Whether you avoid such houses no matter the cost, or actually prefer the stigmatized house more than a normal one because of the price, today you and I are going to explore how to find out if a property in Japan comes with a dark history and we’ll also try to uncover some tips to help you to either avoid or choose such a place.

What Is Stigmatized Property?

Stigmatized property is called 事故物件 (じこぶっけん/juko-bukken), 訳あり物件 (わけありぶっけん/wakeari-bukken), ブラック物件 (ぶらっくぶっけん/black-bukken), or in legal terms 心理的瑕疵物件 (しんりてきかしぶっけん/shinriteki-kashi-bukken) in Japanese. 瑕疵 (かし/kashi) means flaw; defeat; blemish and a property with “kashi” is a place that buyers or tenants may shun for reasons that are unrelated to its physical condition or features. Such reasons include murder, murder-suicide, family suicide, individual suicide, solitary death and arson. On top of that, it includes things like whether or not a gangster organization (yakuza) used the space, or if a religious cult exists nearby.

The Law And A Loophole

Although both the civil law of Japan, as well as the building lots and building transactions business law (what a mouthful) dictates that realtors to inform any prospective tenants of any “stigma” involving the previous tenant or property, the law doesn’t actually state what specifically that stigma is. Therefore, the realtors themselves have to decide what exactly is worth informing prospective tenants about by referring to precedents. In fact, it seems to be pretty difficult for realtors to judge because there are various precedents which could change depending on the situation.

For example, one precedent indicates that the prospective tenant needs to be informed for at least two years following some form of stigma, whereas the other said that it has to be 20 years, though the average accepted duration is typically between 5 to 10 years. There was also a precedent stating that the tenant has to be informed of such incidents 10 years after it happened unless a different tenant has already lived there.

This precedent created a loophole: the requirement of informing tenants of a stigma applies only to the most recent tenant and once the place has been rented a second time, whatever occurred prior to that need no longer be reported. Because of this, many people just changed the registered tenant’s name to their family member’s, or even hired someone to temporarily live there. This rampant, immoral method has actually caused a lot of hassle in the courts. For this reason, there is now a consensus among real estate companies to inform the prospective tenant of the stigma if the incident happened within the past 10 years or if the prospective tenant is the third registered tenant after the incident, though, again, it is still left to the realtor’s or owner’s discretion.

First, Simply Ask the Realtor

So now let’s suppose you’re in the market for a new apartment, and you spot one that’s pretty good. The location is favorable, the structure is very durable, and the unit has plenty of storage space and gets a lot of sunshine. It’s also in close proximity to a train station and convenient shopping places, but the rent seems too good to be true. Tintintin~♪ Bingo♪

If that’s the case, you are likely to find that the apartment may have experienced an “unfortunate incident.” In general, rent for stigmatized properties is usually listed at over 20% less than normal. Even if it is listed at the normal rate, you’re likely to be able to negotiate the price down by 20% or more, so long as you know that the stigma exists.

So, say you do find a place that is priced at the normal market value. How can you figure out about the stigma then? One thing that may set off some warning bells is if it was renovated. The place looks brand spankin’ new and it’s only this price? Or, even more suspicious, what if only part of the location is renovated. The flooring in this particular room is so beautiful but the walls are kind of old and shabby looking… or, why is the bathtub so new and high-tech when the toilet’s oshiri button doesn’t even move back and forth?

These are the kinds of things to look for, so if you notice any of these things or anything else that seems fishy, you can simply ask the realtor if this is a place with an undesirable history. As long as the realtor is a good person and follows the consensus, you will be informed, especially when you directly ask. You may also want to check if the neighboring units are occupied too, because it’s common for people to move away if there was an event or issue at the unit you’re looking at.

So, whether you’re trying to avoid a stigmatized unit or if you’re trying to find one so you can negotiate the price down, those are the things you need to do.

What To Ask?

