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Japanese Myths, Folktales, Folklore and Language

Episodes

100 Ghost Stories in the Dark: Why Summer Is Ghost Season in Japan

Imagine an August night in old Edo, Japan. The heat is still clinging to the walls, the cicadas are screaming outside, and there is no air conditioner or electric fan.  You’re sitting there as the sun goes down, no breeze to be had. What do you do?  Well, you could light one hundred candles. Invite […]

How to Welcome the Dead Home: Obon in Japan (Ep. 196)

We’re about a week away from the time of year in Japan when the boundary between the living and the dead grows thinnest. Obon. For a few summer days, the spirits of the ancestors return home. They’ll come riding in on cucumber horses attracted by the small guiding fires lit outside homes all across the […]

Creepy Story Time: “By the Japanese Sea” — Lafcadio Hearn (Ep. 195)

“By the Japanese Sea” It is the fifteenth day of the seventh month–and I am in Hokii. The blanched road winds along a coast of low cliffs–the coast of the Japanese Sea. Always on the left, over a narrow strip of stony land, or a heaping of dunes, its vast expanse appears, blue-wrinkling to that […]

Childhood Incantations: Engacho, Pain Magic, & Severed Pinkies! (Ep. 194)

Legends of Japanese Mythology: Meet the Heroes, Spirits, Monsters, and Yokai of Japanese Folklore (Wide Eyes Editions) Pre Order Publishing date: September 1, 2026 Dark Tales from Japan: Japanese Horror Stories of Yokai, Ghosts, and the Supernatural (Adams Media) Pre Order (The above are affiliate links, if you order from there I’ll receive a small […]

Utsuro-Bune: The Hollow Ship Revisited (Ep. 193)

Have you ever heard the account of the Utsuro-bune — the Hollow Ship — that appeared off the coast of Japan in the early 1800s? Today, drawing from all the old records, I want to take you back to that beach. You are there with all your fishermen friends when something round and utterly bizarre […]

The Big Three UFO/UAP Incidents in Japan + One! (Ep. 192)

Japan has its own strange UFO history. From the Kera Incident and Kōfu alien encounter to the Nikoro abductions and the well-documented Kaiyō Maru radar case, here are four bizarre UAP stories from Showa-era Japan.

The Ghost-Playing Actor Who Became a REAL Vengeful Ghost: Kohada Koheiji (Ep. 191)

Did you know that not all Japanese ghosts are jealous, vengeful women? No. Some are jealous, vengeful men. And in the ghost story I’m going to talk about today, you’ll get — as a bonus — a couple handfuls of bloody, severed, rotting fingers, too. Let me tell you about Kohada Koheiji.  Intro:  Hey hey, […]

All That Flows: Benzaiten, White Snakes, and Human-Headed Serpents (Ep. 190)

Beginning:  What do you think about white snakes? How about human-headed snake deities? Did you know that both of those are connected with Benzaiten, the Buddhist patron goddess of literature, music, wealth and femininity? Well, they are. And let me tell you all about it on today’s show.  Intro:  Hey hey, this is Thersa Matsuura […]
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About The Uncanny Japan Podcast

Speculative fiction writer, long-term resident of Japan and Bram Stoker Award finalist Thersa Matsuura explores all that is weird from old Japan—strange superstitions, folktales, cultural oddities, and interesting language quirks. These are little treasures she digs up while doing research for her writing.

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