suffering of hungry ghosts as well as to force them to return to their sad corner of hell. It also helps to prevent the dead from falling to the realm of the hungry ghosts. Traditionally, this ritual is performed during O-Bon in the summer though it’s often held during Halloween these days as well (tricky Western influence!).

Want to perform Segaki because you think you have a hungry ghost following you around? Well, you’ll probably need a Buddhist monk, first of all. He will probably meditate for several days, then other people will gather and bring offerings (food), as well as burning incense and sprinkling water from a pine branch. They then burn a piece of paper with the name of the dead on them. This is followed by chants and prayers.

There is a legend that is told about the hungry ghosts (jikininki) about the Buddhist pirest Muso Kokushi. This is the shorter version from Wikipedia. Long version can be found on sacred-texts.com.

The legend of the jikininki is told in the old Japanese tale of the Buddhist priest Muso Kokushi. It is said that Muso was traveling alone through the mountains in the Mino prefecture of Japan when he lost his way. It was almost dark when he saw an old anjitsu, the home of solitary priests, at the top of a hill and asked the inhabitant if he could stay the night. The inhabitant was an old priest who harshly refused him lodging, however he told him he could find food and a place to sleep in a hamlet nearby.

Muso found the hamlet where the headman welcomed him and promptly supplied him food and a place to sleep. A little before midnight Muso was awakened by a young man, who informed him that earlier that day, before he had arrived, his father had died. He had not told Muso earlier as so he would not feel embarrassed or obliged to participate in ceremonies. However the entire village was now leaving their homes for a nearby village, as it was custom to leave the corpse alone for the night or bad things would befall the village inhabitants. As a priest, Muso told the young man he would do his duty and perform the burial service and stay the night with the corpse. He was not afraid of the demons or evil spirits the young man spoke of.

When the young man and the other villagers had left, Muso knelt by the corpse and the offerings and began the service. In the deepest part of a night a shapeless being entered while Muso was in meditation. Muso could not speak or move as he watched the shape devour the corpse and the offerings. The next morning when the villagers had returned, Muso told the young man what had happened. He was not surprised.

He then asked the young man why the priest on the nearby hill did not do the ceremony. The young man told him there was no priest who lived nearby and there hadn’t been for many years. When Muso spoke of the anjitsu the young man also denied its existence. Muso then departed from the village with proper directions to continue his journey.

Although before he left, he sought out the anjitsu and old priest on the top of the hill to see if he had been mistaken. He found the hill and anjitsu easily, and the old priest let him inside this time. The old priest then began to apologize for displaying his true form in front of Muso. He was the shapeless figure who had devoured the corpse in front of him. He explained that he was a jikininki. After living a selfish life as a priest, only caring about the food and clothes his services brought him, he was reborn as a jikininki, doomed to feed upon corpses. He pleaded with Muso to perform a segaki-service so he could escape his horrible existence as a jikininki. All of a sudden the old priest disappeared along with the anjitsu. Muso found himself kneeling in the grass on the top of a hill next to a tombstone of a priest.

OoOoooOOooh, spooky! Maybe he found a dismembered hook left behind on his car door too.

Gaki!

One more little tidbit before I leave you to your thoughts. Did you notice at the beginning that one of the words for “hungry ghost” was “gaki”? The “gaki” version of the hungry ghost is the one cursed to have an insatiable hunger for a certain object or substance. So, maybe if they were an LOLcat addict, they’d always want to read more LOLcats, and never be satisfied.

So, it’s fitting that the word “gaki” is now used in Japanese to refer to a spoiled child or brat. You’ll hear this word a ton in anime, movies, or TV. “OY, GAKI!” So, now you know where it comes from and what it means. They’re essentially calling them a spoiled brat, though the meaning of gaki nowadays is a little more wish washy.

So, if you think you’re giving in to your desires a little too much, it’s time to think again. I wouldn’t want you to turn into a poop eating desire seeking corpse ghost in your next life. Better to shoot for human again, or at the very least get reborn into the animal realm as a kanji-learning crabigator / allicrab.

Hugry ghost フォーー！

For dramatic effect, please play this video in another tab while reading this post.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Picture this – you’re walking home alone at night, minding your own business, and through your daydreaming you end up down a deserted city street that you don’t quite recognize. Suddenly, you hear a strange noise coming from the shadows and you feel something moving towards you as the hair stands up on the back of your neck, giving you the chills.

You turn around slowly and see a beautiful woman standing right behind you. She has long hair, is wearing a long beige trench coat, and is carrying a large pair of shears.

