Uncanny Japan - Folklore and Culture

The senninbari or one thousand-stitch belt is a magical kind of sash worn my soldiers in World War 2 to ward off enemies bullets and impart super human strength.   Notes: The intro/outro music of Uncanny Japan is a song by Christiaan Virant (“Yi Gui” from Ting Shuo).  The whole album is just gorgeous as it everything else by FM3. Audio Player

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 you should let those night spiders live.   Above is an Edo Era woman cutting her nails with some ginormous nail clippers. —– Notes: The intro/outro music of Uncanny Japan is a song by Christiaan Virant (“Yi Gui” from Ting... Read More Read More

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!

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 Patreon page. This month’s Bedtime Story (5$ and up reward) is “The Monkeys’ Ojizo Statue” (“Saru no Ojizo”). (Me holding my smashed faced Sarubobo.) Finally, below I give you a lucky saru. It’s a hanga-engraving I carved of a cheeky monkey flashing... Read More Read More

  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 parasites and how you can hinder them, I also talk about those three monkeys (See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil) and how they are here to help you out. Oh,... Read More Read More

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, and the third is an eggplant. In this podcast I tell you why an eggplant is considered prosperous and also talk about the little known fourth, fifth, and sixth lucky things to dream about to guarantee a... Read More Read More

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 verb furu 震う, to shake or tremble. This is what I’m feeling recording my first podcast: musha-burui. Notes: The intro/outro music of Uncanny Japan is a song by Christiaan Virant (“Yi Gui” from Ting Shuo).  The whole album is just gorgeous as it everything... Read More Read More