WEBVTT - Yuru-chara: Japanese Mascots, Part 2

0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:07.120
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio.

0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:14.760
<v Speaker 2>Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind.

0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.040
<v Speaker 3>My name is Robert Lamb and I am Joe McCormick,

0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.640
<v Speaker 3>and we're back with part two of our series on Yurukiara,

0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:26.840
<v Speaker 3>the lovable wobbly mascot characters of Japan. Now, if you

0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:28.880
<v Speaker 3>haven't heard part one yet, you should go back and

0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.520
<v Speaker 3>listen to that episode first. In that one, we talked

0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.960
<v Speaker 3>about the origins of the Urukira concept. Rob shared some

0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.160
<v Speaker 3>of his experiences with these characters on a recent trip

0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.839
<v Speaker 3>to Japan, and we talked about a couple of our

0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:47.080
<v Speaker 3>favorite examples, including the Kuma Moto mascot, a real megastar

0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.360
<v Speaker 3>called Kuma Man, which looks like a bear but apparently

0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.760
<v Speaker 3>is not a bear. You'll listen to the episode you'll understand,

0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:59.520
<v Speaker 3>and then the more obscure park associated mascot Hako Geo.

0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.040
<v Speaker 3>And we're back today to talk about some more.

0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.560
<v Speaker 2>That's right. Okay, So my last selection was more emotional

0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:10.000
<v Speaker 2>than I guess substantially interesting to everybody. But this next

0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.000
<v Speaker 2>one I think is even more fascinating because it does

0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.479
<v Speaker 2>include ties into mythology and architecture. So this is one

0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.840
<v Speaker 2>that I definitely got to observe in the wild. So

0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:23.760
<v Speaker 2>me and my family were big Studio Ghibli fans. Of course,

0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:27.040
<v Speaker 2>we made our way to visit Ghibli Park during our

0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.520
<v Speaker 2>trip to Japan, so we spent two nights in Nagoya

0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.759
<v Speaker 2>to do so, and while traveling on the Nagoya Municipal Subway,

0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.920
<v Speaker 2>we frequently encountered helpful signs that featured its mascot, its

0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 2>official mascot, Hatchi Hatchi is well, I would say to

0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:49.480
<v Speaker 2>the uninformed guidjin I Hatshi is a humanoid uniform Nagoya

0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.480
<v Speaker 2>City subway employee, but his head is a golden fish

0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.320
<v Speaker 2>with a human cartoon face, complete with fins on the

0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.440
<v Speaker 2>side and an upward cresting tail on the back of

0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:00.920
<v Speaker 2>the head.

0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.960
<v Speaker 3>So when you say he has a fish head, you

0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.000
<v Speaker 3>were not saying his head is the head of a fish.

0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.600
<v Speaker 3>You're saying his head is an entire fish.

0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:12.720
<v Speaker 2>Right, But like, you know, kind of like a flat

0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:16.800
<v Speaker 2>face fish with like a cartoon human nose. So there's

0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.480
<v Speaker 2>there's something interesting going on here. But at the very least,

0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.040
<v Speaker 2>you can say a subway employee with a fish for

0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:23.720
<v Speaker 2>a head.

0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.360
<v Speaker 3>A human bodied subway employee with a fish for a head,

0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:28.440
<v Speaker 3>but the fish for a head has a human face.

0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.080
<v Speaker 2>Correct, Yeah, so already I'm on board, right, I mean,

0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.280
<v Speaker 2>he's cute, he's a bit weird. He's shown up and

0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.040
<v Speaker 2>given me helpful advice. You know. He often brings him

0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:42.880
<v Speaker 2>attention to important signage or in particular the glass. It's

0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.519
<v Speaker 2>like kind of like glass pane doors in between subway cars.

0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:48.440
<v Speaker 2>I found that they had stickers on there. I guess

0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.280
<v Speaker 2>to keep people from bonking into them if they were

0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.600
<v Speaker 2>you know too, if they were free of smudges and

0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:53.120
<v Speaker 2>so forth.

0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.760
<v Speaker 3>As someone who has more than once in my life

0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.480
<v Speaker 3>walks straight into a glass door, I appreciate that.

0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.679
<v Speaker 2>But this is where things get even cooler. So it's

0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.760
<v Speaker 2>not merely a fish that is serving as his head.

0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:09.520
<v Speaker 2>Hatschi has a shachi hoko or shachi for a head.

0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.760
<v Speaker 2>So what is this? Well, in Japanese mythology, this is

0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.320
<v Speaker 2>a fearsome sea monster, often described as a great fish

0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:18.799
<v Speaker 2>with either the head of a tiger or of a dragon.

0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 2>It's also sometimes compared to a dolphin or an orca,

0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:27.560
<v Speaker 2>and shachi actually apparently means orca in Japanese. Now, the

0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.679
<v Speaker 2>origins of this mythical creature ex seemingly extend back through

0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:36.520
<v Speaker 2>Chinese and Vedic influences, namely connecting to the chai Win

0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:42.360
<v Speaker 2>and the Makara in those different mythologies, both creatures that

0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:47.040
<v Speaker 2>were often used as rooftop guardian sculptures, so comparable in

0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.640
<v Speaker 2>some ways to like a gargoyle in the West. Okay,

0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:55.160
<v Speaker 2>though some sources still when talking about the shatshi, go

0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.400
<v Speaker 2>with more of a literal. This was modeled after a

0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.880
<v Speaker 2>killer whale, but, as we often discussed in The show Man,

0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:02.800
<v Speaker 2>are generally born of like multiple reference points, there can

0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:04.880
<v Speaker 2>be a lot of different things going on when a

0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.960
<v Speaker 2>monaster has created wholesale or when it you know, makes

0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.880
<v Speaker 2>the journey from one culture into another, and then add

0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.040
<v Speaker 2>you know, one hundred two hundred years or more on

0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.080
<v Speaker 2>top of that, uh huh. So the sashi joko, this

0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.200
<v Speaker 2>golden fish with upturned tail is frequently found as a

0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:26.640
<v Speaker 2>traditional Japanese architectural flourish, so great golden fish upward tail,

0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.479
<v Speaker 2>generally gleaming gold in appearance, and traditionally employed as a

0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:35.320
<v Speaker 2>means of supernatural fire prevention. Because the mythical fish here

0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.760
<v Speaker 2>was said to hold water in its belly and it

0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.800
<v Speaker 2>could control the rain, So you know, you can think

0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:45.360
<v Speaker 2>of this as an invocation of a protective spirit while

0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.120
<v Speaker 2>you're doing other things as well, of course, to try

0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.320
<v Speaker 2>and keep fires from getting out of hand and burning

0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.720
<v Speaker 2>down buildings or districts.

0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.640
<v Speaker 3>Almost like a symbolic sprinkler system.

0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but why on the subway, you might ask. Well,

0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.839
<v Speaker 2>the main reason is because Nagoya's historic Nigoya Castle, originally

0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.120
<v Speaker 2>built in sixteen ten, partially destroyed in nineteen forty five,

0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:10.280
<v Speaker 2>and sort of continually restored since nineteen fifty seven, prominently

0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:14.440
<v Speaker 2>features a golden sachi on the roof, and I included

0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.279
<v Speaker 2>a picture of one here for you, Joe and everyone

0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:18.800
<v Speaker 2>out there. You can look these up as well. The

0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:23.320
<v Speaker 2>English for this word is shachi.

0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.680
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, So am I understanding this image correctly? If

0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:28.880
<v Speaker 3>I'm looking at it right. The fish's face is not

0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.960
<v Speaker 3>facing out from the roof, It's turned inward along the roofline,

0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.680
<v Speaker 3>and the fish is sort of waving its tail out

0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.040
<v Speaker 3>toward the rest of the world.

0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.880
<v Speaker 2>That's correct, Yes, and pretty much I think all the

0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:45.920
<v Speaker 2>times that I saw it utilized while I was over

0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.599
<v Speaker 2>there and just looking around at various pictures, that seems

0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:49.320
<v Speaker 2>to be the standard.

0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:53.960
<v Speaker 3>Interesting, I guess when I imagine artistic conventions of representing

0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:55.960
<v Speaker 3>like an animal or a creature on the outside of

0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:57.760
<v Speaker 3>a building, I would always have thought of it as

0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.000
<v Speaker 3>having the face facing out, But there's no reason it

0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:01.800
<v Speaker 3>has to be that way.

0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.919
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And the front half of the creature is very impressive.

0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.120
<v Speaker 2>Again in these statues, it's very much of like a

0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.560
<v Speaker 2>dragonoid sort of head, you know, even again see the

0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.920
<v Speaker 2>tiger associations. And also you can sort of see roughly, okay,

0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:17.800
<v Speaker 2>I can imagine an orca or dolphin standing in for

0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.160
<v Speaker 2>this creature. Now on top of that, you know, I

0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.200
<v Speaker 2>guess we can also acknowledge that subway fires are certainly

0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.159
<v Speaker 2>always a possibility. So I imagine you could also make a

0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.960
<v Speaker 2>case for employing a mythological creature associated with fire prevention

0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:35.120
<v Speaker 2>against subway fires or maybe more generally, against unwanted safety

0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.839
<v Speaker 2>related scenarios in general. You know, like it's employed on

0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:43.599
<v Speaker 2>buildings as a protective spirit to help protect against like

0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.200
<v Speaker 2>sort of worst case scenarios. And likewise, in the subway,

0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.800
<v Speaker 2>our friend here than the mascot hot sheet, is here

0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:52.160
<v Speaker 2>to help.

