The Roving Ronin Report

Zombies!!!!   Zombies invade Tokyo - kind of. While in Yoyogi Park in Harajuku  I ran across a small horde of zombies actually more like six. They were part the Tokyo Zombie Walk put on by Zombiena, a Tokyo-based zombie performance group. Unfortunately the turn-out was quite small but 2 of the zombies who weren't part of Zombiena became their own zombie walk as they had the best look and zombie attitude - they devoured several small dogs and bit a few school girls. Sadface Zombie A Zombie enjoys a Chu-Hi   Zombies about to devour cute Japanese girl Rightwing(?) Zombies dine on foreigner  Zombie with a Zombie parrot in her hair Texting in the woods when suddenly Zombies! There are worse ways to go   After a long day of eating brains, zombies enjoy a beer The Undead just got sexy

This story is a version of the Ogre of Rashomon as the story is named in Yei Theodora Ozaki’s Japanese Fairy Tales. I however refer to the titular creature as a demon based on the Japanese word “oni” which is demon/devil. Rashomon is a gate that once stood in Kyoto that lapsed into disrepair and became a place of ill repute. According to legend a demon took up residence there and snatched up passer-bys. Eventually it bit off more than it could chew when it tried to grab a samurai. The photos were taken by me of the temple gate of Zojo-ji Temple in Tokyo, a shot of a float from the Nebuta festival of Aomori showing a samurai fighting a demon (Raiko and Shuten-doji), and a depiction of the story on a float at the Neputa Festival in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture. The other images are 19th Century woodblock (ukiyoe) prints.

    “The Grudge,” based on the more distinguished Japanese film “Ju-on,” is light on plot but garners a 4 out of 5 on the Scare-O-Meter.   ©2005 Sony   Japan has a long, ghostly tradition with beings from beyond the grave. Many of the ghosts that appear in plays and stories are females seeking revenge for wrongs done to them during their lifetimes, typically by cruel, heartless husbands.  In the old ghost stories, vengeful Japanese ghosts would continue to haunt their victims until they went insane, died, or at least made some form of restitution to appease the angry spirits.  Some Japanese ghosts were born out of tragedy or sorrow and would haunt any person who came near. These spirits were particularly feared because they represented a danger to all unless they were somehow put to rest. Although I knew about the horrific nature of old Japanese ghosts, I had thought modern Japanese ghosts would be more polite and demur. I had imagined a modern Japanese ghost timidly coming up to someo...