She looks relatively normal, other than the fact that she’s wearing a surgical mask, but that’s not too strange here in Japan. You do, however, wonder why she’s carrying around this pair of shears with her. Interrupting your train of thought, the woman asks in a haunting voice, “Am I beautiful?”

Being a little creeped out, and honestly thinking she’s a decent looking lady, you answer her truthfully, “Yes.”

Upon hearing your answer, she rips off the surgical mask revealing her mutilated mouth, open from ear to ear. Stretching her unnaturally large mouth, she screams, “HOW ABOUT NOW!?”

Terrified, you struggle to form words in your mouth and answer her. Thinking it’s probably a bad idea to say anything negative at this point, you manage to eke out a weak, “Yes…”

The woman then proceeds to take her shears and slice your mouth from ear to ear so that you are now just as beautiful as she. Oops.

The Legend of The Slit-Mouthed Woman

“Hey Kuchisake-onna, y u so serious?”

The Slit-Mouthed Woman is a vengeful Japanese spirit, or yokai, with her defining feature being her mouth slit from ear to ear (kind of like The Joker). According to Japanese urban legends, she roams the streets at night wearing a surgical mask and asking her victims if she’s beautiful.

In 1979, there were many reports of The Slit-Mouthed Woman sightings throughout Japan, and the ghost was said to target school children in specific. The legend spread like wildfire and actually caused increased police patrols in select areas and schools sent teachers to walk students home in groups to make sure they didn’t get snatched up.

The story of The Slit-Mouthed Woman is thought to originate from the Heian period (794-1185). According to the legend, a samurai had a concubine whom he suspected of infidelity. The woman was very beautiful, but also very self absorbed and vain. In a jealous rage the samurai took his sword and cut the woman’s mouth open asking, “Who will find you beautiful now?”

The concubine became a vengeful spirit (par for the course in Japan) and began to wander the streets, wearing a surgical mask to hide her terrible scars.

In modern Japanese urban legend, The Slit-Mouthed Woman is still wandering the streets looking for victims, still asking the same question she has been for hundreds of years. Typically answered in the affirmative, she then rips off her mask, revealing her slit mouth, and repeats her question.

If you answer no or run away, The Slit-Mouthed Woman will hunt you down and kill you. According to legend, she is armed with a sharp, bladed weapon of some sort, ranging from household shears to a large scythe. In the case of a female victim, the spirit may turn her into yet another The Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Different versions of the The Slit-Mouthed Woman story offer different ways to save oneself if approached by the creature. In some tales, she will leave the victim alone if he or she still says that The Slit-Mouthed Woman is beautiful after the mask is removed. In other versions, however, this will only delay death. If you reply “no,” she’ll kill you right then and there.

Some say that the best answer is, “You look normal.” or “You look so-so.” This is said to confuse The Slit-Mouthed Woman, making her think of how to respond, giving her victim time to escape. Another way to escape is to say “Brylcreem” or “pomade” a certain amount of times. Apparently it is supposed to remind her of an old boyfriend or some nonsense.

Other stories suggest throwing something attractive, such as a piece of fruit, candy, or something shiny, away from oneself in order to distract The Slit-Mouthed Woman. As The Slit-Mouthed Woman is not a magpie, I feel that this last suggestion is kind of stupid, but hey, you never know until you try. Some even suggest turning the question around on The Slit-Mouthed Woman and asking her if she thinks you’re pretty.

As mentioned, a supposed Slit-Mouthed Woman started to steadily make appearances in the 1970s. Surprisingly enough, there actually appears to be a bit of credibility to the legend. In 2007, it was discovered that in the late 1970s there was a woman who chased children who was struck by a car and killed during such a chase. This woman did actually have a torn mouth similar to the story. Whether or not her mouth was like this before or after the crash, who can say. This woman was likely the cause of the panic in the late 1970s.

Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman Movie

The Slit-Mouthed Woman appears in a handful of modern day Japanese media, including references in both film and anime series. Over the weekend I checked out the 2007 horror movie, and I have to say, it exceeded expectations.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFTs8ujxrE']

Keep in mind though, my expectations were pretty darn low. I’d known about the movie for quite some time, I just never worked up the motivation to watch it as I didn’t think it looked all that great. While the movie was a bit slow to start, once it got going, it was actually pretty decent. You can certainly do far worse than this for a Japanese horror movie. The story was decent, and some parts were actually pretty creepy.

But would I include it on my list of Top 10 Japanese Horror Films? No, probably not. It was okay, but not good enough to make the cut I’m afraid.

And luckily for everyone, if you’re interested, the entire movie is available for viewing on YouTube. Enjoy!

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wV3BVuozYM&feature=related']

So tell me, have you heard of The Slit-Mouthed Woman before? Seen any of the movies? What did you think of them? Think the urban legend is creepy? Let us know in the comments!