0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.320
<v Speaker 3>Just looking at this fellow, I cannot help but feel assured.

0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:59.720
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he's very lovable. I highly recommend if you're interested

0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.200
<v Speaker 2>looking at it's generally spelled h Atchii in English, or

0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:09.120
<v Speaker 2>just look for Nagoya Municipal Subway mascot and you'll find him.

0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.520
<v Speaker 3>Okay, you're ready to talk about my next selection?

0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.720
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? Yeah, here you got a very interesting choice. Is

0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:16.440
<v Speaker 2>not one that was that I was familiar with?

0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:19.560
<v Speaker 3>Well, so, I think the most interesting thing about the

0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.600
<v Speaker 3>uukiara I'm about to talk about is that it is

0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.600
<v Speaker 3>the only one I'm aware of. There may be others

0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.920
<v Speaker 3>that have escaped to my attention. That is a successful

0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:33.559
<v Speaker 3>usurper king so I mentioned in the last episode coming

0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.720
<v Speaker 3>across a mascot who was said to be a big

0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.880
<v Speaker 3>fan of heavy metal music, which it seems incongruous with

0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.440
<v Speaker 3>the vibe of most of these mascots. Like, what soft

0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.120
<v Speaker 3>toddling character of this kind could be a metal head?

0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:53.960
<v Speaker 3>The answer is it's Funasi, the unofficial mascot of Funabashi Chiba. Now,

0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:56.440
<v Speaker 3>you might wonder, unofficial, how does a city end up

0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.960
<v Speaker 3>with an unofficial mascot? So I was reading about in

0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.840
<v Speaker 3>a couple of blog posts, one on a Kawhi culture

0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:08.640
<v Speaker 3>site called you May Twins and also on the Mondo

0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.280
<v Speaker 3>Mascots blog, Rob, I think you name dropped this one

0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:12.360
<v Speaker 3>in the last episode in you.

0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a great resource, especially if you just want

0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.440
<v Speaker 2>to overload on images of various mascots and eventually like

0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.559
<v Speaker 2>learn what they represent. Yeah.

0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:24.000
<v Speaker 3>And so the short story is that in the year

0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:28.400
<v Speaker 3>twenty thirteen, Funabashi City decided to get in on the

0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:33.120
<v Speaker 3>mascot hype and created its own official character. This character

0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.680
<v Speaker 3>was called Funeimon, who was widely considered by locals to

0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:41.600
<v Speaker 3>be excruciatingly bland and boring. Rob, I will let you

0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.560
<v Speaker 3>judge for yourself. Here I've included a picture. This is

0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:49.199
<v Speaker 3>a Funeimon on the right. He is described in most

0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:51.600
<v Speaker 3>of the sources I could find as an Edo period

0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:56.240
<v Speaker 3>salaryman or Edo period merchant. He's wearing typical clothing for

0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.679
<v Speaker 3>the period and glasses. And I have to agree it

0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.240
<v Speaker 3>is It is not a thrilling design. It's also not

0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.040
<v Speaker 3>even super cute. It's just like an adult guy.

0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it just looks like somebody's dad. Who's you know,

0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.720
<v Speaker 2>I'm pretty cool dad. But as a mascot for the city,

0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:13.200
<v Speaker 2>I don't know.

0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:19.480
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. So, in Rebellion against this uninspiring official mascot the

0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:24.920
<v Speaker 3>people of Funabashi City elevated I think a pre existing character.

0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.880
<v Speaker 3>This character is a hyperactive sentient pair named Funasi who

0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.840
<v Speaker 3>was born in a pair orchard and loves headbanging to

0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:39.040
<v Speaker 3>Ozzy Osbourne. Funasi seems to have an appetite for extreme

0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:44.120
<v Speaker 3>experiences and thrill seeking, and also allegedly sustained an injury

0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:49.240
<v Speaker 3>while participating in a luchador exhibition in Mexico in twenty sixteen. Now,

0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:53.680
<v Speaker 3>for whoever's writing this character's sort of backstory, As we

0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:56.160
<v Speaker 3>mentioned in the last episode, a lot of these mascot

0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.600
<v Speaker 3>characters have more extensive personal histories and backstory reason sort

0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.360
<v Speaker 3>of storylines then you might expect. You know, we talked

0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.360
<v Speaker 3>last time about the ones that were falling in love

0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.120
<v Speaker 3>with each other and all that stuff. We uh, But

0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:14.479
<v Speaker 3>but so this one really likes getting into extreme experiences

0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.600
<v Speaker 3>and you know, the loud headbanging and all that. And

0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.480
<v Speaker 3>I wonder if that is in fact a reaction to

0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:24.120
<v Speaker 3>the fact that this character filled the void of a

0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.880
<v Speaker 3>character who was perceived to be too boring.

0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.720
<v Speaker 2>Hmmm, yeah, I can see that being the case. Maybe

0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.560
<v Speaker 2>combine that with some of this sort of attention seeking,

0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.840
<v Speaker 2>arguably at times out of control enthusiasm for for these

0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.080
<v Speaker 2>various mascots. You know, I was reading about about one

0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:44.360
<v Speaker 2>the other day. In fact, it was the one that

0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.000
<v Speaker 2>was prominently featured on John Oliver. How that particular mascot

0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.320
<v Speaker 2>kind of got into a little bit of trouble based

0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.880
<v Speaker 2>on just sort of being a little bit too aggressive

0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.680
<v Speaker 2>and a bit too extreme and it stunts.

0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.480
<v Speaker 3>Wait, sure that's not the same one, is it that

0:10:58.760 --> 0:10:59.680
<v Speaker 3>it was different fun Oh?

0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.960
<v Speaker 2>Okay, yeah, yeah, different one. But I'm saying it seems

0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.760
<v Speaker 2>like there's there is a line somewhere in there where

0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.040
<v Speaker 2>you could go too far. But I guess Funasi's doing

0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.920
<v Speaker 2>it right. I looked up Funasi and wrestling to see, okay,

0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.360
<v Speaker 2>well what is he doing? Where has he been engaging

0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.760
<v Speaker 2>with like Lucha Libre or whatever? And I couldn't find

0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:19.960
<v Speaker 2>many immediate answers, but I did see some clips of

0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.880
<v Speaker 2>him being like thrown and flung around by some pretty

0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.600
<v Speaker 2>big name Japanese professional wrestlers, So you know, he's getting

0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.040
<v Speaker 2>out there. I mean, I don't think he's having official matches,

0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.240
<v Speaker 2>he's getting out there.

0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:33.560
<v Speaker 3>Carpe DM.

0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:44.920
<v Speaker 2>All right, The next one I want to cover Here

0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:52.760
<v Speaker 2>is terreb Tosin Aka Father Television, Akaido Prefecture. This guy,

0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:54.920
<v Speaker 2>I've included a picture of him before you here, Joe,

0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.360
<v Speaker 2>tell me what you get off of just an initial

0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:01.040
<v Speaker 2>look here at Terrebe Tosin. Say, what do you think

0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:01.400
<v Speaker 2>he is?

0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:08.120
<v Speaker 3>He is a red thing almost maybe like an upturned

0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.679
<v Speaker 3>flower pot for a head, a sort of slightly you know,

0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.520
<v Speaker 3>like a upside down flower pot with a little bit

0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.240
<v Speaker 3>of soft corners on it, with a face. The face

0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:22.640
<v Speaker 3>looks very jolly hit you know, a big, big smile

0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.199
<v Speaker 3>in the face. It has the best kind of mustache,

0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:29.520
<v Speaker 3>which is just four hairs, and then has a sort

0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.400
<v Speaker 3>of I don't know, a black spike reaching up from

0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.760
<v Speaker 3>the top of his head, which almost suggests a piece

0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:38.880
<v Speaker 3>of fruit, you know, like an apple has a stem.

0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.400
<v Speaker 3>Maybe it's a piece of fruit with a stem poking off.

0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.440
<v Speaker 3>And then oh, also so if his head and body

0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:48.280
<v Speaker 3>is an upturned clay flower flower pot, he has two

0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.320
<v Speaker 3>legs underneath that are right side up clay flower pots

0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.680
<v Speaker 3>of a smaller size, and then sort of a green

0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:56.960
<v Speaker 3>loin cloth. That that's what I get.

0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.679
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I looked at him and I instantly thought, like,

0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.720
<v Speaker 2>may the pepper like maybe he's a hot pepper or

0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:07.080
<v Speaker 2>other kind of a vegetable or fruit. I showed a

0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.400
<v Speaker 2>picture of him to my wife and she was like,

0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:11.760
<v Speaker 2>I think he's a traffic cone. Also I think a

0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:12.440
<v Speaker 2>valid guest.

0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:14.320
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's that's good.

0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.200
<v Speaker 2>But the reality here, and this makes sense once you

0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:21.320
<v Speaker 2>see the images side by side, is he's designed to

0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:26.240
<v Speaker 2>resemble the Supporo TV tower, and once once you see it,

0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.440
<v Speaker 2>you're like, okay, I can see it now with the

0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:32.960
<v Speaker 2>like he's very vaguely tower shaped. The tower in question

0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:37.560
<v Speaker 2>has this kind of like green band structure around the

0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:39.800
<v Speaker 2>lower portion of it that has been transformed into a

0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:44.680
<v Speaker 2>belt in his mascot form. And then that black apparatus

0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.280
<v Speaker 2>on the top of his head, well, that's those are

0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.760
<v Speaker 2>the upper extremes of the the television tower itself.