Let’s say you do ask and they say “Nope, not stigmatized.” You know that look in their eyes. They seem uncomfortable and are making weird movements, just like a lier would! Something is wrong here…

One way to get past this is to ask for more details. Here are some questions that will help you to figure out if it is actually that type of place:

• How long did the previous tenant live here and how long has the unit been vacant (exactly when did they move out)?
• Did the tenant move out within two years of moving in?
• Did they move when it wasn’t normal moving season, such as March? Why?

If the realtor hesitates to answer or tells you that he/she doesn’t know the reason, you should keep being skeptical. With enough digging, you might make the person slip up and tell you something they didn’t intend to, or you may just catch them in a lie.

Furthermore, if you are enthusiastically recommended a unit with phrases that sound as though the person is rushing to sell the place, such as “I’ve never seen such a good place”, “I’d like to live here if I were you”, or “It’s so rare that such a place is available at this price”, then you may want to think twice. Maybe it is too good to be true. Oh and by the way, if you are seeking a stigmatized property and don’t mind being honest about that with the realtor, feel free to reveal that information right where you stand. In that case, no one would lie. They’re probably having trouble selling the place and that might come at a relief to them. That being said, maybe you could say that out front and then catch them at their lie.

Second, Go To Well-Disclosures Real Estate Site

If the situation arises when you’ve asked the realtor your questions, but didn’t get enough confidence boosting information and thus are still skeptical, the next thing you should do is to check out the real estate sites, such as SUUMO, which discloses stigmatized information.

As for SUUMO, not only are they unafraid to reveal stigmatized property but they’ve also even attempted a new and unique approach to offloading stigmatized property. In a very positive way, they try to convince the potential renter that it’s actually a great thing to live in a place where someone violently died! The following is what they wrote for the unit.

“事故物件♪
人気の事故物件♪初期費用が少額♪TDL近い♪バストイレ付き♪ー初期費用の少ない事故物件でました！一人暮らしなのに一人暮らしではないような感覚にさせてくれる寂しがり屋さんにオススメのお部屋です♪”
Stigmatized Property♪
Popular stigmatized property♪ Low initial cost♪ Near Tokyo Disneyland♪ Private bath and toilet♪ It’s a stigmatized property, which means low initial cost! You’ll be living alone, but you’ll never really feel like it. This room is perfect for lonely singles♪

It came with pictures of not just the apartment and surrounding area, but also of a cute, friendly ghost character ‘お化けのQ太郎(おばけのきゅうたろう/Obake-no-Q-taro)’, which means ‘Ghost Q-taro’ and was made by the creators of ‘ドラえもん(Doraemon)’, 藤子不二雄(Fujiko Fujio).

The price was 23,000yen(US$230) per month with no deposits for the 107 square-foot unit with a kitchen, balcony, bathroom, and toilet. It seems that this unique idea succeeded in its purpose and the ad was taken off shortly after.

事故物件・訳あり物件情報センター(Jiko-bukken・Wakear-bukken-Jouhou-center), which is Stigmatized Property Information Center is another website on which you can find these properties, as well. Although they only cover the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba areas, they actually focus solely on stigmatized property for their business, whereas SUUMO only partly deals with such properties. So if you are looking for such a place, you can search for an ‘only stigmatized property’ realtor.

Third, Check Out Oshima Teru

Oshima Teru CAVEAT EMPTOR is an up and coming website operated by Manabu Oshima since September 2005. The site’s main purpose is to map out every property where unnatural deaths occurred and to show you the ‘stigmatized properties’ with burn marks from fires. Originally, it focused on the greater Tokyo area, but now they have extended into a near worldwide coverage including North America and Europe. They glean data from police reports and the media, visit the actual places or the courts to learn the correct addresses, and use Google maps to indicate where all the “stigmatized properties” around the world are. This site is getting popular and they even made a Google app. This site is also for free so to all of you are thinking of moving I’d recommend searching for a stigmatized property on Oshima Teru to make a stigmatized property your own.

However, despite the worldwide coverage of Oshima Teru, most places are limited to major cities. So, what can you do now? Unfortunately, your last resort may be to walk around and ask the neighbors by yourself: “This unit is very cheap compared to the average price in this area, so is it only this unit or is everyone in this apartment building paying the same price?” Although it may be a difficult, time-consuming way, you may be able to gain fruitful information not only regarding stigmatized properties, but also about your potential landlord’s or neighbors’ personalities.

