Uncanny Japan

Afleveringen

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  How to Welcome the Dead Home: Obon in Japan (Ep. 196) 03.08.2026 34min

  Every Obon, Japan’s ancestral spirits return home—guided by tiny fires and carried on cucumber horses. This year, for the first time, I’m responsible for preparing my father-in-law’s family altar. Join me for cauldron lids, lost ghosts, strange noises in an old house, eggplant cows, and the rituals used to welcome the dead home and send them safely away again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Creepy Story Time: "By the Japanese Sea" -- Lafcadio Hearn 20.07.2026 43min

  On the final days of Obon, fishermen along Japan’s western coast once believed the sea belonged to the dead. In this episode, I read Lafcadio Hearn’s eerie and beautiful essay “By the Japanese Sea.” Along the journey, we encounter drowned spirits rising from the waves, cats carried aboard fishing boats to ward off ghosts, delicate straw vessels made for lost souls, and a haunted futon whispering in the voices of two freezing children. This reading originally appeared as one of the bedtime stories shared with Uncanny Japan Patreon supporters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Tanabata: Star-Crossed Lovers (Ep.55) -- From the Vault 07.07.2026 19min

  A short Tanabata tale from the Uncanny Vault: Orihime the weaving princess, Hikoboshi the cowherd, and the river of stars that keeps them apart. On the seventh night of the seventh month, wishes are written on colorful strips of paper, tied to bamboo, and sent into the summer sky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Childhood Incantations: Engacho, Pain Magic, & Severed Pinkies! (Ep. 194) 07.07.2026 29min

  Two little boys find a dead bird on a mountain path. One accidentally touches it with his shoe, and suddenly the invisible contagion begins. Fingers cross. A circle is made. A hand chops through it. “Engacho!” In this episode of Uncanny Japan, we explore the everyday magic words and protective spells of childhood in Japan. There’s engacho, used to cut away contamination, bad luck, and all things spiritually “yucky.” There’s kuwabara kuwabara, a charm against thunder and lightning. Tsuru kame tsuru kame cancels out bad omens, while yubikiri genman turns a pinky promise into something surprisingly violent. And finally, chichin pui pui makes pain fly away. Part playground game, part folk magic, part tiny exorcism, these little phrases show how children turn fear, disgust, pain, danger, and promises into ritual. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Utsuro-Bune: The Hollow Ship Revisited (Ep. 193) 17.06.2026 15min

  In 1803, fishermen on Japan’s Hitachi coast spotted something round and unfamiliar drifting offshore. They hauled the hollow vessel onto the beach—and discovered a mysterious young woman inside. Step into the story as one of those fishermen. Examine the vessel’s clouded windows and iron-plated hull, hear the woman speak in a language no one understands, and watch as she fiercely protects a box she refuses to surrender. Who was she, what was hidden inside—and why did the villagers send her back out to sea? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Big Three UFO/UAP Incidents in Japan + One! (Ep. 192) 14.06.2026 29min

  Japan’s 1970s UFO boom gave us some wonderfully strange cases: children capturing a tiny hat-shaped UFO in Kōchi, two boys encountering wrinkled aliens in a Yamanashi vineyard, and a Hokkaidō farmer who claimed repeated abductions, spoon-bending powers, and telepathic contact with beings from the Samon Call Galactic Planetary Federation. In this episode, we look at Japan’s “Big Three” UFO incidents — Kera, Kōfu, and Nikoro — plus one especially intriguing 1980s case involving the Kaiyō Maru, a government research vessel whose crew recorded strange lights and radar-only objects moving at impossible speeds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  The Ghost-Playing Actor Who Became a REAL Vengeful Ghost: Kohada Koheiji (Ep. 191) 01.06.2026 30min

  Not all Japanese revenge ghosts are wronged women. Meet Kohada Koheiji: a failed Edo-period actor who became famous for playing ghosts, only to be murdered, drowned, and returned as the very thing he once performed. In this episode, we explore the tangled history of the “real” Koheiji, Santō Kyōden’s gruesome tale, Nanboku’s kabuki adaptation, strange actor superstitions, severed fingers, rotten revenge, and one very silly sushi pun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  All That Flows: Benzaiten, White Snakes, and Human-Headed Serpents 18.05.2026 22min

  In this episode of Uncanny Japan, we follow Benzaiten — also known as Benten — from her origins as Saraswati to her place among Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods. Along the way: Enoshima’s five-headed dragon, white snakes as divine messengers, snake-skin wallets, house snakes, and Ugajin, the wonderfully strange human-headed snake deity linked to rice, water, fertility, fortune, and wealth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Everyone Has a Throat Buddha / What is it and Why? -- Nodohotoke & Story Time: "The Buddha Bone" (Ep. 189) 04.05.2026 32min