0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.880
<v Speaker 3>I see, yes now, So I like that.

0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:55.280
<v Speaker 2>You know, there's like a journey to for at least

0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:57.440
<v Speaker 2>for someone like me to figure out what he is.

0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.360
<v Speaker 2>But I was looking into it more, and I think

0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:03.520
<v Speaker 2>part of the appeal of this guy is that his

0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.760
<v Speaker 2>name in Japanese also has there's like a pun involved here,

0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.440
<v Speaker 2>like mister television tower, which does not translate all that well.

0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.160
<v Speaker 2>But I was instantly amused as well, because someone's for

0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:16.560
<v Speaker 2>me ideas of TV as this kind of like stand

0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.680
<v Speaker 2>in parent or teacher, you know, father television. And it

0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.080
<v Speaker 2>also reminds me of that old Simpson's line from Treehouse

0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.320
<v Speaker 2>of Horror Television teacher mother, secret lover.

0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.440
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, are you kids hugging the TV?

0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? I mean it's father television. He just has the

0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:37.880
<v Speaker 2>best of intentions for us. Yeah.

0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:42.560
<v Speaker 3>I like this one. He seems sage and redolent with pleasure.

0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And there's not a lot to him, I admit,

0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.200
<v Speaker 2>But it's another example of what they can be born on.

0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:53.640
<v Speaker 2>They can be born of local landmarks, you know, architecturalal

0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:56.040
<v Speaker 2>touches and so forth. But the next one I want

0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.520
<v Speaker 2>to mention is interesting because it seems to be very

0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:04.440
<v Speaker 2>mission orient like this is a yurikiyara that was dreamt up,

0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:08.800
<v Speaker 2>that was designed in order to fulfill a particular objective

0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:13.120
<v Speaker 2>in reaching the masses and conveying some very important safety ideas.

0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:15.520
<v Speaker 3>Oh, I'm intrigued, who is it?

0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.920
<v Speaker 2>All right? This one is Sukimi moriy So this is

0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.440
<v Speaker 2>another one. I'm fairly certain that I got to see

0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.640
<v Speaker 2>this one in the wild, because we were in Osaka.

0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.800
<v Speaker 2>That's where this one is utilized. Osaka is a really

0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:30.800
<v Speaker 2>fun city, though, but we had a little harder time

0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.600
<v Speaker 2>navigating ourselves on the public transportation, so I wasn't as

0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:38.600
<v Speaker 2>on the ball about like getting pictures and chronicling him.

0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:45.280
<v Speaker 2>But basically, this is a large, slightly scary, purple and

0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:50.600
<v Speaker 2>pink creature with a single glowing eye with a yellow pupil,

0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:56.520
<v Speaker 2>and he lives in the gap in the subway stations.

0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.680
<v Speaker 3>Oh my lord, rob, I was trying to think, what

0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:01.880
<v Speaker 3>does he reminded me of? And he looks like a

0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.440
<v Speaker 3>purple version of the monsters from the Green Slime.

0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:08.760
<v Speaker 2>He really does. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a sense of

0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.440
<v Speaker 2>the Green Slime to him. If we were to see

0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.000
<v Speaker 2>him animated, I bet he would have some very Miyazaki

0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.520
<v Speaker 2>esque elements. He kind of reminds me of cat Bus

0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.880
<v Speaker 2>a few times, but like a darkness cat bus. And

0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.760
<v Speaker 2>so his mission here is. And there are a lot

0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:29.640
<v Speaker 2>of I think objectively cute signs warning people of all ages,

0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:33.640
<v Speaker 2>but especially children, about the dangers of closing doors and

0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:38.080
<v Speaker 2>the gap on Japanese trains and subways, So Gaijen may

0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.640
<v Speaker 2>be more used to you know, mere mind the gap

0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.960
<v Speaker 2>and watch for the closing doors announcements, but Japanese subway

0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.400
<v Speaker 2>and train systems are generally more proactive on this. Oftentimes

0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:49.920
<v Speaker 2>there are automatic gates in front of the gap that

0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.640
<v Speaker 2>help you know, that help make sure that people are

0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.600
<v Speaker 2>not getting too close, And then you have initiatives like this,

0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.960
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, I love him because Sukima Morey isn't just

0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.720
<v Speaker 2>a cute lax fellow to make you feel chill about

0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.760
<v Speaker 2>public transportation. He is very cute, but he could also

0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.520
<v Speaker 2>be mistaken for one of the darker Pokemon. Perhaps you

0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.800
<v Speaker 2>know some of the ghost types. But again, his whole

0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:16.399
<v Speaker 2>deal is about reminding you of the dangers of the gap,

0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.760
<v Speaker 2>so he needs to be a little bit scary, even

0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.240
<v Speaker 2>if he is not malicious. Like, I want to be clear,

0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.720
<v Speaker 2>Sukima Moury is not here to grab your children and

0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:26.840
<v Speaker 2>pull them into the gap.

0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:28.720
<v Speaker 3>I gotta say, it looks like that in some of

0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:32.119
<v Speaker 3>the pictures you've supplied below, Like he's peeking out below

0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.760
<v Speaker 3>the train with his like fingers ready as a child

0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.240
<v Speaker 3>is wandering by. It looks like he's going to snatch

0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:38.840
<v Speaker 3>the child.

0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.520
<v Speaker 2>Right. This has led to some comparisons in the West

0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.280
<v Speaker 2>to Pennywise, the dancing clown, you know, the lurking and

0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.880
<v Speaker 2>the sewer to pull children down. That is not what

0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.640
<v Speaker 2>Sukima Moury is about. Okay, he is here. He's friendly,

0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:56.480
<v Speaker 2>but he is scary because he is scaring you away

0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.200
<v Speaker 2>from the dangerous part of the train, or one of

0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:02.199
<v Speaker 2>the dangerous parts, because again, remember he is a creature

0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.399
<v Speaker 2>of the gap. His name quite literally means the gap,

0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.960
<v Speaker 2>get go. And he was created by j R. West Railways,

0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.520
<v Speaker 2>again largely a serve as a reminder for children and

0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.600
<v Speaker 2>adults and parents, kind of a nursery bogie, you know,

0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.720
<v Speaker 2>to scare kids away from the danger zone. And this

0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.480
<v Speaker 2>was in response to apparently troubling stats at the time

0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:29.879
<v Speaker 2>about gap related accidents with kids. So you know, there

0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.399
<v Speaker 2>was a real reason to roll out this mascot. It

0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.520
<v Speaker 2>wasn't just a situation where wouldn't it be cool if

0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:37.800
<v Speaker 2>we had a cute mascot. This again seemed to have

0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:39.520
<v Speaker 2>been a very mission first scenario.

0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:43.119
<v Speaker 3>We need a Jenny Green Teeth of the subways exactly.

0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.639
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. He's also really down on cell phone use on

0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.880
<v Speaker 2>the train and on the move, especially among parents who

0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.840
<v Speaker 2>should be helping their kids navigate that gap, and you know,

0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.159
<v Speaker 2>not get a footstuck or anything. We're told that he

0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.280
<v Speaker 2>does love to dance, and I love this detail. He

0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.280
<v Speaker 2>sleeps amone the many lost things in the gap, so

0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.040
<v Speaker 2>there are various images of him like sleeping around like

0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:10.199
<v Speaker 2>lost shoes and lost cell phones and so forth, like

0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.560
<v Speaker 2>sort of sleeping in the junk down there, his own

0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.000
<v Speaker 2>treasure trove. He loves declaires, So you know, you do

0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.199
<v Speaker 2>have some just sort of like neutral information about him,

0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:19.480
<v Speaker 2>and we can we can relate to that.

0:19:19.560 --> 0:19:22.560
<v Speaker 3>I guess, huh, is that like a thing people drop

0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.199
<v Speaker 3>a Claire's through the gap? I don't know.

0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.720
<v Speaker 2>I mean maybe one person dropped in a Claire and

0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.440
<v Speaker 2>he was like, this is good. I'm a fan. Now

0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:31.960
<v Speaker 2>I wait other Eclaires to be dropped into the gap.

0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:36.919
<v Speaker 2>So again, it would be unfair to Classifyzukimamori as a

0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:41.000
<v Speaker 2>malevolent force, but he's at least adjacent to dangerous realities

0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.840
<v Speaker 2>and as such, you know, he reminds me a bit

0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.320
<v Speaker 2>of past discussions of things like Jenny Green Teeth and indeed,

0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:52.320
<v Speaker 2>like the Kappa, you know, a superstitious supernatural monster to

0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.600
<v Speaker 2>warn people away from water related dangers, and in this case,

0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:57.080
<v Speaker 2>it's it's subway oriented.

0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.720
<v Speaker 3>Yes, but though as soon as I said Jenny green

0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.320
<v Speaker 3>Teeth a few moments ago, I did realize, no, that's

0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.680
<v Speaker 3>still not quite right, because Jenny green Teeth does want

0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:07.439
<v Speaker 3>to snatch the children and Sukima Mouri does not.

0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:10.760
<v Speaker 2>That's right. Yeah, The the energy here seems to be

0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:15.119
<v Speaker 2>to amuse, to entertain, but also to be a little

0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.960
<v Speaker 2>bit scary, because he is a scary but cute creature

0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.440
<v Speaker 2>that comes from a place that you should be moral,

0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.600
<v Speaker 2>weirre of and you should have a little more uncertainty about,

0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.320
<v Speaker 2>because it is like a dangerous in between zone when

0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.879
<v Speaker 2>boarding the train. So look him up. This one's There

0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.119
<v Speaker 2>are a lot of interesting posters and images of this

0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:36.720
<v Speaker 2>guy and some interesting reactions to him. But he's doing

0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.120
<v Speaker 2>good work, so I applaud him.

