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Japanese urban legends
A Japanese urban legend (日本の都市伝説, Nihon no toshi densetsu) is a story in Japanese folklore which is circulated as true. These urban legends are characterized by originating in or being popularized throughout the country of Japan. These urban legends commonly involve paranormal entities or creatures who encounter and attack humans, but the term can also encompass widespread, non-supernatural rumors in popular culture. Urban legends in the former category rarely include the folklore yōkai, instead of being primarily based on contemporary examples of yūrei (Japanese ghosts). Modern Japanese urban legends tend to occur in schools or urban settings, and some can be considered cautionary tales.
On 16 December 1932, the Shirokiya Department Store fire in Tokyo resulted in 14 deaths. During the fire, many saleswomen in kimono were forced onto the roof of the 8-storey building. Rumors later spread that some of these women refused to jump into the safety nets held by firefighters on the ground. Traditionally, women did not wear undergarments with a kimono and were afraid they would be exposed and ashamed if they jumped. As a result, they died. This news attracted attention from as far away as Europe. It has been alleged that in the aftermath of the fire, department store management ordered saleswomen to wear panties or other underwear with their kimono, and the trend spread.
Contrary to this belief, Shoichi Inoue, a Japanese customs and architecture professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, has denied the story of ambivalent women with fatal modesty. According to Inoue, most people were saved by firefighters, and the story of women who preferred to die with their modesty intact was fabricated for Westerners. The story has been prevalent in many reference books, even published by the Fire Fighting Agency. Moreover, the Japanese generally believed that the Shirokiya Department Store fire was a catalyst for changing fashion customs, specifically the trend toward wearing Western-style panties. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the belief.
It was rumored that the Sony Corporation installed a device in all of its electronic products, causing them to fail soon after their warranties expired, an illegal form of planned obsolescence.
This has never been substantiated, and while it is unlikely that Sony would explicitly add expiration devices to their hardware, the "Sony Timer" has also been taken to mean that Sony manufactures devices to withstand just enough use to necessitate a new line. At the annual shareholders meeting in 2007, then president Ryoji Chubachi said that he was aware of the term "Sony Timer".
Aka Manto (赤マント, Red Cloak) is described as a male spirit who wears a red cloak and a mask which hides his face, and is said to haunt public or school bathrooms, and often specifically the last stall of female bathrooms. According to legend, individuals using a toilet in such bathrooms may be asked by Aka Manto to choose between red paper or blue paper (in some versions, the options will be red or blue cloaks, rather than paper). Choosing the "red" option results in fatal lacerations or flaying, while choosing the "blue" option results in strangulation or exsanguination. Picking a colour which has not been offered leads to the individual being dragged to an underworld or hell, and in some accounts, choosing "yellow" results in the person's head being pushed into the toilet. Ignoring the spirit, rejecting both options offered by the spirit, escaping the bathroom, or a combination of the aforementioned methods are said to result in the individual's survival.
In the 1980s, Kleenex released three Japanese commercials for their tissues, featuring a woman played by actress Keiko Matsuzaka dressed in a white dress and a child dressed as a Japanese ogre, sitting on straw. Each advertisement had the song "It's a Fine Day" by Edward Barton and Jane playing in the background.
It was reported that viewers filed complaints with television stations and with Kleenex's corporate headquarters because they found the commercial unnerving, with some claiming that the song sounded like a German curse, despite the lyrics being in English, and others saying that they thought the singer's voice changed when the advert was shown at night.
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Japanese urban legends
A Japanese urban legend (日本の都市伝説, Nihon no toshi densetsu) is a story in Japanese folklore which is circulated as true. These urban legends are characterized by originating in or being popularized throughout the country of Japan. These urban legends commonly involve paranormal entities or creatures who encounter and attack humans, but the term can also encompass widespread, non-supernatural rumors in popular culture. Urban legends in the former category rarely include the folklore yōkai, instead of being primarily based on contemporary examples of yūrei (Japanese ghosts). Modern Japanese urban legends tend to occur in schools or urban settings, and some can be considered cautionary tales.
On 16 December 1932, the Shirokiya Department Store fire in Tokyo resulted in 14 deaths. During the fire, many saleswomen in kimono were forced onto the roof of the 8-storey building. Rumors later spread that some of these women refused to jump into the safety nets held by firefighters on the ground. Traditionally, women did not wear undergarments with a kimono and were afraid they would be exposed and ashamed if they jumped. As a result, they died. This news attracted attention from as far away as Europe. It has been alleged that in the aftermath of the fire, department store management ordered saleswomen to wear panties or other underwear with their kimono, and the trend spread.
Contrary to this belief, Shoichi Inoue, a Japanese customs and architecture professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, has denied the story of ambivalent women with fatal modesty. According to Inoue, most people were saved by firefighters, and the story of women who preferred to die with their modesty intact was fabricated for Westerners. The story has been prevalent in many reference books, even published by the Fire Fighting Agency. Moreover, the Japanese generally believed that the Shirokiya Department Store fire was a catalyst for changing fashion customs, specifically the trend toward wearing Western-style panties. However, there is no evidence to substantiate the belief.
It was rumored that the Sony Corporation installed a device in all of its electronic products, causing them to fail soon after their warranties expired, an illegal form of planned obsolescence.
This has never been substantiated, and while it is unlikely that Sony would explicitly add expiration devices to their hardware, the "Sony Timer" has also been taken to mean that Sony manufactures devices to withstand just enough use to necessitate a new line. At the annual shareholders meeting in 2007, then president Ryoji Chubachi said that he was aware of the term "Sony Timer".
Aka Manto (赤マント, Red Cloak) is described as a male spirit who wears a red cloak and a mask which hides his face, and is said to haunt public or school bathrooms, and often specifically the last stall of female bathrooms. According to legend, individuals using a toilet in such bathrooms may be asked by Aka Manto to choose between red paper or blue paper (in some versions, the options will be red or blue cloaks, rather than paper). Choosing the "red" option results in fatal lacerations or flaying, while choosing the "blue" option results in strangulation or exsanguination. Picking a colour which has not been offered leads to the individual being dragged to an underworld or hell, and in some accounts, choosing "yellow" results in the person's head being pushed into the toilet. Ignoring the spirit, rejecting both options offered by the spirit, escaping the bathroom, or a combination of the aforementioned methods are said to result in the individual's survival.
In the 1980s, Kleenex released three Japanese commercials for their tissues, featuring a woman played by actress Keiko Matsuzaka dressed in a white dress and a child dressed as a Japanese ogre, sitting on straw. Each advertisement had the song "It's a Fine Day" by Edward Barton and Jane playing in the background.
It was reported that viewers filed complaints with television stations and with Kleenex's corporate headquarters because they found the commercial unnerving, with some claiming that the song sounded like a German curse, despite the lyrics being in English, and others saying that they thought the singer's voice changed when the advert was shown at night.
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