Discover Japan’s Dark Side

The Yokai Parade exhibition at Washington’s JICC reveals how Japan’s supernatural creatures evolved from oral folklore to global cultural icons.

English Version Old Honzaka Tunnel, located in Suse-cho, Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, is known in local rumor as a place where many female apparitions

English Version Some people say there is a period in ancient Japanese history that remains almost taboo, not only because it is controversial, but because

English Version In Ichikawa-machi, Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture, there is a house feared by some as a place where visitors are likely to experience sp

English Version Near Lake Utonai in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, several abandoned love hotels once stood close together. Among them, the abandoned Hotel Emperor h

English Version The theory often called the “common ancestry of the Japanese and Jewish people” has long attracted attention because of the strange number

English Version Cryptids—known in Japan as UMA, or “unidentified mysterious animals”—are creatures that have not been formally defined by biology. Some are

Kaidan-sha’s new Tokyo bar revives live Japanese ghost storytelling in an intimate, seven-seat setting—offering a rare, authentic experience for fans of kaidan culture.

English Version Oizumi Ryokuchi is a huge green park in Osaka, planted with around 320,000 trees from about 200 species. Throughout the year, it draws both

English Version Aiyoshi Tunnel is located in Chikuhoku Village, Higashichikuma District, Nagano Prefecture. The tunnel is said to have an unsettling atmosp