0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:41.720
<v Speaker 3>So say we all.

0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.560
<v Speaker 2>All right, Now this brings us to some more cultural

0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.520
<v Speaker 2>connections that we can make about our euro Kiara. So

0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.760
<v Speaker 2>most cultures have their various mythological and folkloric creatures. Obviously

0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.240
<v Speaker 2>we talk about a lot of them on the show.

0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.760
<v Speaker 2>We're always trying to drag him in from different parts

0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.840
<v Speaker 2>of the world, and it is, but it is often

0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:03.280
<v Speaker 2>observed that Japanese culture offers a particularly powerful trifecta of

0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:07.560
<v Speaker 2>cultural influences that may help us understand some of the

0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.240
<v Speaker 2>energy underlying the appeal of their mascots, of their hero

0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.880
<v Speaker 2>ki era. You know, why are they such a big

0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.560
<v Speaker 2>deal compared to other parts of the world that also

0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:20.880
<v Speaker 2>have cute, you know, imaginary beings that may be invoked

0:21:20.920 --> 0:21:24.760
<v Speaker 2>in various ad campaigns and public awareness and typical mascot

0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.520
<v Speaker 2>work and so forth. And on one hand, there is

0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:30.159
<v Speaker 2>certainly and this is you know, sit in a lot

0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.200
<v Speaker 2>a lot of sources we're looking at. There is the

0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:38.399
<v Speaker 2>polytheistic nature of Japan's Shinto religion and the presence of

0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:44.000
<v Speaker 2>supernatural kami in all things in Shintoism. So this absolutely

0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:48.160
<v Speaker 2>can't be overlooked. You know. It's it's a traditional worldview

0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.119
<v Speaker 2>in which there are multiple supernatural agents of power that

0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.320
<v Speaker 2>can reside in pretty much anything that's very sort of

0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.040
<v Speaker 2>like fast and loose. There's a lot more to Shintoism

0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:01.639
<v Speaker 2>than that, but basically, like in terms of like the

0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:06.639
<v Speaker 2>key points we might reference in understanding something as far

0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:12.160
<v Speaker 2>far more simple as Japanese mascots. Essentially, you can look

0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:16.320
<v Speaker 2>at that Shintoism as one possible leg of understanding them culturally. Now,

0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:18.480
<v Speaker 2>I think we do have to also be careful here

0:22:18.640 --> 0:22:22.199
<v Speaker 2>not to other the situation too much, because while there

0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.960
<v Speaker 2>does seem to be a uniquely Japanese emphasis in play here,

0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.679
<v Speaker 2>we can of course point to the coexistence of various mythic, folkloric,

0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:32.840
<v Speaker 2>and otherwise at least supernatural adjacent beings in various cultures,

0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:36.040
<v Speaker 2>regardless of the dominant religion or religions in that culture,

0:22:36.680 --> 0:22:40.760
<v Speaker 2>and beings from outside traditions have a way of working

0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:45.119
<v Speaker 2>their way into even those religions, at least into the periphery. Okay,

0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:47.639
<v Speaker 2>So there's Shintoism, and then, as we we've already referred

0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.359
<v Speaker 2>to several examples of this, but they're also the yokai,

0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:53.280
<v Speaker 2>which we've discussed in greater detail on the show before,

0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:58.280
<v Speaker 2>a catch all for various monsters, supernatural phenomenon and ghosts.

0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.280
<v Speaker 2>Though yuri, which are more in line with the haunting

0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.480
<v Speaker 2>ghosts of Western tradition, are kind of their own separate category.

0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:09.000
<v Speaker 2>Yokai ghosts are kind of they're more in line with

0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:11.879
<v Speaker 2>this idea of kami and that they're they're everywhere, and

0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:14.560
<v Speaker 2>they might be just completely neutral to humans, or they

0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:19.280
<v Speaker 2>might be a little bit mischievous. It just depends. So

0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:21.359
<v Speaker 2>you know, we've talked about them before. They occur in

0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:24.840
<v Speaker 2>various places throughout one's daily life, according to the traditions,

0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:30.280
<v Speaker 2>often associated with things such as bathrooms, restaurant, kitchens, alleys,

0:23:30.320 --> 0:23:32.679
<v Speaker 2>and so forth. And there's a very strong case to

0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:35.199
<v Speaker 2>be made that the Pokemon as well owe a lot

0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:38.920
<v Speaker 2>of their popularity to these traditions. And various Pokemon are

0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.880
<v Speaker 2>directly based on yokai, and some yokai and some Pokemon

0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:47.840
<v Speaker 2>are also uukiara, so you know, it's all kind of interconnected.

0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:53.600
<v Speaker 2>I should also know that we've discussed sukumogami on the

0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:56.560
<v Speaker 2>show before, household objects that are thought to become animant

0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:00.639
<v Speaker 2>through age and Japanese traditions. There seems to be this

0:24:00.800 --> 0:24:04.720
<v Speaker 2>slide towards personification, which of course ties into the very

0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:08.760
<v Speaker 2>basic human tendency to identify human like qualities and animals, plants,

0:24:08.760 --> 0:24:12.800
<v Speaker 2>and various inanimate or even non corporeal things. I think

0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:15.800
<v Speaker 2>sometimes examples like this from another culture just give us

0:24:15.840 --> 0:24:20.520
<v Speaker 2>the distance to recognize the larger global phenomena. Uh huh. Also,

0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:22.600
<v Speaker 2>kind I'm going to present as kind of like the

0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:26.800
<v Speaker 2>third leg of the tripod here potentially to understand eurokiara

0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:30.960
<v Speaker 2>as and this also ties into just sort of cuteness

0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.800
<v Speaker 2>in general in kawai. But as Eddie yl Chang points

0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:38.000
<v Speaker 2>out in the twenty eighteen article, let the Eurokiara do

0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:41.439
<v Speaker 2>the job, there's also this long standing popularity of small

0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:45.680
<v Speaker 2>things in Japanese culture, particularly the small sculpture art form

0:24:45.720 --> 0:24:50.959
<v Speaker 2>of netsuki, combined with long standing appreciation for animal forms

0:24:51.000 --> 0:24:52.159
<v Speaker 2>and cute things in general.

0:24:52.400 --> 0:24:55.280
<v Speaker 3>All Right, so you've got this sort of pyramid of

0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:59.960
<v Speaker 3>different influences that could be feeding into the EUROQR phenomena.

0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:04.480
<v Speaker 3>On one hand, the traditional Shinto beliefs about the spirits

0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:08.600
<v Speaker 3>or entities all throughout nature. On the other hand, you've

0:25:08.600 --> 0:25:11.280
<v Speaker 3>got the sort of yokai, the various sort of like

0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:14.080
<v Speaker 3>monsters or beings that we've talked about on the show.

0:25:14.400 --> 0:25:17.960
<v Speaker 3>And then also this tradition of making these cute small

0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:32.960
<v Speaker 3>sculptures like netsuki. Specifically regarding the one leg of the

0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:37.199
<v Speaker 3>tripod here of yokai, I wanted to come back to

0:25:37.280 --> 0:25:41.160
<v Speaker 3>something from an essay that I mentioned in part one.

0:25:41.359 --> 0:25:44.120
<v Speaker 3>So and the last time I talked about the essay

0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:49.000
<v Speaker 3>about Kumaman the bear or not Bear Yurukyara of the

0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:55.800
<v Speaker 3>Kumamoto Prefecture. This essay was called Kumaman, Japan's surprisingly cheeky mascot.

0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:59.280
<v Speaker 3>That was in a book called Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:04.720
<v Speaker 3>three from Rutledge, edited by Elisa Friedman. The essay was

0:26:04.720 --> 0:26:08.280
<v Speaker 3>by Deborah j Ochi, and this part that I'm about

0:26:08.320 --> 0:26:10.960
<v Speaker 3>to mention was in the context of a paragraph talking

0:26:10.960 --> 0:26:15.240
<v Speaker 3>about how urukia are sometimes deployed by authorities after large,

0:26:15.480 --> 0:26:21.119
<v Speaker 3>frightening public events. One big example is the March twenty

0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:26.280
<v Speaker 3>eleven earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear incident at Fukushima, after

0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:29.840
<v Speaker 3>which Ochi says that the number of mascots in Japan increased,

0:26:29.920 --> 0:26:33.439
<v Speaker 3>as did the perception of their healing power for the people.

