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Category: Japanese Culture 

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

Chindon-ya: Eccentric Street Musicians (Ep. 92)

Who are these eccentric street musicians dressed in bright kimono playing drums, bells, clarinet, and saxophone marching down your street? What do they want?
Chindon-ya Boy

Misemono: Edo Era Freak Shows (Ep. 84)

A misemono is like a carnival, museum, zoo, and freak show all rolled into one. Here you could see exotic animals, buy cure-all medicines, and check out mermaid mummies among many, many other thrills.
Snake Boy from Misemono

Monkeys and Monkey Lore! (Ep. 4)

All about monkeys and monkey lore⁠—wordplay, superstition, and good luck charms.
ukioe monkey

Hatsuyume: Your First Dream of the New Year (Ep. 2)

It's New Year's Eve. And I wanted to do something special for you. So I thought I'd tell you about a Japanese New Year's tradition called hatsu-yume. That's your first dream of the new year.
hatsuyume

Musha-burui: Trembling Before a Formidable Task (Ep. 1)

I want to share something I learned from my mother-in-law many years ago here in Japan. It's this word that stuck with me, and honestly, I use it all the time. This is called *musha-burui* - literally "trembling like a warrior."
musha-burui
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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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