But Wait, What be this Bento Thing?

For those unfamiliar, a bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japan. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, it is still very common (and way more fun) for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy creating an expertly prepared and visually pleasing lunch box.

Bento can be very elaborately arranged in styles called kyaraben and oekakiben which resemble animated characters and real people respectively. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

I hobbled around the internet a little bit and found some of the more interesting Halloween themed bento boxes for further inspection. Which one is your favorite?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those people who packs their lunch every day because going out to eat for lunch can be a serious drain on one’s finances. However, I seriously do not have the time to make my lunches as fancy as the bento boxes above. Some of them look pretty amazing and probably took more time to make than they took to be eaten. But the power of photography has preserved them forever so that we might enjoy them.

I’m sure that not all of the above bento boxes were actually fashioned by Japanese people, but that in no way detracts from them. Food art is something that rarely gets much attention, and I think these folks deserve to be recognized an appreciated for their impressive works of art.

So tell me, which Halloween bento is your favorite? Which one looks the most appetizing? Ever made a totally rad bento box of your own? What was it? Let us know in the comments!

Even today, a decade and some change later, I remember sitting in the back of my family’s minivan on the way home with those images still in my head, more than a little shaken.

Guess what happens next.

This week I found out that the comic that had scared me so much as a kid is called Parasyte, a manga about alien parasites that take over human bodies and kill and eat people.

I read through it recently and was kind of underwhelmed. Even though I remember Parasyte being so freaky and unnerving when I was a kid, it doesn’t have the same effect on me now.

Although Parasyte isn’t the scariest horror manga out there, it taught me early on how manga can really scare you and shake you up.

For Halloween week, I decided to look into more horror manga and explore the different Japanese artists who frighten us to our core.

Shigeru Mizuki

I don’t think that many people would be very scared of Shigeru Mizuki’s manga, but he has to be included in any conversation about manga featuring the spooky and supernatural.

Mizuki is most famous for his manga ゲゲゲの鬼太郎, or GeGeGe no Kitaro. It’s a story about a boy trying to bring peace between the warring worlds of humans and supernatural beings.

Kitaro is about as scary as Casper the Friendly Ghost, but what is lacks in creepiness it makes up for in traditional Japanese folklore. There’s probably no other manga that’s so full of different obake, or Japanese monsters and spirits.

Over the years, Kitaro has gone through (approximately) a billion iterations, from manga to anime to live-action features. Kitaro isn’t the scariest manga out there by a long shot, but it’s still very near and dear to most Japanese.

Kazuo Umezu

Kazuo Umezu is another old-school manga artist. Besides being known for dressing like he’s starring in Where’s Waldo?, Umezu has been making manga for decades.

His most famous work is The Drifting Classroom, an eerie story of a school miraculously transported into a post-apocalyptic future. Separated from their families, the kids and teachers begin to snap, grow paranoid, and drift apart.

It’s a chilling world that Umezu has created, and one that’s resonated for the forty-some years since its release.

The Drifting Classroom was also made into a laughable, English-language movie in the 80^s that pretty much destroys the eerie atmosphere that Umezu worked to build. But let’s not talk about that.

Junji Ito

We wrote a whole post about Junji Ito last year, but he’s still worth mentioning here.

There’s a reason he’s so iconic and such a favorite of mine. His stories and art are bleak and convey a sense of hopelessness that’s hard to shake.

Ito’s created classics like Uzumaki (which was made into an awful movie), Gyo, and The Enigma of Amigara Fault.

You can read our whole post about Ito here.

Hideshi Hino

Hideshi Hino really stands out from a lot of other manga artists; his art style is radically different from what you normally expect out of manga. His characters are simple, cartoony, and he’s all but thrown anatomy out the window.

Even though Hino’s art looks less realistic than most manga artist, the effect is that it’s more frightening. Something about these inhuman characters doing such horrifying things seems to take it to the next level.

Hino’s more than a manga artist; he also directed and starred in a movie in the infamous Guinea Pig horror movie series. The movie, Flower of Flesh and Blood is so gory and realistic that, before his life became the train wreck that it is today, Charlie Sheen reported the movie to the FBI because he thought it was all real.

About all I want to show you of Flower of Flesh and Blood

Needless to say, we can’t really show you anything from Flower of Flesh and Blood, so use your imagination. Think Cannibal Holocaust and you’re probably pretty close.

This is just a small dose of all of the horror manga out there. There were some artists whose art was so gory and graphic that I decided against putting them in this post, and I’m sure there are a ton of incredible artists that I’m completely unaware of.

What’s your favorite horror manga? Who’s your favorite artist? Let us know!