0:26:34.400 --> 0:26:37.440
<v Speaker 3>And I've also read that the figure of Kumaman specifically

0:26:37.560 --> 0:26:42.000
<v Speaker 3>was widely used to comfort the public after the devastating

0:26:42.040 --> 0:26:46.480
<v Speaker 3>twenty sixteen Kumamoto earthquakes. So there's a sense that part

0:26:46.520 --> 0:26:49.439
<v Speaker 3>of the role, part of the cultural role of these

0:26:49.520 --> 0:26:54.720
<v Speaker 3>like these sort of cute, positive informal characters, is that

0:26:54.800 --> 0:26:59.199
<v Speaker 3>they help people feel better after a tragic event. On

0:26:59.320 --> 0:27:03.320
<v Speaker 3>the topic of linking kumaman to pre existing yokai, here's

0:27:03.600 --> 0:27:07.720
<v Speaker 3>the quote I wanted to discuss Ochi writes quote. During

0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:11.800
<v Speaker 3>the COVID nineteen pandemic, yurukiara were again mobilized across the

0:27:11.880 --> 0:27:16.800
<v Speaker 3>linguistic landscape, appearing on public notices and backdrops for televised

0:27:16.800 --> 0:27:23.520
<v Speaker 3>official announcements. Kumaman occasionally appeared along with his Kumamoto ancestor Amabi,

0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:29.040
<v Speaker 3>a folkloric yokai spirit associated with pandemic relief who was

0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:32.880
<v Speaker 3>also widely used. So I had to learn more about

0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:35.720
<v Speaker 3>this Amabi, and I did so by consulting the Book

0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:39.760
<v Speaker 3>of Yokai by the folklorist Michael Dylan Foster. I've talked

0:27:39.760 --> 0:27:43.080
<v Speaker 3>about this book before on the show. He is a

0:27:43.119 --> 0:27:46.800
<v Speaker 3>scholar currently affiliated with UC Davis, and the section on

0:27:46.840 --> 0:27:50.400
<v Speaker 3>the Amabi, I think it's from the expanded recent edition

0:27:50.600 --> 0:27:54.119
<v Speaker 3>of the book. So, according to Foster, the earliest image

0:27:54.160 --> 0:27:59.000
<v Speaker 3>we have of this yokai is printed on a kawaraban

0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:04.480
<v Speaker 3>broadsheet from the year eighteen forty six. Now, kooraban means

0:28:04.760 --> 0:28:08.640
<v Speaker 3>tile block printing, and it was a type of media

0:28:08.840 --> 0:28:13.840
<v Speaker 3>similar to a newspaper or a tabloid, considered very ephemeral,

0:28:13.960 --> 0:28:17.800
<v Speaker 3>so printed roughly on cheap paper, with the idea that

0:28:17.840 --> 0:28:21.159
<v Speaker 3>it would be read once and then tossed away, and

0:28:21.240 --> 0:28:24.959
<v Speaker 3>it was used in the Edo period for reporting major

0:28:25.040 --> 0:28:30.560
<v Speaker 3>news events and for reporting official announcements, but also on scandals, rumors,

0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:34.600
<v Speaker 3>and gossip, including things of a supernatural character. So you

0:28:34.680 --> 0:28:37.879
<v Speaker 3>might read about the effects of a recent typhoon, you

0:28:37.960 --> 0:28:40.160
<v Speaker 3>might read about the siege of a castle or a

0:28:40.280 --> 0:28:43.120
<v Speaker 3>murder in the city. But also you might read about

0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:45.360
<v Speaker 3>a ghost woman who turned into a giant spider.

0:28:45.720 --> 0:28:48.440
<v Speaker 2>Why not, I mean, it's basically just an extension of

0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:52.040
<v Speaker 2>your your rumor mill and your gossip columns, right, I

0:28:52.040 --> 0:28:53.680
<v Speaker 2>don't want to know what the ghost women are up

0:28:53.680 --> 0:28:54.320
<v Speaker 2>to around town.

0:28:54.640 --> 0:28:59.000
<v Speaker 3>Yes, So there is a particular eighteen forty six Korabon

0:28:59.680 --> 0:29:04.000
<v Speaker 3>prison deserved in the library of Kyoto University that includes

0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:08.520
<v Speaker 3>both a narrative and an illustration about a Kumamoto official's

0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:12.120
<v Speaker 3>encounter with a spirit from the ocean. So the text

0:29:12.280 --> 0:29:16.840
<v Speaker 3>reads as follows in translation, every night, something brightly lit

0:29:16.920 --> 0:29:20.200
<v Speaker 3>would appear in the sea of he Go, and that's

0:29:20.680 --> 0:29:24.720
<v Speaker 3>off of a present day Kumamoto Prefecture. When a local

0:29:24.760 --> 0:29:27.720
<v Speaker 3>official went out to take a look, something like what

0:29:28.000 --> 0:29:31.400
<v Speaker 3>is in the picture here appeared and said, I live

0:29:31.440 --> 0:29:34.480
<v Speaker 3>in the sea and am called Amabi. For the next

0:29:34.520 --> 0:29:38.360
<v Speaker 3>six years, there will be abundant harvests throughout the provinces,

0:29:38.760 --> 0:29:42.520
<v Speaker 3>but disease will spread. So make haste to copy an

0:29:42.520 --> 0:29:45.520
<v Speaker 3>image of me and show it to the people. So

0:29:45.720 --> 0:29:49.880
<v Speaker 3>saying it returned back into the sea. And Rob, I've

0:29:49.880 --> 0:29:53.880
<v Speaker 3>included here a photograph of this broadsheet, including the illustration.

0:29:54.040 --> 0:29:57.160
<v Speaker 3>So this is the first representation of the Amabi and

0:29:57.240 --> 0:30:00.520
<v Speaker 3>the text that showed up next to it. Now, I

0:30:00.600 --> 0:30:03.840
<v Speaker 3>was thinking, man, the face really reminds me of something,

0:30:03.880 --> 0:30:06.320
<v Speaker 3>but I was not able to figure out what it was.

0:30:06.520 --> 0:30:08.600
<v Speaker 3>Robin the notes you figured out what it was it

0:30:08.640 --> 0:30:13.440
<v Speaker 3>was reminding me of. But the Amabi is a three

0:30:13.520 --> 0:30:17.920
<v Speaker 3>legged Avian mermaid. So it's got a bird's beak, a

0:30:18.040 --> 0:30:22.240
<v Speaker 3>diamond diamond shaped eyes, though we can usually only see

0:30:22.240 --> 0:30:24.600
<v Speaker 3>one of its eyes because its head is turned in profile.

0:30:25.400 --> 0:30:29.280
<v Speaker 3>It's got long hair reaching down to her feet, and

0:30:29.800 --> 0:30:31.520
<v Speaker 3>of which there are three by the way. She has

0:30:31.560 --> 0:30:35.160
<v Speaker 3>three feet, three toes on each foot, and a body

0:30:35.280 --> 0:30:39.840
<v Speaker 3>covered in shingled rounded scales like a fish. But I

0:30:39.880 --> 0:30:42.080
<v Speaker 3>was trying to think, what does the face remind me of?

0:30:42.120 --> 0:30:44.480
<v Speaker 3>And you got it exactly what is it?

0:30:44.680 --> 0:30:46.280
<v Speaker 2>Oh? Man? I thought it was just me. But I

0:30:46.360 --> 0:30:51.480
<v Speaker 2>look at this creature and monstrous aspects of the creature aside,

0:30:51.800 --> 0:30:55.600
<v Speaker 2>I get strong Kathy vite Kathy from your caemical newspaper

0:30:55.880 --> 0:30:56.720
<v Speaker 2>cartoon section.

0:30:57.160 --> 0:31:00.320
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it's Kathy. It's the combination of like the hair

0:31:00.400 --> 0:31:01.800
<v Speaker 3>and something about the eye.

0:31:01.880 --> 0:31:05.320
<v Speaker 2>It's yeah, like Kathy has like her eyes are depicted

0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:08.560
<v Speaker 2>like so close to each other they're touching. And then yeah,

0:31:08.560 --> 0:31:10.800
<v Speaker 2>the long hair and sort of the general shape of

0:31:10.920 --> 0:31:14.360
<v Speaker 2>Kathy is also present in this creature from the sea.

0:31:14.800 --> 0:31:18.920
<v Speaker 3>So the Amabi in this illustration is not fearsome, I

0:31:18.960 --> 0:31:22.720
<v Speaker 3>will say it. Instead, it looks strange, and I think

0:31:22.760 --> 0:31:25.520
<v Speaker 3>it is supposed to look strange, but it's closer to

0:31:25.640 --> 0:31:29.440
<v Speaker 3>cute than scary. Yes, I would agree, but again the

0:31:29.480 --> 0:31:31.760
<v Speaker 3>details of the narrative. So off the coast of what

0:31:31.880 --> 0:31:34.800
<v Speaker 3>is now Kumamoto, people would see a bright light in

0:31:34.840 --> 0:31:37.360
<v Speaker 3>the darkness at night. An official goes out there to

0:31:37.400 --> 0:31:39.040
<v Speaker 3>figure out what it is. I guess he goes out

0:31:39.040 --> 0:31:42.040
<v Speaker 3>in a boat, though it doesn't say how he investigated.