  Have you ever heard of the nodo-hotoke, or “throat Buddha”? In everyday Japanese, it usually refers to the Adam’s apple. But after death, especially in the context of cremation, the nodo-hotoke becomes something else entirely, the actual seat of your soul. In this episode of Uncanny Japan, I talk about the fascinating and beautiful funeral custom of gathering bones after cremation, using long chopsticks to place them into the urn from feet to head, with the nodo-hotoke placed last. I’ll also touch on the taboo against passing food from chopsticks to chopsticks, the role of the crematorium attendant, and the belief that this Buddha-shaped bone can be connected to the soul, the life lived, or rebirth into the Pure Land. After that, I read my dark story “The Buddha Bone,” originally published in Weird Horror Issue 7 by Undertow Publications. I also explain a couple of story-context words: hifuki-take, a bamboo tube used to blow into and stoke a fire, and hyottoko, the puckered-mouth comic figure associated with fire-blowing imagery. Content warning: this episode discusses death, cremation, funerary ritual, and contains a dark fictional story on those themes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Ofuda & Omamori: Lucky Talismans & Charms 21.04.2026 29min

  After exploring animal spirit possession last episode, Thersa turns to the Japanese ways of staying safe, getting a little lucky, and maybe even finding love through ofuda and omamori, talismans and charms filled with divine power and everyday hope. With birdsong in the background and stories woven throughout, the episode ends on a quietly unsettling note that has ushi no koku mairi (cursing your enemies) vibes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Tsukimono: Possessed by an Animal (Ep. 187) 07.04.2026 31min

  What is tsukimono? In Japanese culture, it’s the unsettling idea of possession—when a human or animal spirit attaches itself to you and usually does harm. In this episode of Uncanny Japan, I explore animal possession: foxes, dogs, snakes, and even horses that cling to people for reasons both known and unknowable. What causes it? How can you tell if someone is possessed? And what happens when superstition crosses into real-world harm? I talk about real eerie (and sometimes silly) historical accounts to my own deeply personal experience. I also look at the strange, the supernatural, and the very human consequences of this fascinating belief. Perfect for listening while relaxing, walking, or drifting off to sleep. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Takiyasha Hime & the Gashadokuro: Japan's Frog-Riding Witch & Giant Skeleton (Ep. 186) 17.03.2026 21min

  A vengeful princess rides a giant toad into battle while a monstrous skeleton tears through castle walls — and these two legends are connected in ways you might not expect. In this episode, I dig into the story of Takiyasha Hime, daughter of the infamous Taira no Masakado, and the terrifying Gashadokuro. How did a princess become a sorceress? What kind of magic involves frogs? And is that famous skeleton in Kuniyoshi's print really what everyone thinks it is? I even found the actual spell she used to summon the skeleton. Should I read it aloud? [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Why the Year of the Fire Horse is Dreaded in Japan and Cursed Kimonos (Ep. 185) 16.02.2026 16min

  2026 is the year of the fire horse—a year that happens only once every 60 years. Across East Asia, it symbolizes transformation, intensity, and bold action. But in Japan? It's feared. Birth rates actually plummet during fire horse years because of a superstition that dates back to Edo-era Japan. What does a cursed kimono that burned down 70% of a city have to do with this? And why was a young girl named Oshichi burned at the stake in 1666? Come with me as I explore the tragic story behind this uniquely Japanese superstition, the Great Fire of Meireki that killed over 100,000 people, and what the saying "if it burns down, we'll build again" means for embracing change during difficult times. [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Osechi: Japanese New Year Food Traditions (Ep. 184) 09.12.2025 26min

  What if the meal sitting in those beautiful lacquered boxes held messages from the gods? In Japan, osechi-ryōri isn't just New Year's food—it's a sacred offering. Each dish carries specific wishes: black beans for health, herring roe for prosperity, lotus root for clear vision into the future. Families prepare them before midnight, then rest for three days while Toshigami-sama, the deity of the coming year, visits every home. But why can't you use knives during the first three days? What happens to the kitchen god? And why do martial arts schools break open mirror-shaped mochi in January? Thersa shares her in-laws' traditions of food exchanges, the evolution from handmade to convenience store osechi, and the deeper spiritual layers beneath each symbolic dish. This episode of Uncanny Japan is brought to you by Spectrevision Radio, a podcast network of creators and entertainers with a love for horror, the paranormal, and championing the "other." Check out the rest of the podcasts at www.spectrevisionradio.com. [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Japanese Moon Lore: Selfless Rabbits, Murdered Goddesses, and Tsukimi (Ep. 183) 20.11.2025 30min

