Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 1 day 20 hours 40 minutes
In Japan, Obon is the time of year when all the ancestors' spirits make the long haul back to the world of the living to pay a visit. It's kind of a big deal. Butsudan-altars are decorated to the hilt and families wait expectantly for grandma and...
The senninbari or one thousand-stitch belt is a magical kind of sash worn by soldiers in World War 2 to ward off enemies bullets and impart super human strength. Please join our community forum! Patreon: Website: YouTube: Mastodon: Twitter: ...
In May's Uncanny Japan you get three Japanese superstitions and why: 1)Please don't cut your nails at night. 2)Please don't whistle at night. 3) Please do kill spiders at night...or don't, actually you might not want to. There's a good argument why...
April's podcast is about Kishibojin, an ogress with a penchant for feeding human babies to her own children, but who was able to see the error of her ways and not only repent but reinvent herself as a goddess. That's what I call chutzpah! Please join...
March's Uncanny Japan podcast is all about monkeys and monkey lore -- wordplay, superstition, and good luck charms. You can listen to that below. Also, if you're interested in me retelling/reimagining obscure Japanese folktales, take a look at my...
Koshin Shinko is the belief that you are born with three worms (called sanshi) inside your body, and that these creatures' only purpose is to shorten your life so they can be free again. In this podcast I not only tell you more about those nasty...
Hatsu-yume is the first dream you have in the New Year. In Japan there is a saying: ichi fuji, ni taka, san nasubi. Which means the luckiest dream you can have is of Mt. Fuji, the second luckiest thing to see in a dream is a hawk,...
Musha-burui is that trembling with excitement, anticipation, and fear one has before engaging in a formidable task. It comes from the idea of a samurai going headlong into battle. Musha 武者 means samurai or warrior. Burui 震い comes from the...
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...