0:31:42.080 --> 0:31:45.720
<v Speaker 3>I'm assuming I'm picturing a boat trip sees this three

0:31:45.800 --> 0:31:49.240
<v Speaker 3>legged avan mermaid with a beak. It says, I live

0:31:49.240 --> 0:31:51.840
<v Speaker 3>in the sea. I'm called a mobbi. You're gonna have

0:31:51.960 --> 0:31:55.000
<v Speaker 3>six years of good harvests, but you are also going

0:31:55.040 --> 0:31:58.440
<v Speaker 3>to have an epidemic of deadly disease. Share my picture

0:31:58.480 --> 0:32:02.280
<v Speaker 3>with people and the implicate that I read into it here,

0:32:02.320 --> 0:32:05.680
<v Speaker 3>and I think what it is meant is that sharing

0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:09.560
<v Speaker 3>the image will prevent the disease from spreading. And then

0:32:09.640 --> 0:32:13.640
<v Speaker 3>finally the yokai goes back underneath the waves. Now, Foster

0:32:13.720 --> 0:32:16.680
<v Speaker 3>writes that this is the first written record we have

0:32:17.000 --> 0:32:20.160
<v Speaker 3>of belief in the Amabi, but there is a very

0:32:20.160 --> 0:32:24.120
<v Speaker 3>similar being that slightly precedes it, called the Amabiko or

0:32:24.120 --> 0:32:28.480
<v Speaker 3>sometimes Amahiko, which appears in at least eleven documents from

0:32:28.520 --> 0:32:32.440
<v Speaker 3>the eighteen forties through the eighteen eighties, and Foster cites

0:32:32.440 --> 0:32:36.720
<v Speaker 3>a folklore scholar named Yumoto Koichi who argues that these

0:32:36.760 --> 0:32:40.040
<v Speaker 3>are actually the same creature and that Amabi is simply

0:32:40.080 --> 0:32:43.880
<v Speaker 3>a transcription error of the word amabiko that caught on

0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:47.960
<v Speaker 3>and then got copied done the line. So possibly the same,

0:32:48.000 --> 0:32:51.480
<v Speaker 3>possibly different, but in either case they're very similar creatures.

0:32:51.520 --> 0:32:54.080
<v Speaker 3>What's the deal with the amabiko? Some are said to

0:32:54.200 --> 0:32:56.800
<v Speaker 3>rise out of the sea, others appear in the mountains,

0:32:57.240 --> 0:33:00.160
<v Speaker 3>but they tend to give similar predictions and warnings to

0:33:00.160 --> 0:33:02.360
<v Speaker 3>what we heard in the first story. For example, there's

0:33:02.360 --> 0:33:05.920
<v Speaker 3>an eighteen forty four story of an amabiko that appears

0:33:05.920 --> 0:33:09.320
<v Speaker 3>in the Bay of Echigo and says disease is gonna

0:33:09.320 --> 0:33:12.520
<v Speaker 3>spread and seven out of ten people in Japan are

0:33:12.560 --> 0:33:15.040
<v Speaker 3>going to die. But if you look at a picture

0:33:15.080 --> 0:33:17.920
<v Speaker 3>of me, you will be spared. And then rob I've

0:33:17.920 --> 0:33:21.320
<v Speaker 3>attached a picture of what the amabiko looks like in

0:33:21.360 --> 0:33:24.800
<v Speaker 3>this eighteen forty four document. Different kind of look more

0:33:24.880 --> 0:33:27.720
<v Speaker 3>like a three legged black octopus dolphin.

0:33:28.280 --> 0:33:31.920
<v Speaker 2>Yes, I think that's an accurate description. Yeah, totally different characters. Still,

0:33:31.920 --> 0:33:36.080
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't say hmm, I wouldn't say fearsome, but I

0:33:36.400 --> 0:33:38.120
<v Speaker 2>get a far more more of a I get far

0:33:38.160 --> 0:33:41.760
<v Speaker 2>more of a neutral vibe off of this guy. I

0:33:41.800 --> 0:33:48.640
<v Speaker 2>don't know for sure if he leans more benevolent or benevolent. Yeah, different,

0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:51.800
<v Speaker 2>different sort of creature, but definitely three legs. You know.

0:33:51.840 --> 0:33:53.440
<v Speaker 2>The sort of snout is still there, so I can

0:33:53.480 --> 0:33:56.440
<v Speaker 2>see I can see the lineage between these two designs.

0:33:56.600 --> 0:34:00.000
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, ambiguous, Yeah.

0:33:59.320 --> 0:34:02.440
<v Speaker 2>But I mean by according to the story, clearly wants

0:34:02.480 --> 0:34:06.760
<v Speaker 2>to help or wants to exploit an upcoming disaster or

0:34:06.840 --> 0:34:09.680
<v Speaker 2>fear of disaster into getting people to look at pictures

0:34:09.719 --> 0:34:10.040
<v Speaker 2>of him.

0:34:10.320 --> 0:34:13.520
<v Speaker 3>Right, So a pattern emerges between these stories. There will

0:34:13.560 --> 0:34:16.239
<v Speaker 3>be an epidemic, many will die, but if you see

0:34:16.239 --> 0:34:19.319
<v Speaker 3>a picture of me, you will live. So spread this

0:34:19.400 --> 0:34:23.000
<v Speaker 3>illustration far and wide. And it's funny because this reminds

0:34:23.040 --> 0:34:25.200
<v Speaker 3>me of stuff in the modern era, like those email

0:34:25.320 --> 0:34:27.880
<v Speaker 3>forwards you would get in the early two thousands that

0:34:27.920 --> 0:34:29.960
<v Speaker 3>are like, you know, you will see a ghost in

0:34:30.000 --> 0:34:32.279
<v Speaker 3>the mirror and die three days from now unless you

0:34:32.320 --> 0:34:34.080
<v Speaker 3>send this email to ten of your friends.

0:34:34.719 --> 0:34:37.960
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because as far as I'm understanding, there's nothing really

0:34:38.080 --> 0:34:42.239
<v Speaker 2>informational in this image. It's not like study this, you know,

0:34:42.239 --> 0:34:44.799
<v Speaker 2>it's not like various big pieces of religious art, you know,

0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:48.360
<v Speaker 2>particularly I'm thinking like Tibetan Buddhism where or also you

0:34:48.400 --> 0:34:51.320
<v Speaker 2>see the examples of this in Buddhism in Japan, where

0:34:51.560 --> 0:34:54.480
<v Speaker 2>like a very complex piece has a number of messages

0:34:54.520 --> 0:34:57.120
<v Speaker 2>to convey to you about, say, how to reach meditative

0:34:57.120 --> 0:34:59.560
<v Speaker 2>states and so forth. This is just a picture of

0:34:59.640 --> 0:35:02.839
<v Speaker 2>their very simple drawing of a strange creature. And it's

0:35:02.920 --> 0:35:05.360
<v Speaker 2>just it's more like, know that I exist, see what

0:35:05.400 --> 0:35:07.720
<v Speaker 2>I look like, and that will give you an advantage

0:35:07.719 --> 0:35:08.440
<v Speaker 2>against disease.

0:35:08.760 --> 0:35:11.440
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. I don't think there's a lesson in how it looks.

0:35:11.440 --> 0:35:14.719
<v Speaker 3>I think it's just apotropeic magic. It's like seeing me

0:35:15.080 --> 0:35:18.360
<v Speaker 3>gives you magical protection against the disease that's coming.

0:35:18.760 --> 0:35:21.319
<v Speaker 2>And you know that's this good news for the viewer. Right,

0:35:21.320 --> 0:35:22.480
<v Speaker 2>It's like, what do I have to do to give

0:35:22.480 --> 0:35:25.919
<v Speaker 2>this retection? Look at a picture I'm in. Yeah, don't

0:35:25.920 --> 0:35:28.600
<v Speaker 2>even have to read anything. It's easy to do. But also,

0:35:28.719 --> 0:35:30.440
<v Speaker 2>if you want to help your friends, you better make

0:35:30.480 --> 0:35:33.000
<v Speaker 2>a copy of this picture or buy another copy of

0:35:33.000 --> 0:35:35.399
<v Speaker 2>the broadsheet and show it to them. So it has

0:35:35.480 --> 0:35:39.200
<v Speaker 2>great mimetic power because it includes its own intrinsic motivation

0:35:39.320 --> 0:35:42.799
<v Speaker 2>to spread the meme. Interesting now, according to.

0:35:42.760 --> 0:35:46.160
<v Speaker 3>Foster, the amabi and the Amabiko are not even the

0:35:46.160 --> 0:35:49.400
<v Speaker 3>only yokai that give these types of warnings and offer

0:35:49.480 --> 0:35:53.120
<v Speaker 3>protection through replication and spreading of the image. He also

0:35:53.160 --> 0:35:56.520
<v Speaker 3>cites a creature called the kudabe, which does pretty much

0:35:56.520 --> 0:36:00.600
<v Speaker 3>the same thing. There's the Jingjahime, which has the body

0:36:00.680 --> 0:36:02.840
<v Speaker 3>of a fish and the head of a woman, but

0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:06.520
<v Speaker 3>with two horns. She predicts both seven years of plenty,

0:36:06.600 --> 0:36:09.160
<v Speaker 3>but also the spread of a deadly disease, a named

0:36:09.239 --> 0:36:12.359
<v Speaker 3>disease in this case called koori, and if you draw

0:36:12.400 --> 0:36:14.680
<v Speaker 3>her picture and share it with everyone you know, they

0:36:14.719 --> 0:36:18.399
<v Speaker 3>will be spared. There's another one called the hime Uo,

0:36:18.640 --> 0:36:21.920
<v Speaker 3>which is said in an Edo based tale to have

0:36:22.000 --> 0:36:25.279
<v Speaker 3>emerged off the coast of the island of Hirado. And

0:36:25.760 --> 0:36:29.560
<v Speaker 3>interesting detail here, Foster writes, quote Hirado might have been

0:36:29.560 --> 0:36:32.520
<v Speaker 3>selected as the location for the hime Uo because it

0:36:32.600 --> 0:36:36.719
<v Speaker 3>was a distant, marginal location and also a region historically

0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:40.440
<v Speaker 3>associated with foreign ships and traders, and thus a gateway

0:36:40.520 --> 0:36:43.320
<v Speaker 3>for both prosperity and potential disease.

0:36:44.040 --> 0:36:44.600
<v Speaker 2>There you go.

