Japanese 1960s Horror Classics?

[Michael McCaskey]

As a child growing up in Japan, I was told that if I went off by myself in what woods there were around, the tanuki would come and take me away with them. But they never did turn up, much to my disappointment.

On the other hand, I never heard about any houses that were actually supposed to be haunted, outside of books and movies.

In the just-released (in Japan) DVD "Always 三丁目の夕日" movie, which is not supernatural at all, there is one sort of throw-away scene, where the local doctor is apparently put under a spell on his way home by fox spirits, who eat up his take-away package of yakitori while he's unconscious.

Michael McCaskey

----- Original Message -----
From: Maria Jose <mjk555 at skyblue.ocn.ne.jp>
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 8:12 am
Subject: Re: Japanese 1960s Horror Classics?

> >I'm by no means an authority on Japanese horror films, though I 
> generally 
> >do enjoy them. They tend to make my own problems seem trivial by 
> >comparison, and a Japanese friend once told me that one reason 
> they tend 
> >to show them more in the summer in Japan is because they chill 
> you down in 
> >the heat.
> 
> 
> You must also remember that summer is particularly associated with 
> ghosts 
> thanks
> to 0-bon,a Buddhist Festival during which the spirits of dead 
> ancestors 
> visit the altar especially prepared for them-food and drink 
> included-in 
> every household.
> People also visit the family tombs and it is a common superstition 
> that you 
> cannot swim in the sea if you don't want to risk being pulled into 
> the 
> waters by ghosts!
> 
>