  Don't point at the moon—you might wake up without your ears. In Japan, the moon rabbit isn't just making mochi. Its image was placed there by the gods to honor an act of pure sacrifice, a Buddhist tale that traveled from India through China and transformed along the way. In this episode we explore Tsukimi moon-viewing traditions, the violent origin of the moon god Tsukuyomi, protective pompous grass rituals, and dozens of poetic names for moonlight—from the "moon you can stand and wait for" to the "moon that rises deep into the night." Plus: moon-viewing thieves, spirit-attracting moonbeams, and why pointing at the moon might cost you more than you think. Tsuki wa jōman. The moon is always full. Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you. Follow Uncanny Japan: Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits: Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio: SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.comlinktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Hōichi the Earless: A Lafcadio Hearn Reading (Ep. 182) 04.11.2025 30min

  A blind musician is summoned to perform in the darkness. But who is listening? And what terrible price awaits a moment's oversight? Today I read to you one of Lafcadio Hearn's most famous Japanese ghost stories: "Mimi-nashi Hōichi" or "The Earless Hōichi." Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you. Follow Uncanny Japan: Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits: Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio: SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.comlinktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  What Empty Spaces Need (Audio Drama) (Ep. 181) 31.10.2025 26min

  🎃 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 🎃 This year's Halloween episode is a full-length audio drama based on the urban legend of Sukima-onna—the woman who watches from the gaps. An American English teacher in Japan loses everything: his job, his apartment, his passport. Drunk and desperate during a snowstorm, he finds shelter in an abandoned house. But he's not alone. Something lives in the cracks, the spaces between things. And it's been waiting for him. Content Warning and Huge Spoilers, do not read unless you're a very sensitive person who needs content warnings before listening to a FRIKKIN' HALLOWEEN STORY--HELLOOO!, I'm about to ruin the ending for you, if you're so sensitive that you need a sensitivity reader-approved content warning, you should not listen to this episode or watch it on Spotify anyway: This story contains depictions of alcoholism, death by drowning, emotional manipulation/gaslighting, and peril involving children. Themes of isolation, homelessness, and psychological horror throughout. (Also, Terrie drops an S-Bomb.) Written by: Thersa Matsuura and Rich Pav Featuring the voices of: Thersa Matsuura and Rich Pav Sound design: Rich Pav Love this episode? Share it with someone who appreciates horror! Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.comlinktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Ame-onna - Rain Woman's Original Ghost Story (Ep. 180) 21.10.2025 27min

  We're getting closer to Halloween. How about another ghost story? Ame-onna, the rain woman - a haggard looking thing, soaked to the bone, wandering rainy nights. There's lore about her, rumors, theories... but she doesn't have her own ghost story. So I fixed that. First, I'll tell you the fascinating history: from Toriyama Sekien's 18th century yokai art (where she secretly represented courtesans) to the evolution into a grief-stricken mother searching for her stolen child. The Chinese literary connections. The "morning clouds, evening rain" idiom. The transformation from ephemeral beauty to child-stealing spirit. Then I'll read you my original story, "Rain for Days" - because Ame-onna deserved her own complete ghost tale. A middle child named Jiro. A mother's warning. Rainy days in old Japan. And the moment when the rain woman appears in his room, reaching out with bony fingers... [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.comlinktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Japan's Most Famous Ghost: My Retelling of Oiwa and the Yotsuya Kaidan (Ep. 179) 07.10.2025 34min

  It's October. Time to pull a blanket around your shoulders, light a candle against the dark, and listen to a good old-fashioned ghost story. There are many versions of the tragic tale of Japan's most famous ghost, Oiwa-san. But today, let me tell you my own retelling of her classic tale. I told the story of Yotsuya Kaidan back in episode 42, but for this episode I rewrote the tale, telling it like a short story. The most famous version was a kabuki play written by Tsuruya Namboku IV called "Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan" which premiered on stage in 1825. He wrote the story based on some true-life happenings and scandals and murders, but also weaving in the idea of the vengeance of the dead—of the vengeful ghost wife. Oiwa's story has also been depicted in woodblock ukiyo-e art, film, TV, books, and even modern horror. Where do you think some of the inspiration for Sadako in the Ring series came from? This is one of Japan's "Big Three" ghost stories—a tale of betrayal, revenge, and a curse that still follows those who dare to perform it. Just a heads up—it is a ghost story with a little body horror mixed in, so it could probably not be appropriate for the younger audience. Let's begin. SpectreVision Radio presents Uncanny Japan. Get the podcast on Apple | Google | RSS Support the show: Patreon | Buy me a coffee Connect: Instagram | X (Twitter) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  Sanshi: The Three Body-Parasite Problem (Ep. 178) 16.09.2025 26min

  I finally got to go on a walk again after all the oppressive August heat. I live around rice fields, mostly. There are some houses, of course, along the main road, and then every so often, a knee-high stone tower or stele. These are called kōshintō. What I found particularly intriguing was how these connect to some rather unsettling beliefs about spiritual parasites. According to the traditions I discovered, we have three of these sanshi living inside our bodies. Come with me as I explore how entire communities once stayed awake all night just to keep these things trapped inside them. [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.comlinktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices