PREFACE
After a childhood living all over the US—as far north as Fairbanks, Alaska, and as far south as Jacksonville, Florida—I ended up heading east, Far East. I first came to Japan in 1990 on a Japanese Ministry of Education Scholarship. I studied the language at Shizuoka University for two years, then decided to live here permanently. I married a Japanese man and started a family.
I immediately fell in love with Japan—the language, the culture, the people, and all the unique folklore, superstitions, and multitudes of strange beasties that seemed to be lurking everywhere. I wanted to learn more about this mysterious and fascinating country. The early nineties was a time before widespread Internet, so my research was all very hands-on; I’d check out books from the local library and translate them, or would sit on a tatami mat floor with my Japanese friends and relatives as we conversed over a cup of green tea.
While exciting, living in a foreign country is also isolating at times. Back then, there were no fellow English speakers in my small town, and international phone calls were short, expensive, and could only be made once a month from a special phone booth that was a twenty-minute walk away.
Plus, I had a very superstitious mother-in-law who was convinced I attracted ghosts and various spirits that liked to stick to me and cause bad things to happen. This was a daily reminder of how much I still didn’t understand about the culture. To cope and survive this difficult time, I decided to open my mind more, do additional research, and try to understand why such superstitions came about. Then I’d write stories to share my experiences with others.
I ended up writing a couple of books—a story collection in a genre I call “mythical realism” titled A Robe of Feathers and Other Stories, and a second one in the horror genre called The Carp-Faced Boy and Other Tales. In late 2016, I also started my bimonthly podcast, Uncanny Japan. In it, I share all the strange legends, curious cultural tidbits, and obscure folklore I dig up when doing research for my writing.
As you can see, the characters highlighted in this book have become an everyday part of my life. I hope you are as fascinated by this one-of-a-kind folklore pantheon as I am.