Quick quiz: Is your persimmon haunted?

Ever thought you might like to munch a chocolate bar instead of an apple? Prefer to eat banana cake and not bananas? Well, you’re probably wise. Fruit can be dangerous for your health! Take the persimmon, for example. Persimmons are shiny orange fruit full of vitamin C and calcium and iron and lots of other [...]

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4 ways to recognise a Japanese iso-onna vampire

Introducing the aquatic vampire: iso-onna… The iso onna (磯女 or ‘beach rock woman’) is a super-scary Japanese yokai found in fishing villages all over Japan. She has many different names, and all of them seem friendly enough: – iso onago = rock girl – umi onna = ocean woman – umi hime = ocean princess [...]

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Awesome fun with Kappa and Tanuki

Want to see just how ubiquitous yokai demons are in Japanese culture? Check out the awesome tanuki and kappa animations and resources the Tokyo-Mitsubishi bank put together as part of an advertising campaign for their DC card. The ads feature a shape-shifting tanuki and a (traditionally) blood-hungry kappa. And they’re very cute! (I can’t imagine [...]

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Yokai featured in Takeshita Demons

Subarashii! Yabai! Takeshita Demons Things are going super-well for Takeshita Demons at the moment. The Filth Licker is ready for pre-order in the UK and Monster Matsuri is in its 50-millionth-draft-phase, so getting where I want it (YAY!). If you have read Takeshita Demons you will know that Miku Takeshita and her pal Cait run [...]

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