[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.

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

Here’s my top ten list of pants-peeing creepy crawlies that will give you a scare if you weren’t expecting them. On that note, here’s to hoping that you don’t run into too many of them on any visit to Japan you might take.

10. Cicada セミ

“I am so kawaii.”

Even though they are commonly found in many regions of the world, cicadas are somewhat of an iconic symbol of Japanese wildlife. Their sounds are often played as background noise in Japanese movies and referred to in famous works of literature. Some people love ‘em, some people hate ‘em, but you can’t deny that they are kind of creepy. Before cicadas become obnoxious “tree crickets,” they live underground as nymphs (yes, I do mean mythological women). Once they hit puberty and start arguing with their parents, they burrow their way out of the ground and find a nearby place to molt where they leave their nasty exoskeletons for children to collect.

Groups of cicadas can produce sounds up to 120 decibels – that’s louder than an Ozzy Osbourne concert. Cicadas are harmless, but if they mistake you for a tree they could grip you with their spiky legs and beak in an attempt to eat from you or lay their eggs on you. Overall, these are pretty cool, but they can definitely be freaky, especially with the whole molting thing.

Bonus Tip: They also die in great numbers, too. And, when they die, they fall from the trees like sakura blossoms in spring. Suffice to say, dead giant insects falling on you is a momentary panic-inducing situation.

9. Stink Bug　クサギカメムシ

Kusagikamemushi… that’s a pretty big name for such a little stinker. Like fruit vampires, these bugs roam the land sucking the fluids from any vegetation they can find with their straw like appendage, called a proboscis. They usually don’t bother humans, but if you touch this little dude or intimidate him, you’ll end up covered in a nasty, cilantro-like odor. So, unless you want to walk home smelling like Mexican food (I know I do), I would avoid running into this bug.

8. Denki Mushi　イラガの幼虫

Awww isn’t it a cute little caterpie? That is, until you touch it. Run into one of these guys and you’ll be feeling like you stuck a paper clip into an electric socket. Although these bugs don’t really have electric powers (like real pokemon), the chemicals they release are said to feel remarkably like an electric shock. That’s why they’ve picked up the nickname “denkimushi” (electric bug) in Japanese. In short, these things are about as cuddly as a cactus. :D

7. Cockroach　ゴキブリ

Cockroaches. That’s all I really have to say, isn’t it? These things are disgusting even without knowing much about them. But if you really must know, cockroaches can carry 33 types of bacteria, six kinds of parasites, and seven pathogens (that we know of). They are said to be the only thing that can survive nuclear warfare other than Twinkies, which may not be true, but they are hard to get rid of. Cockroaches can go 45 minutes without breathing, live a month without food, and sustain themselves off the glue from a postage stamp. And the worst part is: they really will eat your children. Or, at least your child’s hair, toenails, eyelashes, and eyebrows.

6.  Japanese Mountain Leech　ヤマビル

Leeches. Never a good thing, except maybe for sucking satan out of demon-possessed 12 year olds. Most of the the time people run into nasty encounters with leeches in bodies of water, but these little suckers are perfectly comfortable on land. Mountain leeches have a seemingly harmless inchworm-like gait, but when they really mean business they can come after you by somersaulting at high speed. They even climb trees to drop down on unsuspecting victims and hide in your shoes (only slightly disconcerting). These leeches are equipped with a sucker on one end that helps them to get get around and size up their victims. On the other end, they have strong jaws lined with thousands of tiny teeth which they use to inject you with an anti-coagulant and numbing compound so they can unknowingly feed on your blood- oh, and chew through your clothing . Yikes.

Another type of leech that lives in Japan is the Giant carnivorous mountain leech. These leeches, also comfortable above the water, could easily be mistaken for snakes due to their large size and the way they slither across the ground at high speeds in search of prey. The good thing is, these leeches don’t suck blood like you might think. Instead, they use their huge jaws to swallow worms whole. How charming.

5. House Centipede ゲジゲジ

The gejigeji looks downright prehistoric. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I had been thrust into some horrible B-class syfy movie (THE LEGS). Luckily, however, the gejigeji is just a harmless little guy, unlike its evil cousin the Japanese Giant Centipede. All he wants is to be loved. That must be why he has so many long arms – to hug you with.

