Uncanny Japan6 Helmi 2025

Walking in Old Japan: The Historical Gokaidō Routes (Ep. 165)

In today's episode, I'll be taking you on a stroll along the walking routes of Old Edo. There were five main ones, called go-kaidō - the five Edo routes, or the five historical roads of Japan. All five started at the exact same point on the Nihonbashi Bridge in then-Edo, now Tōkyō. Today, let's learn specifically about the two longer ones that led travelers to the old capital of Kyōto, the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō. Starting from the Nihonbashi Bridge, there are two main routes to Kyōto: the popular coastal Tōkaidō and the mountainous Nakasendō. Tokugawa Ieyasu's political strategies come into focus, including the sankin kōtai system that controlled feudal lords and his deliberate choice not to build bridges over major rivers. Staging post stations (shukuba) provided rest and refuge, while river porters carried travelers across dangerous waters. Travel guides mixed practical information with supernatural stories, and there's a beautiful haiku from Matsuo Bashō that captures the weariness of long journeys. [Please Note: Some of the links are affiliate links (both Amazon and other). This means that at no cost to you, if you use and purchase through them I receive a small compensation. This is paid by the retailer. It also helps support me and my artistic endeavors. Thank you.] Follow Uncanny Japan Patreon Uncanny Japan Website Thersa Matsuura Website Books on Amazon YouTube Facebook Instagram Buy Me a Coffee (one-time contribution) Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Credits Music by Julyan Ray Matsuura About SpectreVision Radio SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We're a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Jaksot(200)

How to Welcome the Dead Home: Obon in Japan (Ep. 196)

Every Obon, Japan’s ancestral spirits return home—guided by tiny fires and carried on cucumber horses. This year, for the first time, I’m responsible for preparing my father-in-law’s family altar. Joi...

3 Elo 34min

Creepy Story Time: "By the Japanese Sea" -- Lafcadio Hearn

On the final days of Obon, fishermen along Japan’s western coast once believed the sea belonged to the dead. In this episode, I read Lafcadio Hearn’s eerie and beautiful essay “By the Japanese Sea.” ...

20 Heinä 43min

Tanabata: Star-Crossed Lovers (Ep.55) -- From the Vault

A short Tanabata tale from the Uncanny Vault: Orihime the weaving princess, Hikoboshi the cowherd, and the river of stars that keeps them apart. On the seventh night of the seventh month, wishes are w...

7 Heinä 19min

Childhood Incantations: Engacho, Pain Magic, & Severed Pinkies! (Ep. 194)

Two little boys find a dead bird on a mountain path. One accidentally touches it with his shoe, and suddenly the invisible contagion begins. Fingers cross. A circle is made. A hand chops through it. “...

7 Heinä 29min

Utsuro-Bune: The Hollow Ship Revisited (Ep. 193)

In 1803, fishermen on Japan’s Hitachi coast spotted something round and unfamiliar drifting offshore. They hauled the hollow vessel onto the beach—and discovered a mysterious young woman inside. Step...

17 Kesä 15min

The Big Three UFO/UAP Incidents in Japan + One! (Ep. 192)

Japan’s 1970s UFO boom gave us some wonderfully strange cases: children capturing a tiny hat-shaped UFO in Kōchi, two boys encountering wrinkled aliens in a Yamanashi vineyard, and a Hokkaidō farmer w...

14 Kesä 29min

The Ghost-Playing Actor Who Became a REAL Vengeful Ghost: Kohada Koheiji (Ep. 191)

Not all Japanese revenge ghosts are wronged women. Meet Kohada Koheiji: a failed Edo-period actor who became famous for playing ghosts, only to be murdered, drowned, and returned as the very thing he ...

1 Kesä 30min

All That Flows: Benzaiten, White Snakes, and Human-Headed Serpents

In this episode of Uncanny Japan, we follow Benzaiten — also known as Benten — from her origins as Saraswati to her place among Japan’s Seven Lucky Gods. Along the way: Enoshima’s five-headed dragon, ...

18 Touko 22min