While scouring the interwebs, I found an interesting Washington Post article on the culture and historical roots of Halloween in Japan. I think it’s an interesting read for anime fans since it explains a lot of the demon traditions that we often see in anime and manga.

From the article:

“Anything that is unexplainable, anything that is scary, anything that is really weird can be considered the doings of a yokai,” said Kenji Murakami, author of a yokai encyclopedia and 19 other yokai-related books. “We do not have a tradition of Halloween, but I think yokai are perfectly appropriate for Halloween. They help explain the inexplicable, and they are fun.”

Part myth, part tall tale, part pop culture, yokai haunt mountains, swamps, subway stations and toilets across Japan. One yokai likes to plunge a large, hairy disembodied foot through the roofs of rich people’s houses. Another is made entirely of discarded dinnerware and is more dangerous to himself than to others.

One of the more interesting things described in the article was the Japanese demon known as the “Filth Licker”, who apparently “haunts dirty bathrooms. Using his long, lascivious tongue, he eats bathtub scum. As if that were not scary enough, there is also the matter of shame. In this exceedingly well-scrubbed country, if word got out that there’s a Filth Licker in your bathroom, your reputation would be ruined.”

That’s…just….wow.

Anyways, you can read the article, called Godzilla’s Older, Creepier Cousins here

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