Finally Make Your Own Decision

Though I listed the ways to figure out if the unit is stigmatized, most likely you will just be informed by the realtor because they will be afraid of being sued for hiding it from you (should you move in and find out later). Some real estate companies actually went bankrupt because of having a bad reputation from hiding such things.

Interested in buying or renting a stigmatized home? Go ahead! Although, there are also some cases where tenants complained of “residual smells” being left behind by decomposing corpses, or tenants who developed insomnia due to the psychological pressure of knowing what occurred in their unit, so you should also consider those things before making a decision. But, if you value a good deal over trivial things like your psychological health, I won’t hold you up any longer.

Me? As I told you earlier, there is no way that I could move into one of those places or learn that I used to live in one. However, my curiosity was far too great and I actually felt compelled to find out whether or not I unknowingly lived in stigmatized house. Unfortunately, or perhaps luckily, I couldn’t find any verifiable proof that the incident I wrote about in a previous article actually occurred there, perhaps because it was such a old case. Personally, I’m glad that I didn’t find anything out. I guess it will just have to remain an eerie possibility for my mind to nibble on.

So what about you? Think you could live in a stigmatized property? Where would you draw the line? Is suicide okay but not murder? Or perhaps the line is between murder suicide and regular murder? Let me know your opinion and where you stand. Oh, and if you’ve lived in a stigmatized property, tell me all about it, I want to know!

And it’s even more difficult when you are told, ‘Just for now, give me some space, OK?’ by someone you love so much, because you still don’t understand a lot of things that have happened. That is the situation between us, the viewers, and the former show, Attack on Titan. Even though we’ve all read some sneak peeks in the actual comic books or on the blog sites filled with ネタバレ (neta-bare), meaning spoilers, there are still so many unanswered questions since the original manga hasn’t finished, yet.

Now imagine, how would you feel if they never resumed the show and you were never actually able to find out what happens? Well, I would quickly bypass the first of the five stages of grief and be so freaking outraged if that happened. I’d probably stay in this stage for a good long while and hope that there are enough people in the production world to do the all the bargaining, for me and every other fan, to get the series back up and running. If all negotiations failed, I don’t think I would ever move on from the depression stage because this scenario is simply unacceptable. I’m pretty sure that many of you would feel the same.

Cold Cases In Japan Itching Our Teeth

However, there are actually so many mysteries in Japan that forever itches our teeth. Sorry if I confused you by saying ‘itches our teeth’. We use a phrase ‘歯がゆい (ha-gayui)’ which means ‘to have itchy teeth’ therein expressing that you are irritated and tantalized. According to a database made by Seesaawiki, the amount of unsolved homicide cases which happened in Japan between December, 1948 and July, 2013 is 537.

Although Japan abolished the statute of limitation for murder in 2010, the 216 incidents which had happened before the law was enacted remain cold as further investigation into those cases have seized, 迷宮入りした (meikyuuiri-shita). As you know, we can’t even tolerate an anime series ending without revealing its secret, so these real cases still bother so many people, as is verifiable with the amount of discussion about these cases on the internet.

This is just a heads up and I’m not going to introduce every incident here, but will introduce one of the creepiest ones that I’ve come across recently. This one is actually still itching my teeth because I somehow feel as if I’m involved in it. Why do I feel this way? Well, keep reading and you’ll see. I’m also hoping to teach you some creepy words in the article.

[box type="alert"]However, if you don’t like horror stories, please close your eyes now![/box]

Kyoto-Nagaokakyo: Women Collecting Bracken Murder

This murder case, 殺人事件 (satsujin-jiken), happened on May 23, 1979. Following their work shifts and at 10am that day, Mrs. Mieko Mizuno (32 years old) and Mrs. Hideko (or could be Eiko) Akashi (43 years old), two women who worked together at the Izumiya grocery store, went to collect some brackens (ferns) on their bicycles at a small bamboo forested hill called Nohara in Okukaiji, an area of Nagaokakyo city.

