Paranormal Activities (Japanese Style)

By Ryan

With Halloween coming this month, I thought I’d share a popular post that I wrote 2 years ago. At the time I wrote it “Paranormal Activities” was just released. My article is about paranormal activities in Japan. Japan like any other country, is full of ghost, spirit and demon stories. The two stories I’m going to write about are stories that came to me second hand.
My wife and 3 friends in university experienced the following story:

Her and her friends were partying one weekend and decided to do a test in bravery. The four girls drove to a cemetery at 2:00am. They parked around the side to avoid any caretakers that may be working. Without flashlights they went into the cemetery. They lasted about 15 minutes until hearing noises and getting scared. They ran to the car and drove to one of the girl’s home for the night. The next morning when they woke up and went to the car they were shocked at what they found. There were about 50 child-size handprints all over the car. Some on the roof, meaning a child would have had to climb on the car to get to the roof, but there was no evidence of that. They decided to check where they parked at the cemetery for some answers and they discovered they parked right next to the child section of the cemetery. Needless to say, they never went back to that cemetery again.

On a side note, the picture shown is not an original. I made it in Photoshop.

 

My wife told this next story to me. It happened to her friend:

Her friend moved into a furnished apartment and had a friend help her. That night she set a futon on the floor for her friend and she slept in the bed. About 3am her friend woke her up asking if she had any cola. She said no and her friend requested that they go to the store. She refused and told her to drink some water. About 10 minutes later her friend woke herup again and said she needs smokes and that they need to go to the store now. Knowing that her friend doesn’t smoke, she knew something was wrong and went. As soon as they got out the door, her friend said there is a man under her bed. They called the police. The police checked the apartment and found no one. They also found that all windows and the door were still locked from the inside. With her friend being so positive at what she had seen, they used a sketch artist. After showing the apartment manager the sketch, he recognized the man. He was a previous tenant that skipped town owing 2 months’ rent. The man was never found. She moved out from the apartment the same day.

“Paranormal Activities” was ok but I felt it never delivered. The anticipation was there but the scares never came. For me, Japanese ghosts are a lot scarier than our ghosts. If you like Horror Mockumentaries then I suggest you watch “Noroi: The Curse”.  It follows a similar formula to “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activities”, focusing around a journalist whose job is to investigate paranormal activities. The movie is played out in a very real documentary style, as we’re shown the case the man was last investigating leading up to his disappearance. Combined with clips from news reports and variety shows, we follow along as the man slowly unravels the mystery behind all these strange supernatural occurrences, and eventually follow the trail back to an old legend and the curse of a small town. This movie will send chills down your spine. Other Japanese horror movies I strongly suggest watching are the Japanese version of “Ju-On: The Grudge” and “Ringu” series. They’re much scarier than their Hollywood counterparts.

 

 

What's Coming up...

 

Universal Studios Japan

Sep. 6 to Nov. 3
Each day during the Halloween period there is a parade featuring a variety of colourful and exciting themes
At night on weekends and national holidays, zombies walk the park!

 

Mini Halloween Celtic Festival Japan

October 28-30
Paddy Foley’s
Roppongi, Tokyo
Featuring live Celtic music and dance, food, whiskey, etc.

 

 

 

Recommended Halloween Viewing

By Chris

 

Speaking of creepy movies...if you’re looking for a good Halloween movie, possibly still in theatres , I recommend Let Me In (モールス in    Japan).  An American re-make of the  Swedish, Let the Right One In.  Set in the early ‘80’s it’s a nice  pre-teen romance with a sharp twist.  The American re-make is faithful to the original movie and very well done.   I also highly recommend the Swedish movie and the original novel, published under both English titles, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist.

If you’re in the mood for something Asian, see the Korean vampire movie, Thirst.  A more adult romance than Let Me In.

And if you want some messed-up, urban fantasy action, Russian style, check out The Night Watch.  Thrown together from different parts of the Night Watch book series by Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko, the Night Watch movie, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, is crazy-fun with bits of story to hold it together.  I loved it the first time I saw it, but sadly as it was cobbled together from various scenes and plots used in the books, after reading the series the movie is a little disappointing, but still good fun. 

 

 

 

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