Falling Trees: Tengu or Furusoma (Creepy Dead...

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 backgroun ...  Show more

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 ...  Show more

Three connected stories of samurai from medieval Japan. On the first, Kintaro, a buff eight-year-old, discovers his destiny. On the second, Watanabe no Tsuna, a samurai warrior in his prime fights a demon that's been terrorizing a gate in Kyoto, and on the third he's recruited by ...  Show more

Two short stories from Japan. On the first, an old man is in a tree surrounded by demons and faced with a desperate choice. On the second, a man has a pet that his wife is not thrilled about, so she makes that known. With scissors.

The creature is a sad cow! Or a vamp ...

There's a killer on the loose in Kyoto. Young women are disappearing from the streets, never to be heard from again. Minamoto no Raikō, the legendary samurai, knows that it isn't merely a serial killer, but the demons. After he and other samurai like him drove the demons away, ...

A story from China where we see a young man embark on a dangerous journey for love that definitely isn't a knock-off version of "The Journey to the West" and/or "The Hobbit". Then, we learn how the world's first selfie resulted in kind of more death than you'd think. The creature ...  Show more