This hill was a place that families enjoyed collecting wild edible plants or bamboo shoots and going to for picnics, whereas some rape crimes had happened there before the murder because there were rarely many people around. This was a very familiar place to Akashi as she had collected brackens in this place for many years. On this day, however, she never returned from that hill and neither did her friend Mizuno. Mizuno was supposed to pick her son up at a nursery that day, so when she didn’t show up, her family submitted a 捜索願 (sousaku-negai) to the police, which means ‘a request for the police to search for someone’.

The police found their 死体 (shitai), meaning dead bodies, near the top of the hill two days later. Akashi’s cause of death was being stabbed in the heart by an all-purpose knife and Mizuno’s was strangulation. Their belongings, such as their cash, wristwatches, empty bento boxes and collections of bracken, were still in their backpacks. Due to that, alongside with the results of 検死 (kenshi) meaning an autopsy, the police estimated that their time of death occurred between noon and 2:30pm on May 23.

What Creeps People Out

The memo written by Akashi

What creeps people out is that there was a receipt from the Izumiya grocery store found in the right pocket of Akashi’s jeans. It was crumpled up into a ball and had scribbled writing that said ‘オワレている たすけて下さい この男の人わるい人’ (owareteiru tasukete kudasai kono otoko no hito warui hito) which means ‘Being followed. Please help. This guy is a bad guy.’ The police found the lead tip of the pencil in the earth about 17 meters away from the corpse, but they were never able to find the pencil it came from.

Moreover, both women had bruises, seemingly from a series of punches and kicks, so the police assumed the criminal had some knowledge of karate or some other martial art. As for Akashi, she had 30 bruises along with nine broken ribs and a lacerated liver. Although her shirt showed some rips and tears in it, her jeans were still on properly. However, some semen was detected on her.

As for Mizuno, she had over 50 bruises. The National Research Institute of Police Sciences assessed a hair that was found on Mizuno’s body and determined that the criminal’s blood type was O. When she was found, her pants had been  taken off, her underwear and pantyhose were entangling on her legs and some branches had been inserted into her genitals, but no semen was found. The knife wound which entered through her chest pierced her lung and her heart. There is also a rumor that both of the women also had their achilles’ tendons cut to prevent them from running away, but it’s not confirmed.

Who Did It? -Nobody Knows.

Although the single hair suggested that there was only one man involved, additionally as the murders occurred during the day and there were two adult female victims, police also investigated this case with the possibility that the criminal did not act alone.

The murder weapon, 凶器 (kyouki), was the only 遺留品 (iryuuhin), thing left behind, but there was no 指紋 (shimon), fingerprints, on the knife. It was clear that the knife was one of about 70,000 knives made in Gifu prefecture, but the police couldn’t find out how it had come to the criminal. They ended up putting 25,000 officers on the hill and they found out that the criminal wore short shoes and was a strong guy. On the day of the murder, and since it was the season for collecting wild edible plants, 15 to 16 people were on the hill and 5 to 6 cars were parked at the bottom. Some residential construction was going on that day and about 40 workers from Osaka were there, too.

There were several suspects in this case. The delinquent young men K and M, who worked as construction helpers, were witnessed rushing down the hill shortly after the time of death. K had some experience in karate and often went to the hill on his bicycle. However, they had a perfect alibi on the day.

The other suspects were 25 and 30 year old men who went to the hill roughly 10 minutes after the women had, but the police couldn’t uncover who they were except for that they were wearing white shirts and jeans. There was also one strange man, who was reported one year prior to the incident for asking one of the women, “Hi madam. Have you got some brackens?” while holding a 30 cm long knife at the time. He was 40 to 45 years old, 170 cm tall and was wearing gray work clothes. The police weren’t able to track this man down, either.

There were also some leather shoe prints near the murder scene. There was record of an odd middle aged man who talked to the women 6 days before the murder wearing those shoes and even with a forensic sketch artist putting a face to the man’s description, police were not able to find him.

