Japanese urban legends
A Japanese urban legend is a story in Japanese folklore which is circulated as true. These urban legends are characterized by originating in or being popularized throughout the country of Japan. These urban legends commonly involve paranormal entities or creatures who encounter and attack humans, but the term can also encompass widespread, non-supernatural rumors in popular culture. Urban legends in the former category rarely include the folklore yōkai, instead of being primarily based on contemporary examples of yūrei. Modern Japanese urban legends tend to occur in schools or urban settings, and some can be considered cautionary tales.
Natural legends
1932 Shirokiya Department Store deaths
On 16 December 1932, the Shirokiya Department Store fire in Tokyo resulted in 14 deaths. During the fire, many saleswomen in kimono were forced onto the roof of the 8-storey building. Rumors later spread that some of these women refused to jump into the safety nets held by firefighters on the ground. Traditionally, women did not wear underwear with a kimono and were afraid they would be exposed and ashamed if they jumped. As a result, they died. This news attracted attention from as far away as Europe. It has been alleged that in the aftermath of the fire, department store management ordered saleswomen to wear underwear or other underwear with their kimono, and the trend spread.Contrary to this belief, Shoichi Inoue, a Japanese customs and architecture professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, has denied the story of ambivalent women with fatal modesty. According to Inoue, most people were saved by firefighters, and the story of women who preferred to die with their modesty intact was fabricated for Westerners. The story has been prevalent in many reference books, even published by the Fire Fighting Agency. Moreover, the Japanese generally believed that the Shirokiya Department Store fire was a catalyst for changing fashion customs, specifically the trend toward wearing Western-style underwear. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the belief.
Sony timer
It was rumored that the Sony Corporation installed a device in all of its electronic products, causing them to fail soon after their warranties expired, an illegal form of planned obsolescence.This has never been substantiated, and while it is unlikely that Sony would explicitly add expiration devices to their hardware, the "Sony Timer" has also been taken to mean that Sony manufactures devices to withstand just enough use to necessitate a new line. At the annual shareholders meeting in 2007, then president Ryoji Chubachi said that he was aware of the term "Sony Timer".
Supernatural legends
''Aka Manto'' ("Red Cloak")
Aka Manto is described as a male spirit who wears a red cloak and a mask which hides his face, and is said to haunt public or school bathrooms, and often specifically the last stall of female bathrooms. According to legend, individuals using a toilet in such bathrooms may be asked by Aka Manto to choose between red paper or blue paper. Choosing the "red" option results in fatal lacerations or flaying, while choosing the "blue" option results in strangulation or exsanguination. Picking a colour which has not been offered leads to the individual being dragged to an underworld or hell, and in some accounts, choosing "yellow" results in the person's head being pushed into the toilet. Ignoring the spirit, rejecting both options offered by the spirit, escaping the bathroom, or a combination of the aforementioned methods are said to result in the individual's survival.Cursed Kleenex commercial
In the 1980s, Kleenex released three Japanese commercials for their tissues, featuring a woman played by actress Keiko Matsuzaka dressed in a white dress and a child dressed as a Japanese ogre, sitting on straw. Each advertisement had the song "It's a Fine Day" by Edward Barton and Jane playing in the background.It was reported that viewers filed complaints with television stations and with Kleenex's corporate headquarters because they found the commercial unnerving, with some claiming that the song sounded like a German curse, despite the lyrics being in English, and others saying that they thought the singer's voice changed when the advert was shown at night.
False rumours about the cast and crew were reported and circulated, including that all those involved in filming the commercial met untimely deaths in accidents, that Matsuzaka was institutionalized after a mental breakdown, or that Matsuzaka became pregnant with a demon child.
The Curse of the Colonel
The Curse of the Colonel is supposedly suffered by the Hanshin Tigers baseball team and cited as the cause of their poor performance in the Japan Championship Series. In 1985, fans of the Hanshin Tigers celebrated their team's first and only victory of the series and, in their excitement, threw a statue of Colonel Sanders into the Dōtonbori River. For several years after the incident, the team failed to win the Championship again, and some fans believed the team would never do so again until the statue was recovered.The legend is similar in nature to the Curse of the Bambino.
Ghost taxi passengers
A Japanese urban legend dating back to the Taishō period, that saw a significant resurgence after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, is a trend of taxi drivers who say that they picked up a passenger, often drenched or cold, who then disappears before reaching their destination, often leaving behind evidence of their presence such as a puddle of water, a glove, or occasionally, the fare for the trip. Because the passenger typically disappears before reaching the destination, the taxi driver is left to pay the fare themselves; however, those with a strong respect for the dead do not mind paying the fare. Ghost passengers are said to often visit homes of loved ones, and many are young people who feel they died too young. Sometimes the passengers seem unaware that they are dead. Yuka Kudo at Tokyo Gakugei University interviewed over 100 taxi drivers in an effort to study the phenomenon, but many refused to answer. Ishinomaki psychiatrist Keizo Hara and others have suggested that the ghost passengers are grief hallucinations or a sign of collective post-traumatic stress disorder. Parallels have been drawn between Japanese ghost passengers and Western vanishing hitchhikers.''Gozu'' ("Cow Head")
Gozu, also known as "Ox Head", is a Japanese urban legend about a fictional story called "Cow Head". Supposedly the "Cow Head" story is so horrifying that people who read or hear it are overcome with fear so great that they tremble violently for days on end until they die. The full story was broken up into fragments that when read individually are not lethal, but still have the power to terrify and inflict great pain and suffering upon those who read or listen to their words.Gozu was sometimes rumored to be an unpublished piece written by the famous science fiction author Sakyo Komatsu, but there is no evidence to link the author to the legend. A Ukrainian folktale called "Cow's Head" exists, detailing the story of a woman who receives good fortune by offering food and shelter to a disembodied cow's head that visits her one night.
Hanako-san (''Toire no Hanako-san'')
, or, is a legend about the spirit of a young girl named Hanako who haunts school bathrooms. Several variations of the legend exist: in one, Hanako-san is the ghost of a girl who committed suicide during an air raid in World War II; in another, she committed suicide after being bullied by other students. Rumors and legends about Hanako-san have achieved notable popularity in Japanese primary schools, where children may challenge classmates to try and summon Hanako-san.Inokashira Park curse
In Inokashira Park, Tokyo, there is a shrine to the goddess Benzaiten, as well as Inokashira Pond, a lake where visitors can rent rowing boats. There is an urban legend which states that if a couple rides on a boat together, their relationship will end prematurely. In some versions of the legend, happy couples who visit the park will be cursed by the jealous Benzaiten, which will cause them to break up.''Jinmenken'' ("Human-Faced Dog")
Jinmenken are dogs with human faces that are said to appear at night in Japanese urban areas. They are rumored to be able to run along highways at extremely high speeds, which allows them to overtake cars and then look back at drivers with their human faces. Jinmenken can talk, but prefer to be left alone. In some stories, which are often presented as comedic, individuals may encounter a dog rummaging through garbage, only for the dog to look up, revealing itself as a jinmenken with its human face, and say something like "leave me alone!". Explanations for jinmenken include that they are genetic experiments, or that a jinmenken is the ghost of a human who was struck by a car while walking a dog.The concept of dogs with human faces dates back to at least as early as 1810, when a "human-faced puppy" was reportedly exhibited at a misemono. Rumors about jinmenken may also have circulated among surfers in the 1950s, but the modern concept of the legend is first known to have spread across Japan in 1989. Additionally, jinmenken, or human-faced dogs, have made appearances in various media. A dog with a human face appears in the 1978 American film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and jinmenken have been featured in the anime and video game franchise Yo-kai Watch.
Kisaragi Station
is a Japanese urban legend that emerged on 2channel in 2004, and revolves around a mysterious railway station somewhere in Shizuoka Prefecture. Shared as an anecdote in the thread "Post About Strange Occurrences Around You: Thread 26", the tale recounted how the anonymous user – who was later identified as "Hasumi" – awoke on a train with all other passengers asleep. As Hasumi tried to figure out what had happened, she posted about the strange occurrence on 2channel, receiving advice from other users on the thread. The trip was meant to be her typical commute to work on the Enshū Railway Line, but the train was travelling in an unknown direction, and its driver and conductor were completely unreachable, making it impossible for Hasumi to determine where she was or where the train was headed.After an hour, the train stopped at Kisaragi Station, late at night. Hasumi left the train, finding the station to be deserted. She asked users on the 2channel thread she had written about what to do, and everyone urged her to escape, but Hasumi chose to stay at the station. Wandering around the station premises, Hasumi attempted to locate a taxi to no success. She then located a telephone booth, dialled her parents and requested that they collect her, but they were unable to determine her location – Kisaragi Station appeared on no maps. Her parents urged her to call the emergency services and inform them that she was lost, but when she did, the authorities assumed it was a prank call.
Suddenly, the station became the scene of several supernatural occurrences. A bell inside the station began tolling ominously, a loud drumbeat was heard, and even the physical qualities of the landscape began to change. Hasumi climbed down onto the tracks in an effort to flee, but was interrupted by a lone voice that shouted "Hey! Don't walk on the track, that's dangerous!" Expecting a station attendant to have found her, Hasumi turned around to see a man with only one leg, who vanished as soon as she saw him. Terrified, Hasumi ran along the train tracks into a tunnel, but tripped and injured herself.
She soon reached the end of the tunnel and was welcomed by a friendly man who offered a ride to safety – unusual for this hour and also at such a location. With no options left, Hasumi returned to the station with the man, and together they boarded another train. However, the train continued along the line into a remote area of the Japanese Alps, and the man wouldn't acknowledge Hasumi's presence, instead talking to himself before ultimately becoming silent.
Hasumi's final post on the 2channel thread was "My battery's almost run out. Things are getting strange, so I think I'm going to make a run for it. He's been talking to himself about bizarre things for a while now. To prepare for just the right time, I'm going to make this my last post for now." After that, Hasumi disappeared without a trace.