…aisle upon aisle of the most delicious regional speciality foods…

…and this dude:

He’s a Namahage, a terror to Japanese children everywhere. If you’re lazy or disobedient, screaming, roaring Namahage might come to your house and peel your feet.

The kids in the pic above must be very well-behaved to be able to look so relaxed. I can think of several good reasons not to want to hold a Namahage’s machete, can’t you?

Sam

They’re tanuki. I first learned about them and their unusual, um, anatomical powers from the brilliant Studio Ghibli anime Pom Poko, in which they star. While tanuki traditionally tend towards mischief rather than malice, it’s best not to rub them up the wrong way. Something that didn’t appear in that story was that the males are known for occasionally smothering enemies to death with their gigantic, shape-shifting-

No. No: this being a family site I won’t say which part of their anatomy they use. But if the, erm, generous proportions of the guys in the pic above don’t provide a clue, perhaps this Wikipedia link about tanuki will help.

Before taking the photo of these tanuki I made sure to ask their permission very, very nicely. Then I thanked them, told them I was glad to have met them, and walked away very, very fast.

It’s a hive-like mall of small stalls selling manga, anime, idol merch and all kinds of other stuff. My favourite things were the toys and figurines from old tokusatsu films and dramas.

Everything was lovingly preserved and going for eye-watering collectors’ prices. Some items were quite charming and endearing…

…others less so.

More pics from Tokyo at my current blog.

If Godzilla became America’s president, could Tim become Britain’s prime minister?

Now, that would be a ’special relationship’ I could believe in. ;p

The room fell silent. ‘No,’ said my host. ‘Not yokai. Gods.’

Yikes. Knowing that the gods of Japan may always be listening, it was obvious that a reparative gesture was in order. So, a couple of days later, I dutifully set off up Mount Takao – a known Tengu habitat and the location of a temple dedicated to them – to apologise.

It was a public holiday, and thousands of people were visiting the mountain to admire its beautiful autumn colours.

From the chairlift the scenery looked spectacular…

But as I climbed past the shrines to the summit I heard disapproving tutting sounds coming from the shrubbery…

I gulped. Tengu are known, among other things, to be fearsome martial artists. I knew that if I didn’t tread carefully I would be in serious trouble.

There are two kinds of Tengu. Above left, you can see a Karasu-tengu or ‘Raven-tengu’ – “the footsoldiers and enforcers of the Tengu world,” according to the book. He didn’t look happy. On the right stands a Hanadaka-tengu or ‘Longnose Tengu’, said to be even more powerful. He didn’t exactly look pleased to see me either.

In both Japanese and English and as humbly as I could, I apologised for my disrespect. The Hanadaka-tengu gave me a look…

…and then turned away.

‘A Hanadaku-tengu’, (the guidebook says), ‘would rarely indulge in wanton violence. Instead it prefers to play tricks on its prey, often in an attempt to teach a wayward soul a lesson. Quite often the victims of this mischief are spirited away to some far-flung location.’

Can I dare to hope that the Tengu will show mercy, given that I’m at a far-flung location already?

I’m not counting on it. And I’ll watch my tongue in future.

Sam

Guest Blogger Laura here, bringing you another snippet of Monsterliciousness!

My partner in crime Christian recently found this poetry book from his childhood:

Apparently it used to completely horrify him. Quite right too! Honestly, it’s scaring me a little even now.

This is down to terrifically terrifying writing from poets such as Ted Hughes, Roger McGough, Ogden Nash and J.R.R. Tolkein. Coupled with equally odd and utterly disturbing imagery from Charles Fuge. . . just like this:

This..

And this guy..

  ..who reminds me of this guy:

Apart from thinking how much this would have fascinated me and scared the living daylights out of me as a kid, it also makes me a little sad.