0:36:45.200 --> 0:36:47.759
<v Speaker 3>So it's interesting that in the Edo period there are

0:36:47.880 --> 0:36:51.320
<v Speaker 3>lots of yokai with the power of prophecy. They're predicting

0:36:51.360 --> 0:36:56.680
<v Speaker 3>the future, often predicting disease, epidemics and plague, often predicting

0:36:56.920 --> 0:37:00.560
<v Speaker 3>bounty or both at the same time. And the image

0:37:00.600 --> 0:37:04.600
<v Speaker 3>of this creature can provide apotropaic immunity to anyone who

0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:06.880
<v Speaker 3>lays eyes on it, So you better copy it quickly

0:37:06.880 --> 0:37:09.480
<v Speaker 3>and show it to everyone you know. And these are

0:37:09.520 --> 0:37:13.960
<v Speaker 3>categorized by some scholars such as Eumoto Koichi as yoginju

0:37:14.360 --> 0:37:18.600
<v Speaker 3>or prophecy beasts, and Foster talks about the many different

0:37:18.680 --> 0:37:21.960
<v Speaker 3>kinds of motivations somebody might have to spread a story

0:37:22.040 --> 0:37:23.880
<v Speaker 3>like this. On one hand, it could just be a

0:37:23.920 --> 0:37:27.160
<v Speaker 3>desire to excite and entertain the reader, you know, it's

0:37:27.239 --> 0:37:31.080
<v Speaker 3>kind of like an interesting, entertaining story. In some cases,

0:37:31.120 --> 0:37:33.960
<v Speaker 3>it could be a simple desire to sell broad sheets.

0:37:34.880 --> 0:37:37.480
<v Speaker 3>In some cases, it could be a genuine desire to

0:37:37.560 --> 0:37:40.360
<v Speaker 3>give people the hope of protection in the face of frightening,

0:37:40.480 --> 0:37:43.000
<v Speaker 3>uncontrollable forces like infectious disease.

0:37:43.680 --> 0:37:45.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh, that's a great point, and it ties into what

0:37:45.480 --> 0:37:47.400
<v Speaker 2>we've been talking about too. Like a golden fish on

0:37:47.400 --> 0:37:50.120
<v Speaker 2>your roof is not going to actually protect you against fire,

0:37:50.600 --> 0:37:52.919
<v Speaker 2>but it gives you that sense of hope. It gives

0:37:52.920 --> 0:37:57.200
<v Speaker 2>you like this additional layer on top of knowledge of

0:37:57.239 --> 0:38:01.880
<v Speaker 2>preparation or statistics and so forth. Yeah, and you know,

0:38:01.920 --> 0:38:04.160
<v Speaker 2>I can see how that would apply to our Eurokiara

0:38:04.200 --> 0:38:06.360
<v Speaker 2>as well. You know, here's one of these cute creatures

0:38:06.360 --> 0:38:09.400
<v Speaker 2>giving me information, giving me helpful advice. But there is

0:38:09.719 --> 0:38:13.400
<v Speaker 2>an optimism to it. There's a hope intrinsic in the

0:38:13.440 --> 0:38:16.440
<v Speaker 2>design of the creature that is giving me this information.

0:38:16.880 --> 0:38:19.560
<v Speaker 3>Exactly right, and that in fact brings us back to

0:38:19.840 --> 0:38:25.480
<v Speaker 3>the Amabi's appearance during the COVID pandemic. So before twenty twenty,

0:38:25.560 --> 0:38:30.120
<v Speaker 3>the amabi was a relatively obscure okai foster it says,

0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:31.840
<v Speaker 3>you know, it probably would have only been known to

0:38:31.920 --> 0:38:35.080
<v Speaker 3>like certain types of historians or you know, like real

0:38:35.200 --> 0:38:39.280
<v Speaker 3>hobbyists or obsessives, though it did appear in some work

0:38:39.400 --> 0:38:43.600
<v Speaker 3>by the manga artist Mazuki Shigeru in the nineteen eighties.

0:38:44.280 --> 0:38:47.800
<v Speaker 3>But after news of COVID nineteen first began to spread

0:38:47.840 --> 0:38:51.920
<v Speaker 3>in early twenty twenty, the image of the amabi surged

0:38:52.000 --> 0:38:56.359
<v Speaker 3>in popularity on the Internet. Foster mentions several posts on

0:38:56.440 --> 0:38:58.920
<v Speaker 3>Twitter from February and even one at the end of

0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:03.759
<v Speaker 3>January twenty twenty that included renderings of the amabi communicated

0:39:03.800 --> 0:39:06.680
<v Speaker 3>the lore that we've just talked about, and I think

0:39:06.840 --> 0:39:11.520
<v Speaker 3>jokingly encouraged the proliferation of its image as a protective

0:39:11.560 --> 0:39:15.160
<v Speaker 3>measure against infection. And while it's pretty clear to me

0:39:15.280 --> 0:39:17.840
<v Speaker 3>that most of these posts had a spirit of irony

0:39:17.840 --> 0:39:19.879
<v Speaker 3>about them, like the use of the amabi was sort

0:39:19.920 --> 0:39:23.920
<v Speaker 3>of meant as kidding, the amabi really caught on as

0:39:23.960 --> 0:39:28.560
<v Speaker 3>a symbol of defense and vigilance against the virus both

0:39:28.640 --> 0:39:32.960
<v Speaker 3>virtually and in physical media and consumer culture. So there

0:39:33.040 --> 0:39:37.000
<v Speaker 3>was like a viral Twitter hashtag called Amabi Challenge where

0:39:37.040 --> 0:39:41.200
<v Speaker 3>people posted alongside they posted the hashtag along with like

0:39:41.600 --> 0:39:46.840
<v Speaker 3>images of homemade renderings of the merd bird, and the

0:39:47.440 --> 0:39:50.560
<v Speaker 3>Amabi imagery was also used on all kinds of products,

0:39:50.600 --> 0:39:54.239
<v Speaker 3>from like keychains, t shirts, tote bags, to rice crackers

0:39:54.239 --> 0:39:58.160
<v Speaker 3>and beer. There were actual invocations of the Amabi in

0:39:58.239 --> 0:40:02.880
<v Speaker 3>public religious rituals and prayer, and then eventually the Japanese

0:40:02.960 --> 0:40:06.839
<v Speaker 3>Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare officially produced an Amabi

0:40:07.040 --> 0:40:11.680
<v Speaker 3>logo warning people that they could spread COVID nineteen without

0:40:11.760 --> 0:40:15.680
<v Speaker 3>realizing it and advising people to take measures to limit exposure.

0:40:16.080 --> 0:40:19.000
<v Speaker 2>Ah, and you included this this this poster art for

0:40:19.120 --> 0:40:21.759
<v Speaker 2>me here in our outline, and I believe I did,

0:40:21.800 --> 0:40:24.680
<v Speaker 2>in fact see this during my travels in Japan. So

0:40:24.800 --> 0:40:27.239
<v Speaker 2>either they're still putting them up, or there's still you know,

0:40:27.320 --> 0:40:29.560
<v Speaker 2>there's still some out there that haven't been digging down,

0:40:30.120 --> 0:40:33.000
<v Speaker 2>or people keep putting them up. Yeah, because again that's

0:40:33.080 --> 0:40:35.000
<v Speaker 2>kind of the that's what you're encouraged to do with

0:40:35.040 --> 0:40:35.560
<v Speaker 2>the Amabi.

0:40:35.840 --> 0:40:40.400
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So I think it's interesting connecting this back to

0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:44.160
<v Speaker 3>the urukiara we were talking about, because both the Amabi

0:40:44.640 --> 0:40:48.799
<v Speaker 3>and kumaman were in some cases used in top down

0:40:48.840 --> 0:40:53.000
<v Speaker 3>public health messaging and in bottom up cultural processing of

0:40:53.080 --> 0:40:56.160
<v Speaker 3>events during the COVID pandemic. And I wonder if this

0:40:56.239 --> 0:40:59.960
<v Speaker 3>tells us anything about the broader role filled by urukiara

0:41:00.400 --> 0:41:03.960
<v Speaker 3>and how that relates to this yokai. I want to

0:41:03.960 --> 0:41:07.160
<v Speaker 3>read a passage from Foster here. Foster writes, quote the

0:41:07.160 --> 0:41:12.200
<v Speaker 3>Amabi's sudden rise exemplifies the eloquent adaptability of yokai, with

0:41:12.320 --> 0:41:16.080
<v Speaker 3>perfect ease and no contradiction. The Amabi straddles life and

0:41:16.160 --> 0:41:20.640
<v Speaker 3>death concerns like COVID nineteen and lighthearted fun t shirts

0:41:20.640 --> 0:41:26.080
<v Speaker 3>and beer, vernacular creativity, individuals circulating their own versions and

0:41:26.360 --> 0:41:31.799
<v Speaker 3>institutional promotion a government icon, heartfelt belief in religious ceremonies,

0:41:32.120 --> 0:41:37.160
<v Speaker 3>and rampant commodification in charms and key chains. So he

0:41:37.280 --> 0:41:40.080
<v Speaker 3>notes that this kind of goes along with the fact

0:41:40.120 --> 0:41:44.400
<v Speaker 3>that beliefs about yokai seem to thrive in the context

0:41:44.480 --> 0:41:48.200
<v Speaker 3>of uncertainty, as like a way of coping with mysterious

0:41:48.280 --> 0:41:51.879
<v Speaker 3>threats and questions that can't be answered or can't yet