The Additional Story

The incident was already awful enough, but what really made me shudder was the additional story connected to this case. It’s not confirmed but it is purported that the police and the press had an agreement to withhold revealing the existence of another woman in order to prevent her from being harmed. Still, many people do believe that there was a third woman involved, who for some reason came back down the hill before the crime occurred.

However, on May 16th, 1984, 5 years after the murder, the third woman was killed. Her body was found on the main floor of her wooden home following a house fire. This fire was isolated to the first floor because of the quick response of the fire department to a call placed by this woman’s neighbor. She was found face down with a deep gash underneath her left ear and had over ten cuts on her back. Blood splatter residue was found on both floors of her house.

The criminal killed her by putting a bunch of blankets on her back and setting them on fire. The police also found bruising on her neck indicating that she had also been strangled. Once again, the police found DNA samples and were able to determine that the criminal’s blood was type-O, but they were never able to locate this man. This murder happened somewhere within one block of Koutari Nagaokakyo, Kyoto.

What Creeps Me Out More

That last sentence is the reason why I feel as if I’m somehow connected or involved in this. That’s the exact area in which my husband and I used to live. Creepy, isn’t it? Although it is more of an urban legend that both murders were related, it is true that this horrible homicide happened right beside our house or, an even more rattling possibility, that our house could have been the actual house in which it occurred. The statutes of limitations ran out on both of these cases and they remain unsolved to this day. Now my teeth are very itchy!

So, what are your thoughts on the ‘Kyoto-Nagaokakyo: Women Collecting Bracken Murder’?

I personally think that it’s undoubtedly one of the creepiest cases in Japan. Would you want to visit and explore the area, or would it be too scary? Would you be willing to collect wild plants in the bamboo forest if someone dared you? Have you even heard of this place before? Do you know any creepy unsolved murder cases which happened in your country? Are there any eerie or creepy words you would like to know how to say in Japanese? Let us know in the comments below!

Or, you might be intently watching a very important YouTube video on how to create your own origami ninja stars when Linda Blair herself jumps out of your screen, forcing you to change your underpants yet again. Hopefully you remembered to do the laundry.

If I see this on Youtube one more time… 

It’s true, these things might give you a scare, but luckily, other than inducing a heart attack or making your computer spend some good bonding time with your axe, scary videos and pop-ups on the internet really can’t hurt anyone in real life. That is, of course, unless you run into “The Red Room.”

The Legend

The Red Room is a Japanese urban legend about an internet pop-up that advertises one thing and one thing only: your imminent death. According to legend, The Red Room appears as a red window displaying only the words “あなたは〜好きですか？（Do you like ____?)” which are read in a mangled but supposedly cute voice. Just like this.

“Do you like ___?” Now, you may be thinking, “That doesn’t even make sense! I’ll just exit out of this stupid pop-up and end this right here and now!” But no. Once the Red Room has chosen its next victim – there is no escape. The more you try to exit out of the Red Room pop-up, the worse things get.

As you get increasingly frustrated and start madly clicking the exit button as if you can avoid your grim fate, “あなたは〜好きですか？” begins to transform as the words “赤い部屋が” slowly appear. Click by click, the complete question is eventually revealed: “あなたは赤い部屋が好きですか？ (Do you like The Red Room?)

At this point, all hope of survival is lost. You can kiss your miserable butt sayonara. Once the full question is revealed, the entire computer screen is enveloped in red and a list of names appears – past victims of the Red Room. What happens immediately after that is unclear, but one thing is for certain: victims of the Red Room commit “suicide,” coating the walls of their rooms with their own blood. Hence, the legend of “The Red Room.”

The Notorious Flash Animation

Around 10 years ago, someone created an interactive flash animation about the legend which allows viewers to walk through an encounter with the pop-up. If you’re bold enough, you can experience the original flash for yourself:

Here

If you can’t understand Japanese, well, the flash won’t have the same effect (lucky for you), but you can kind of tell what’s going on based upon the pictures (the beginning will be boring). However, if you can understand Japanese but you can’t read kanji, or if you’re too scared to go through the flash without an adult, there are plenty of Red Room videos on YouTube narrated by bored, adrenaline-junkie teenagers.