Sad because I once had my own childhood monster book which freaked me out and i’d LOVE to discover it now. But I presume it was given away without my knowledge. I remember so vividly picking it out from the mobile, fold-away, shiny silver bookcases in my primary school assembly hall, when the book fair came to visit. It was a collection of short monster stories (that’s short stories about monsters, not stories about short monsters!). They were all fantastic but the one that scared me the most, above all others, was about a seaweed-covered monster who lived under an up-turned boat on a pebble strewn beach.

Does anyone else remember this book?

What books from your childhood used to really scare you?

Have you recently found a book from your past that brought back strange memories?

Do you have a book at home now which totally creeps you out?

Sleep tight

____

Monstrosities

Charles Fuge

9780099673309

(1989)

They’re worn out of consideration for other people, to protect them from your germs when you’ve got a cold. There’s nothing sinister about them at all.

Except…

Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide talks about a yokai called Kuchisake Onna, or Slash-Mouthed Woman. This terrifying creature, the authors warn, “appears to be a normal young woman, but a surgical mask covers a horrifically oversized mouth that stretches ear to ear, filled with far, far too many teeth.”

Kuchisake Onna is a thoroughly modern yokai, familiar (according to one source quoted in Yokai Attack!) to “a whopping ninety-nine percent of Japanese children.” It’s easy, therefore, to guess the inspiration behind this:

This is the cover image of current J-Pop sensation Kyary Pamyu Pamyu‘s debut album Moshi Moshi Harajuku. The video for her insanely catchy single Ponponpon (it means ‘Clapclapclap’) has broken my poor mind into tiny pieces: I present it gladly here so it can do the same to yours.

Snee hee hee!

Sam

The top two are great – very useful, full of all sorts of excellent information. But for obvious reasons the bottom one is my favourite.

I’ve only been in Tokyo for two days but I’ve already seen a female kappa, a cartoon one at least, on tv: charmingly clad in a fetching pink tube top, this yokai was discussing the merits of various onsen with two human ladies. Personally I think the human ladies were lucky: as Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide coyly but helpfully points out, one thing that these water-based creatures are known for is approaching human victims stealthily then suddenly ‘remov[ing] a swimmer’s instestines from below, by punching a slimy hand through… well, use your imagination.’

My excitement at the possibility of meeting yokai in their natural habitat is, understandably I think, spiced with a generous pinch of dread. But with this splendid and thoroughly informative book at my side there’s at least a chance I’ll know what killed me before it happens. ;D

Sam

LOVELY!

NOT.

Isn’t he adorable? This is a kelpie. Kelpies live in lochs and rivers in Scotland, are very beautiful horses, and are terribly friendly. A kelpie will always be happy to help, a bit like an assistant in B&Q, but with teeth.

Well, you can always trust a B&Q assistant, but NEVER get on a kelpie. You can’t get off. And once you’re on, a kelpie will execute a sudden flip to the Dark Side, gallop into the loch with you, and eat you.

Except for your liver. They don’t like liver. Your liver will float to the loch’s edge, where the local farmer will find it and pick it up, shaking his head sadly, and musing on the naivety of tourists.

Allegedly, according to my trusty Myth Book, this legend came about because of a form of waterweed that lives in lochs; apparently, when it’s saturated, it looks exactly like a human liver. This is self-evidently VisitScotland spin, because it isn’t weed, it’s liver.

I love kelpies. Not in the flesh, obviously. I get enough leftover internal organs from my cats each morning. But I always wanted to get them into a story, so I’ve made them the warhorses of the Sithe in my Rebel Angels series. After all, you can’t beat a warhorse that is even happier to kill your enemies than you are.

They are also enormously useful for scaring your disobedient children away from dangerous water.

Isn’t he handsome? His name is Silver Streak. He was created by David Mach, he’s a good couple of metres tall and he appears to be made entirely out of coat hangers.

Silver Streak is currently part of a really brilliant (and free) little exhibition called The Power of Making, an amazing mixture of handmade things and new machine processes like 3D printing.

While there at the V&A I also checked in with an old friend, this guy:

This is the Rotunda Chandelier, by Dale Chihuly. As you can imagine it’s not easy to keep those tentacles clean.