0:41:51.920 --> 0:41:54.799
<v Speaker 3>be answered. I think we can all recall those like

0:41:54.880 --> 0:41:57.040
<v Speaker 3>early months of the pandemic when there was just like

0:41:57.160 --> 0:41:59.879
<v Speaker 3>so much uncertainty and we just didn't you know, there's

0:42:00.120 --> 0:42:03.760
<v Speaker 3>just like so much not knowing what to do, and

0:42:04.120 --> 0:42:08.240
<v Speaker 3>so the beliefs of this kind sort of provide people

0:42:08.280 --> 0:42:11.800
<v Speaker 3>a sense of control in some way. And while the

0:42:12.520 --> 0:42:17.040
<v Speaker 3>traditional apotropaic use of the amabi image may have been

0:42:17.200 --> 0:42:21.399
<v Speaker 3>interpreted as like literally efficacious in protecting against disease back

0:42:21.400 --> 0:42:24.040
<v Speaker 3>in the day, the way I'm reading it is that

0:42:24.239 --> 0:42:26.320
<v Speaker 3>I think the majority of the use in the early

0:42:26.360 --> 0:42:30.680
<v Speaker 3>months of twenty twenty was more playful and symbolic. Not

0:42:30.840 --> 0:42:33.600
<v Speaker 3>that most people sharing it thought that it would literally

0:42:33.760 --> 0:42:38.000
<v Speaker 3>mechanistically prevent the virus from entering and infecting their tissues,

0:42:38.600 --> 0:42:42.839
<v Speaker 3>but that it actually would do something, because of course,

0:42:42.920 --> 0:42:45.560
<v Speaker 3>on one hand, would provide a type of psychological comfort

0:42:45.640 --> 0:42:49.560
<v Speaker 3>and that feeling of control over an uncontrollable situation, but

0:42:49.800 --> 0:42:54.680
<v Speaker 3>also that by spreading the image of the okai you

0:42:54.760 --> 0:42:58.920
<v Speaker 3>were increasing front of mind public consciousness of the virus,

0:42:58.960 --> 0:43:02.000
<v Speaker 3>which meant people would be more likely to take actual

0:43:02.200 --> 0:43:05.920
<v Speaker 3>direct steps to limit contagion. And it strikes me that

0:43:06.920 --> 0:43:09.960
<v Speaker 3>apart from messaging about the pandemic, you're a kiara like

0:43:10.040 --> 0:43:13.479
<v Speaker 3>kumaman have a similar dual function. There's like, on one hand

0:43:13.480 --> 0:43:16.279
<v Speaker 3>you have emotional comfort, and then on the other hand

0:43:16.320 --> 0:43:20.640
<v Speaker 3>you have information consciousness, and that could mean either spreading

0:43:20.680 --> 0:43:24.160
<v Speaker 3>information directly, like telling you something you don't know, or

0:43:24.280 --> 0:43:27.880
<v Speaker 3>increasing the salience of information you already have, making you

0:43:28.000 --> 0:43:29.239
<v Speaker 3>think about what you do know.

0:43:30.400 --> 0:43:32.160
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean it's enough to if you wanted to

0:43:32.200 --> 0:43:34.919
<v Speaker 2>go all ancient astronauts on this, you could say that

0:43:35.239 --> 0:43:38.719
<v Speaker 2>Amabe was an actual visitor from space and or the

0:43:38.760 --> 0:43:44.640
<v Speaker 2>ocean did realize that that information is one of the

0:43:44.719 --> 0:43:49.120
<v Speaker 2>key tools you can use against pandemics, and was like, hey,

0:43:49.200 --> 0:43:52.239
<v Speaker 2>start spreading images of me in response to illness. It's

0:43:52.239 --> 0:43:53.879
<v Speaker 2>not going to really pay off right away, but there

0:43:53.880 --> 0:43:57.560
<v Speaker 2>will come a time where this could make some small difference.

0:43:57.880 --> 0:44:00.839
<v Speaker 2>But anyway, obviously I love this idea that you know,

0:44:00.840 --> 0:44:05.440
<v Speaker 2>these various euroka ara much like these older forms. You

0:44:05.480 --> 0:44:09.120
<v Speaker 2>know that again they have the information, they also have

0:44:09.200 --> 0:44:13.040
<v Speaker 2>this emotional comfort like you've been discussing that brings with it,

0:44:13.120 --> 0:44:15.800
<v Speaker 2>you know, sort of cuteness and hope all sort of

0:44:15.840 --> 0:44:19.560
<v Speaker 2>tied together in a package. And I wish there was

0:44:19.600 --> 0:44:22.000
<v Speaker 2>more of this in the world, you know, because aside

0:44:22.040 --> 0:44:24.960
<v Speaker 2>from messaging aim directly at children, I feel like so

0:44:25.120 --> 0:44:27.480
<v Speaker 2>much of the more serious messaging out there, at least

0:44:27.520 --> 0:44:30.200
<v Speaker 2>in the US, is it's just purely fear based, or

0:44:30.200 --> 0:44:32.960
<v Speaker 2>at least that's how it often feels to me. You know,

0:44:33.040 --> 0:44:35.040
<v Speaker 2>sometimes there's this layer of hope to it, or an

0:44:35.040 --> 0:44:37.839
<v Speaker 2>image of like a smiling adult where it's like, oh,

0:44:37.920 --> 0:44:40.759
<v Speaker 2>this is what happiness looks like, this is what this

0:44:40.840 --> 0:44:44.440
<v Speaker 2>is what protection looks like, or so forth, or you know,

0:44:44.480 --> 0:44:46.720
<v Speaker 2>the hope is wrapped up in the purchase of something

0:44:46.719 --> 0:44:49.399
<v Speaker 2>that's going to protect you from the scary thing. And

0:44:49.440 --> 0:44:51.520
<v Speaker 2>I don't know, I would rather live in a culture

0:44:51.560 --> 0:44:54.440
<v Speaker 2>of cuteness and hope than a culture of fear. I

0:44:54.680 --> 0:44:57.759
<v Speaker 2>feel like we could overall, we could all push things

0:44:57.800 --> 0:45:00.600
<v Speaker 2>a little more towards hope and cuteness from just the

0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:02.560
<v Speaker 2>pure fear. I mean, the fear is always going to

0:45:02.600 --> 0:45:05.480
<v Speaker 2>be there. The cuteness and the hope doesn't erase that fear.

0:45:05.960 --> 0:45:08.320
<v Speaker 2>But you know, if it makes it feel a little

0:45:08.320 --> 0:45:11.719
<v Speaker 2>like if your experience going to the subway is is

0:45:11.840 --> 0:45:14.440
<v Speaker 2>less like, don't you dare get near the gap because

0:45:14.440 --> 0:45:17.120
<v Speaker 2>you'll be torn in half, you know, less shake hands

0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:20.680
<v Speaker 2>with danger and more Urukiara. Sorry, it's a bit of

0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:21.319
<v Speaker 2>a rant there.

0:45:22.719 --> 0:45:26.520
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, there's a difference between taking proper precautions and

0:45:27.320 --> 0:45:28.760
<v Speaker 3>wallowing in fear.

0:45:28.960 --> 0:45:32.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, and realizing that that kind of messaging, that

0:45:32.840 --> 0:45:36.640
<v Speaker 2>sort of leveling of the message can apply to everybody

0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:38.400
<v Speaker 2>and not just children, you know, and you can do

0:45:38.440 --> 0:45:41.320
<v Speaker 2>it in a way that's also not you know, sugarcoating anything.

0:45:41.440 --> 0:45:43.000
<v Speaker 2>Or maybe you are sugarcoating it a little bit, but

0:45:43.000 --> 0:45:46.640
<v Speaker 2>they're still medicine in the middle. Yeah, all right, we're

0:45:46.640 --> 0:45:48.359
<v Speaker 2>gonna go ahead and close out this episode, but we'd

0:45:48.400 --> 0:45:50.759
<v Speaker 2>love to hear from everyone out there. What are your

0:45:50.840 --> 0:45:55.879
<v Speaker 2>experiences with Urukiara, with the lax mascots, what are your

0:45:55.880 --> 0:45:58.960
<v Speaker 2>favorites right in because we'd love to hear from you.

0:45:59.360 --> 0:46:01.000
<v Speaker 2>Just a reminder, This Stuff to Blow Your Mind is

0:46:01.040 --> 0:46:03.800
<v Speaker 2>primarily a science and culture podcast with core episodes on

0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:07.600
<v Speaker 2>Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays we do a short form episode.

0:46:07.719 --> 0:46:10.799
<v Speaker 2>On Fridays we do Weird House Cinema. You can get

0:46:10.840 --> 0:46:13.520
<v Speaker 2>all of this any Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed.

0:46:13.719 --> 0:46:17.400
<v Speaker 3>Huge, thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.

0:46:17.719 --> 0:46:19.319
<v Speaker 3>If you would like to get in touch with us

0:46:19.320 --> 0:46:21.840
<v Speaker 3>with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

0:46:21.840 --> 0:46:23.920
<v Speaker 3>a topic for the future, or just to say hello.

0:46:24.040 --> 0:46:26.600
<v Speaker 3>You can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

0:46:26.600 --> 0:46:34.960
<v Speaker 3>your Mind dot com.

0:46:35.040 --> 0:46:38.000
<v Speaker 1>Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

0:46:38.080 --> 0:46:40.880
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:46:41.000 --> 0:46:57.600
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

0:47:00.040 --> 0:47:00.160
<v Speaker 2>FO