In the flash, the protagonist is told about the legend of the Red Room by his friends at school. As soon as he goes home, he attempts to research what he heard, but fails to find anything interesting. However, as soon as he gives up and returns to his routine website, ratemypoop.com, a pop-up appears. It’s the Red Room! Confused and bewildered, the protagonist proceeds with caution, but eventually he panics. Trying desperately to escape, he clicks one too many times and reveals the final question: あなたは赤い部屋が好きですか？Suddenly, the screen turns bright red and a list of names appears, the last one being the name of his good friend and classmate. With that, the protagonist slowly becomes aware of an ominous presence behind him, and all fades to black. The next day at school, there are whispers of gossip about 2 students who committed suicide the night before, painting their rooms with their own blood. At the end of the flash, the protagonist’s computer is shown once more, and the viewer can see that the his name has been added to the end of the list. Mwuahahahaha.

Are you scared yet? No?! Okay, I wasn’t either … at first.

Connection to the Sasebo Slashing

So, the idea of a “death pop-up” may not be the scariest thing you’ve ever heard of. It could easily be dismissed for one of those chain mail messages that people used to post on Myspace all the time, predicting your bloody murder by a killer clown at 3AM. At first, I had no idea what the big deal was with the notorious Red Room. In fact, the legend wasn’t even taken seriously in Japan, that is, until something truly terrible happened.

Warning: This Part Gets Bloody

On June 1, 2004, an unspeakable event occurred in Sasebo, Japan. The “Sasebo Slashing” refers to the brutal murder of a Satomi Mitarai, a 12 year-old elementary school girl, by her younger female classmate known as “Girl A,” or more colloquially, “Nevada-tan.”

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the words “elementary school girls” and “murdering each other” together, something seems amiss. I might assume it was an accident of some sort – perhaps someone was running with scissors. Just thinking about it sounds like a more extreme version of Battle Royale – absolutely impossible.

However, this incident was not an accident. The 12 year-old admitted to murdering Mitarai over a comment she made on the internet, slandering Nevada-tan by calling her “goody-goody.” In response, Nevada-tan brutally slashed her classmates throat and arms with a utility knife. She then proceeded to walk back to her classroom, covered in blood.

As expected, all of Japan was shocked and disturbed by this incident. What could possess a 12 year-old girl to commit such an act? Further investigations produced something eerie: the 12 year-old murderer’s number one bookmark on her computer was the Red Room flash animation. It was this unnerving discovery that lead to the Red Room’s notoriety over the last decade as a truly evil force.

Although there haven’t been reports of students covering their bedroom walls with their own blood, this comes pretty close. Somehow, after knowing this fact, the Red Room becomes a lot creepier. You can’t help but wondering if the red room really is the manifestation of something dark and unknown.

Other Versions

As rumors of the Sasebo Slashing’s connection to the Red Room began to spread, more and more stories of the Red Room started cropping up all over the place. While the original legend still remains, new interpretations of the Red Room curse have emerged as well.

One story depicts the Red Room as the silent ghost of a woman dressed completely in red. The rumors of the Red Room started amongst cab drivers, several of which claim they’ve picked up such a woman in the dead of night. They say she possess the power to allure men with her mystery and enchanting beauty – even her eyes are color of blood. Cab drivers beware: do not pick up this woman!

The Red Room legend has even been recreated by the Japanese horror channel. Below is a short sketch about the Red Room curse. This one is a bit closer to the original tale, so be warned, things get bloody again:

Where Did it Come From?

So, if the Red Room curse has been around even before the Sasebo Slashing, where did it come from? There are multiple theories on this, some of them being obvious crack-pot conspiracies. Here are the top three:

1. COMMUNISTS.

That’s all I really need to say. “The Red Room?” Well, red is a symbol of communism, so that must mean it was created as some sort of systematic communist brainwashing tool! Puhfliwauhhilfwakjn.