Gejigeji are actually good to keep around your house – if you can stand them that is. They eat all the other critters you don’t actually want around.

4. Giant Centipede　ムカデ

I don’t usually find centipedes scary (except maybe The Human Centipede), but this one deserves to be feared. A symbol of evil in Japanese mythology, the mukade can grow up to a length of 38 centimeters (that’s 15 inches!). It doesn’t just look scary, though, the mukade is poisonous too. If it gets its little chompers around you, you’ll be in a world of pain and probably have some pretty decent swelling. It usually won’t kill you, but get a bad enough bite and you’ll be straight to the doctor. So, I don’t recommend tempting one of these bad boys if you are trying to pull a Ferris Bueller. In Japanese lore, it is said that the mukade must be burned to get rid of it. So seriously, KILL IT WITH FIRE.

Fire? Why not just barbeque them up? That’ll get rid of them. Who wants some spicy mukade? Mmm mmm, crunchy.

3. Huntsman Spider

アシダカグモ

NOPE. Nope nope nope nope. That was my first reaction to this creepy crawly, if you can even call it that. I feel more inclined to call it SOMETHING FROM MY WORST NIGHTMARES. Pictures of this guy end up all over the internet, and for good reasons. It’s terrifying. More like a dark, hairy crab, the Huntsman Spider, or ashidakagumo, doesn’t spin webs to catch its prey. Instead, it uses its lightning-fast legs to chase down its food, beats it into the ground, then rips apart the its poor victim for its next meal. Oh, and did I mention they get up to a foot wide? I’m just sayin’, my cat wouldn’t even eat this. Check it out:

The only good thing about this spider is that its not poisonous to humans. Phew! Another thing I don’t have to worry about, except for the whole peeing my pants every time I see one thing.

2. Jorou Spider　ジョロウグモ

The Joro spider is a member of the golden silk orb-weaver genus. If you couldn’t tell by the crazy rainbow jacket this dude flaunts, the Joro Spider is poisonous. Getting bit by one is about the same as getting bit by a black widow – not deadly, but not a kiss from Shirley Temple. Just looking at the Joro gives me the heebie-jeebies. I mean, look at it’s butt! You’d think the “golden” part of its name comes from its golden body, but actually it refers to the spider’s golden web. It’s as dapper as it is horrifying. People have even attempted to make high-end clothing from the Joro’s golden thread. Looks like Rumpelstiltskin’s got a new employee!

These things are so creepy, they exist in Japanese folklore as evil seducers. Jorogumo (referenced to in my favorite game, Okami) are said to have the ability to transform into beautiful women and ensnare unsuspecting men who they then string up for their next meal.

So, what does this thing really eat, if it doesn’t eat your husband? How about birds? Yeah, that sounds good. That being said, I wouldn’t touch this thing with a 40 foot pole.

1. Japanese Giant Hornet

スズメバチ

Hide your kids. Hide your wife. Hide your husband, too, cause the suzumebachi’s in town and he’s not happy. Wasps aren’t generally considered to be pleasant company, but this thing is on a whole other level. In Japanese, the “Japanese Giant Hornet” is known as oosusumebachi, which literally means “giant sparrow bee,” and we might as well call these things sparrows ‘cause they are that freakin’ big. Not only are these things huge, but they will also spray you in the eyes with a flesh-melting poison if you catch them on a bad day. Great. Oh, and did I mention that this poison is filled with pheromones that signal the rest of the hive to hunt you down and sting the living crap out of you until you can no longer move your limbs? Dear lord, I seriously wish guns were legal in Japan just so I could defend myself against these things. Oh, did I mention that they can fly up to 50 miles a day? They will track. you. down.

Suzumebachi are so brutal that they’d do Metalocalypse proud. Not only are they a threat to humans, but they treat other insects worse than Rebecca Black after her release of Friday. “Oh, our babies need food? Let’s feed them other insects’ babies.” says the suzumebachi. But that’s still not metal enough. The suzumebachi often raid beehives to collect bee larva for their young. Sounds difficult? Not for the suzumebachi. It only takes one wasp to find a beehive, signal over a few friends, and then it’s party time. Thirty suzumebachi can rip apart thousands of bees like it’s a Sunday walk in the park.

