8 body parts you will want for your own: Super Cool Japanese demon anatomy

Want some super-human anatomy? Super-strength and super-speed are so passé. What you need are some Super Cool bits of Japanese demon anatomy. Check these out: 1)     SKIN: Ushi oni (Cow demon) 牛鬼 (うしおに) A nasty yokai who loves sinking ships and eating fishermen, the ushi-oni (also known as gyuuki) lives in the ocean. He has [...]

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There’s a tanuki in the classroom! Japanese language learning and yokai demons

Creative language teaching ideas Today I was at the Hyogo Prefectural Cultural Government Centre as part of a series of workshops organised by Ms Yuko Fujimitsu, Japanese Language Advisor for the Department of Education as part of the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP). We worked with Year 9 students from three [...]

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Contracts, proofs and Takeshita Demons II and III?

Last week I had an extremely exciting meeting with my publisher, Janetta Otter-Barry, at the Frances Lincoln HQ. It was the first time we’d met since Fergus was born, and of course, Ferg had to come along too (I’d hate for him to miss out on the excitement!). Contracts… Fergus spent most of the meeting [...]

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