2. North Korea Abductions

In the last half century it hasn’t been entirely uncommon for North Korea to abduct a few people from Japan here and there – a high risk game if you ask me. In order to lower the risk of collecting “followers” in such a brash way, many people believe that the North Korean government has created several mind-control internet pop-ups in the last decade with one goal in mind: to gain as many zombie followers to do their dirty work and obtain foreign currency as possible. NORTH KOREA!!!

3. The Red Room curse is a type of love letter virus.

Around the year 2000, virus love letters were a big trend in Japan. It’s most likely that the Red Room legend began due to a prominent virus of this sort. The list of names at the end could have been a list of infected computers, but seriously, I think we all know “communists” is the most appropriate answer to this mystery. Case closed.

No matter where the Red Room curse came from, I never want to encounter it. Ever. There are very few urban legends out there that seem to produce evidence in reality, and this is one of them.  It’s one of those things that just keeps getting creepier and creepier the more you think about it. I pretty much never want to browse the internet again. Maybe this could be a cure for Facebook addictions?

Think you could outrun the Red Room? Try again. The Red Room curse will follow you, even if you take a shotgun to your precious iPad. Let me know if you’ve ever came across this pop-up before in the comments section below. Oh, but wait, you’d be dead. Sorry.

[hr]

Sources:
【都市伝説】ネットで伝わる「こわ～いうわさ話ベスト１０」
赤い部屋

But How is Fugu Prepared, Anyway?

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rFwzi4-oLo']

This video is great. It does a fantastic job of explaining pretty much all you need to know about fugus and their preparation. So maybe fugus aren’t the real murderers after all. We humans sure kill a lot more of them than they do us, that’s for sure.

And for those of you brave enough to witness the actual preparation of the fugu from start to finish, I’ve included the video below. But be warned! If you are squeamish about things being chopped up while they are still alive and moving, you’d best skip on this one.

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBc8e7fkc6E']

See? Told you. Not exactly a pleasant viewing experience. But let’s get back to how devilishly murderous these fugu are, shall we?

Poisonings in the Tens!

Okay, so fugu really aren’t all that dangerous. The Japanese government keeps a record of reported fugu poisonings within the country, and each year since they started keeping track there have been about 20 to 40 reported fugu poisonings annually. Compare this to shark attacks which happen about 100 times a year. And that’s worldwide, not just in Japan. Suddenly fugu doesn’t seem so scary after all now does he?

And while reported poisonings range from about 20 to 40 each year, the fatality rate from these poisonings is actually quite low. The fatality rate in Japan is only 6.8% and the most fatalities ever in one year was a mere six. Some years there aren’t even any fatalities at all.

According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, less than one person a year is killed by sharks each year on average (although seventeen died in 2011 from shark attacks). So I guess fugus come out a little bit ahead in this category as far as murderous intent goes.

Seems legit.

But what about the poisonings outside of Japan that come at the hands of phony baloney “sushi chefs” (see above)? Well, unfortunately the survival rate for fugu poisonings outside of Japan isn’t tracked. However, the survival rate outside of Japan is most likely lower as Japanese hospitals are better equipped to treat fugu poisonings as it is much more common over there. Other countries are most likely not as familiar with these types of incidents. So would I recommend you try fugu the next time you’re in Mexico? No, no I would not.

Japan also has strict regulations and training regimens for fugu chefs. This makes fugu eating far safer in Japan than it would be in most other countries. Although some countries such as the United States require that fugu chefs be certified in Japan before they are allowed to prepare fugu dishes for patrons.

More often than not, the fugu poisoning cases in Japan are committed by fisherman or other amateur fugu chefs who attempt to (unwisely) prepare fugu at home. So, when all’s said and done, there is a very, very small chance that you will fall victim to fugu poisoning when sampling the dish at a respected eatery while in Japan.

Fun Fact: Did you know that fugu literally means “river pig”?

So tell me, have any of you been brave enough to try fugu? Think you would if given the chance? Share your story and let us know in the comments!

Sites Consulted:
Japan-Talk
Fugu Wikipedia
Shark Attack Wikipedia