My Top 7 Scary Japanese Urban Legends
Japan has a long history of myths. Tales that have lasted for thousands of years, with new ones being birthed every so often. The fascination of Yokai has always been prevalent in the Japanese culture, so the love of monsters and horror has existed in the history of Japan for several generations. These particular urban legends come from our modern era, yet they still send shivers down anyone’s spine when told to a more credulous crowd. Sit back and relax as I tell you some of the scariest Japanese urban legends.
Number 7— The Red Room Curse
There are many urban legends that have sprouted from the interest in new technology such as computers and cellphones over in Japan. Many of them are, without a doubt, very disturbing. This one has a more eerie tone to it due to the legend being based on reality.
As the legend goes, random victims who were using their computers would suddenly receive a pop up message, which upon clicking takes them through a questionnaire. Once you have finished, the pop up will then display your name, among a host of different names as well. Some that may even belong to your family members, or perhaps neighbors or classmates.
The very next day, you will be found dead in your room, while blood drips from your walls and ceilings. Your entire room is covered in blood smeared from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Within the room, a message will be displayed either on the walls written in your blood, or in front of the computer screen: “YOU HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE” is what it would say.
The most chilling part of this tale, as stated before, is that this legend has claimed a life once before, though not in the way the tale was told. No, this incident involves an infamous murder known as the Sasebo Slashing.
In 2004, a young 11 year old girl killed her 12 year old classmate (Satomi Mitarai) who, just a day prior, was bullying her online, making fun of her weight and calling her a goody goody. When police interrogated Girl A, she had revealed that she was a big fan of the controversial book “Battle Royale”, as well as a fan of the Red Room flash animation.
After the murder, Girl A received a notorious amount of fame. She became an internet meme, and a torrent of fanart of her surfaced. It became apparent that she needed to be anonymous from the public, hence the “Girl A” alias.
I’d like to explore the reactions her murder brought about the internet someday, and the fetishistic approach many had when talking about the crime, but I’m afraid I’ll have to save that for another day.
NUMBER 6 — Fatal Fare
This story involves a taxi driver who was driving on the road one lonesome night,. They would drive around the block - looking for any fares - when someone from the darkness would seemingly materialize and hail the taxi. When the strange figure enters, they would ask the driver to take them to a town the driver would never have heard of before. If the driver mentions this, the figure will reassure them that it wouldn’t be too far, and that they’d guide them to the right direction.
Whilst driving, the figure will make odd demands, making the driver turn left and right through all sorts of unfamiliar alleys and streets. There are some instances where the figure would guide them through a city, when suddenly the car would find itself in the middle of the countryside out of nowhere.
After hours of driving, the cabbie would then begin to panic. The figure doesn’t seem to be clear where they’re heading to, which irritates the person driving. Once they get restless enough, the driver looks back to demand where the customer would be taking them, only to find nothing but air. When the driver turns his gaze back on the road they’d see the edge of a cliff. The driver would slam his foot on the brakes, but to no avail. The cab would fly off into the air, and the last thing the driver would see are jagged rocks coming towards his windshield.
NUMBER 5 — KUCHISAKE-ONNA The Slit Mouthed Woman
This story varies depending on the situation, but usually it involves a lone person wandering down the streets, when they’d suddenly encounter a woman with a surgical mask on her face. In Japan, this is not an unusual sighting as these masks are often worn by people who are sick, as to prevent others from getting ill. Some even wear them for fashion’s sake. In any case, the woman would walk by the innocent person and grab them, forcing them to face her. She would look deep into their eyes and ask “am I beautiful”? The response from here onward determines the fate of the victim.
If she is told that no, the Kuchisake-Onna will then stab her victim with a pair of scissors. After she’s stabbed them repeatedly, making sure that the victim is dead, she will simply walk away, disappearing down the street. If they tell the Kuchisake-Onna that she is beautiful, the woman will then remove her mask and reveal her slit open mouth. She will then ask. “How about now?”. What the person says from this point does not matter, as it will end in death either way. If they say “no”, the victim will be sliced in half. But if the victim continues to call her beautiful, the slit mouthed woman will then cut a very similar scar on their face, leaving them with a slit mouth.
There are a few ways to escape the slit mouthed woman. One way would be to simply tell her that she is “so-so” or “average”. This will confuse her, and give you enough time to escape (as silly as that is). Another method would be throw fruit at her feet, to which she will pick up, and will give you time to run away (as sillier as that is). And finally, the method that can save you is one of courtesy. If you tell her that you will be late to meet your wife or husband, she will apologize and walk away. Very courteous.
