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Category: Japanese Culture 

Ohaguro: The Ultimate Beauty Hack of Ancient Japan (Ep. 122)

Discover the origin and practice of ohaguro, the traditional Japanese teeth blackening, dating back to over 1,700 years ago during the Yayoi era.
Kunisada's Woman Blackening Teeth

Doom and Bloom: Cherry Blossom Folk Beliefs (Ep. 121)

Bloom and Gloom or Cherry Blossom Folk Beliefs or Sakura: The Wonderful and the Worrisome Hello there, I’m Thersa Matsuura and you’re listening to Uncanny Japan. What do you know about sakura or cherry blossoms? Let me guess, something like, every year in Japan when spring rears its balmy, bird-chirping, flower-budding head, the trees fill […]
sakura

Six New Year’s No-Nos (Ep. 115)

In old Japan there were six rules, six things you weren't allowed to do on the first three days of the New Year. How do you score on the Six No Nos List?
Ukiyoe image of two men fighting with Mount Fuji and rising sun in background

Temple Statues: Why All the Red Bibs? (Ep. 114)

While strolling through the grounds of a Japanese temple or shrine you have no doubt seen the endearing sight of a statues decked out in red bibs. But why?
Red Bibs on foxes kitsune

Goshuin: Temple or Shrine Stamps (Ep. 112)

Goshuin are special stamps you can get when you visit a shrine or temple. In this episode I'll tell you what exactly they are, how to get them, and the manners involved.
Goshuin

The Killing Stone: Sessho Seki (Ep. 96)

It was all over the news: Japan's Infamous Killing Stone that was housing a chaotic, disaster inducing nine-tailed fox spirit, broke in half on March 5th. Is the fox spirit free? I'll tell you all about it on this episode.
Killing Stone Sessho Seki

Story Time: Tango no Hitobashira / The Human Pillar of Tango (Ep. 94)

Today I'm going to tell you a story called Tango no Hitobashira / The Human Pillar of Tango. It's an old folktale that I haven't found translated into English.
Hitobashira / Human Pillar
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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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