Damn nature, you scary.

You’d think wasps like these would only live in the most desolate regions of the globe, far away from karaoke bars and bubble tea. But no, the suzumebachi lives around many places in Japan, even the outskirts of Tokyo, and they claim as many as 40 lives a year. This monster ain’t nothin’ to mess with.

Well, I may have wet my pants now, so let’s call this a wrap. Let me know which one of these gives you the most nightmares. If you are a masochist and find this stuff interesting like me, I recommend following the Real Japan Monsters YouTube channel – that dude be cray. In the meantime, I’m going to go seal all my doors and windows with duct tape. They can’t get through duct tape, can they? No, seriously, can they??

Sources:
The 5 Most Horrifying Bugs in the World
5 Disgusting Facts about Cockroaches
Real Japan Monsters

(For the same reasons, I don’t think I’ll ever take a cruise. What if a kraken or something pops up? I’m not going to take any chances.)

The Japanese don’t always have the luxury of getting to ignore the horrors of the ocean; while almost half of the states here in the US are completely landlocked, the sea is a pretty crucial part to Japan’s identity.

There are Japanese stories of sea monsters dating back centuries, covering all sorts of frightening creatures. Just take a look at the umibouzu, a massive sea spirit that haunts sailors and fishers; they’ve been a part of Japanese stories and paintings dating back for quite some time, and are still frankly very terrifying to this day.

But these mythical creatures were inspired by real life creatures which are still around today. After centuries of inspiring terror in sailors all over the world, a giant squid was photographed alive and captured for the first time ever by Japanese scientists just a few years ago.

The giant squid isn’t the only prehistoric-looking deep-sea creature that lives off the coast of Japan. In 2007, a frilled shark, a primordial-looking shark was recorded and captured in the waters near Japan. It looks less like Jaws and more like the love child a dragon and an eel.

Farther out in the waters though, there are even more bizarre, frightening things lurking in the ocean. In 1977, a Japanese fishing vessel called Zuiyo-Maru caught something unusual off of the coast of New Zealand. It was a dead, decomposing creature that they couldn’t quite identify.

Whatever the creature was, it was massive – over two tons and 30 feet long – but it didn’t look like any animal that the fishermen had ever seen. The only thing that came close was the Loch Ness Monster.

After some deliberation, the captain of the ship decided to throw is back into the ocean; he didn’t want the massive, decaying corpse to possibly contaminate the fish and generally just stink up the place. But before the Zuiyo-Maru threw the creature overboard, the crew snapped a few pictures, drew a few sketches, and took a few samples for scientists to analyze after they got back.

When the Zuiyo-Maru returned to port, the creature became a minor sensation in Japan. The Japanese called the creature “New Nessie” (ニューネッシー) after the Loch Ness Monster. The speculation about what the massive creature could be ran wild. Nobody seemed able to easily identify what it was — was it a plesiosaur, an ancient dinosaur that’d been hiding in the depths of the ocean? Or some entirely new creature that had never been seen before?

Within a year though, scientists were able to identify News Nessie as the rotted corpse of a basking shark. I can imagine that more than a few people were disappointed that New Nessie – a creature they thought could be something as fantastic as a dinosaur – turned out to just be a shark.

While it might be disappointing to discover that New Nessie was something so mundane, it certainly hasn’t been the last thing from the ocean to capture our imagination. Tons of different unidentified creatures from the sea (also known as “globsters”) have been found in the years since New Nessie, and caught people’s attention in the same way.

And when the mysterious fails, real, identifiable sea creatures can still take our breath away. I’m still fascinated by footage of a long armed squid taken off of the coast of the US:

For some people though, the real fails them altogether and they resort of stories and urban legends. There were some (completely unsubstantiated) rumors after last year’s tsunami that strange creatures had washed ashore from the sea. There have been faked videos of “bizzare animal[s] discovered in Japan.” There are stories of “ningen” humanoid creatures lurking in the deeps of the Antarctic.

All I know is that all of these bizarre creatures, whether real, fake, or somewhere in between, are enough to keep me inland. There are enough terrifying things on dry land as it is!

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!