NUMBER 4— GOZU, GOAT HEAD
This urban legend is actually about an urban legend itself, or rather, what happens when you talk about the story itself. The story is called “Cow Head”. It is a story so terrifying that anyone who reads it or hears about it become so terrified that they become hysterical and violently convulse for days and days until they inevitably die.
A variant of this tale involves that of a teacher, who tells a bus full of students the horrible tale of “Cow Head”. As the naive teacher tells his students the tale, the students beg him to stop as it’s too frightening to hear, but the teacher can’t seem to stop himself. As the tale gets creepier and creepier, the students then collapse. All of them are then comatose, as is the teacher who told them about Cow Head. The ones who wake up lose their memories of the tale, while the ones who don’t remain in a coma for the rest of their lives.
The story originated from rumors spreading about how sci-fi writer Sakyo Komatsu never published a certain book called Cow Head, however there is no real evidence to support this theory. There’s also a Ukranian tale called Cow’s Head, and a Japanese movie called Gozu, but neither of these seem to link back to the legend, they just seem to share the title.
In the end, the origin of this tale will perhaps forever remain a mystery.
NUMBER 3 — The Cursed Kleenex Commercial
Among all Japanese Urban Legends, this has to be one of the oddest of the bunch. In 1986, the tissue company Kleenex released three commercials for Japan, which all featured a woman dressed in white, and a child dressed as a Japanese ogre. The commercials would feature the song “It’s a Fine Day” by Jane and Barton wistfully playing in the background. Although this song is in English, many frightened viewers would phone in and complain to the company, stating that it was a cursed German song. Recently there have been rumors that if you watched this video on Youtube at around Midnight, the video would become distorted and would eventually crash the site.
With all of this circulating, there were rumors that went so far as to claim that the original crew who filmed that commercial have all died a gruesome death. Even the main actress of the commercial, Keiko Matsuzaka, was rumored to have either died, be institutionalized, or gave birth to a demonic child. None of which is true, seeing as how she’s still leading a successful career in film and television.
As to whether these rumors are true or not, well, why not test this out on your own?
NUMBER 2— Teke Teke
The Teke Teke ghost is based on an urban legend about a young lady who was pushed in front of an oncoming train that sliced her in half. This incident turned her into a vengeful spirit that now carries a scythe and crawls around with just her hands and elbows. The dragging noises she makes resemble that of scratching, and in Japanese the onomatopoeia for scratching is “teke teke”. It’s said that if she encounters someone at night, she will chase them down. If her victim was not fast enough to escape her, she will slice them in two so that they could resemble the Teke Teke spirit herself, and eventually they too will become a Teke Teke ghost.
Here is one version of the story as told by the Wikipedia article.
As a young school boy was walking home at night, he spotted a beautiful young girl standing by a windowsill resting on her elbows. They smiled at each other for a moment. The boy wondered what a girl was doing in an all-boys school, but before he could wonder more about the girl she jumped out of the window and revealed her lower half was missing. Frightened, he stood in the sidewalk, but before he could run, she cut the boy in half.
NUMBER 1— Kiyotaki Tunnel
The Kiyotaki Tunnel is home to several odd occurrences, many of which involving ghost sightings. There have been several reports by pedestrians where they witness strange ghosts at the end of the tunnel, or even at the back of their own cars. Some drivers crash their cars due to being frightened by a supposed “ghost” sighting.
While no one is certain where these ghosts come from, some have speculated that they are ghosts of ancient feudal Japanese soldiers, and others claim that the tunnel is haunted by construction workers who died while working in the tunnel. There are also quite a few people who believe the tunnel itself is a spiritual gateway from heaven to hell, and that the ghost sightings are of those trying to cross the other side.
Regardless of what could be causing these sightings, there’s no doubt that the tunnel is haunting enough for some people to simply avoid it. The video here was by Kurt Bell, and it documents him and his friend crossing that very same haunted tunnel. His friend has some very interesting stories to tell of the tunnel, so I do recommend watching it yourself.
Have any more suggestions for creepy Urban Legends (Japanese or not)? Let me know in the comments! It was fun making this list again, and I really hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and I also hope I didn’t creep you out too much.
Good night everyone!
