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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My

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Speaker 1: name is Joe McCormick. Today is Saturday, so we're heading

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Speaker 1: into the vault for an older episode of Stuff to

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Speaker 1: Blow Your Mind. This one originally aired July eleventh, twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four, and it is part two of our series

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Speaker 1: on the Yurukiara Japanese mascots.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, the production

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Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 3: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My

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Speaker 3: name is Robert Lamb.

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Speaker 1: And I am Joe McCormick, and we're back with part

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Speaker 1: two of our series on Urukiara, the lovable wobbly mascot

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Speaker 1: characters of Japan. Now, if you haven't heard part one yet,

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Speaker 1: you should go back and listen to that episode first.

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Speaker 1: In that one, we talked about the origins of the

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Speaker 1: uru our concept. Rob shared some of his experiences with

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Speaker 1: these characters on a recent trip to Japan, and we

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Speaker 1: talked about a couple of our favorite examples, including the

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Speaker 1: Kuma Moto mascot, a real megastar called Kuma Man, which

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Speaker 1: looks like a bear but apparently is not a bear.

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Speaker 1: You'll listen to the episode, you'll understand and then the

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Speaker 1: more obscure park associated mascot Hako Geo, and we're back

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Speaker 1: today to talk about some more.

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Speaker 3: That's right, Okay, So my last selection was more emotional

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Speaker 3: than I guess substantially interesting to everybody. But this next one,

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Speaker 3: I think is even more fascinating because it does include

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Speaker 3: ties into mythology and architecture. So this is one that

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Speaker 3: I definitely got to observe in the wild. So me

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Speaker 3: and my family were big studio Ghibli fans. Of course,

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Speaker 3: we made our way to visit Ghibli Park during our

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Speaker 3: trip to Japan, so we spent two nights in Nagoya

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Speaker 3: to do so, and while traveling on the Nagoya Municipal Subway,

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Speaker 3: we frequently encountered helpful signs that featured its mascot. It's

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Speaker 3: aficial mascot, Hatchie. Hatchie is well, I would say to

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Speaker 3: the uninformed Guidjin eye. Hat Schie is a humanoid uniform

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Speaker 3: Nagoya City Subway employee, but his head is a golden

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Speaker 3: fish with a human cartoon face, complete with fins on

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Speaker 3: the side and an upward cresting tail on the back

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Speaker 3: of the head.

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Speaker 1: So when you say he has a fish head, you

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Speaker 1: were not saying his head is the head of a fish.

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Speaker 1: You're saying his head is an entire fish.

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Speaker 3: Right, but like you know, kind of like a flat

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Speaker 3: face fish with like a cartoon human nose. So there's

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Speaker 3: there's something interesting going on here. But at the very least,

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Speaker 3: you can say a subway employee with a fish for

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Speaker 3: a head.

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Speaker 1: A human bodied subway employee with a fish for a head,

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Speaker 1: but the fish for a head has a human face.

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Speaker 3: Correct. Yeah, so already I'm on board, right, I mean,

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Speaker 3: he's cute, he's a bit weird, shown up and given

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Speaker 3: me helpful advice. You know, it often brings attention to

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Speaker 3: important signage or in particular the glass kind of like

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Speaker 3: glass paned doors in between subway cars. I found that

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Speaker 3: they had stickers on there, I guess to keep people

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Speaker 3: from bonking into them if they were you know too,

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Speaker 3: if they were free of smudges and so forth.

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Speaker 1: As someone who has more than once in my life

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Speaker 1: walked straight into a glass door, I appreciate that.

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Speaker 3: But this is where things get even cooler. So it's

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Speaker 3: not merely a fish that is serving as his head.

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Speaker 3: Hatschi has a shachi hoko or shachi for a head.

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Speaker 3: So what is this? Well, in Japanese mythology, this is

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Speaker 3: a fearsome sea monster, often described as a great fish

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Speaker 3: with either the head of a tiger or of a dragon.

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Speaker 3: It's also sometimes compared to a dolphin or an orca,

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Speaker 3: and shachi actually apparently means orca in Japanese. Now, the

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Speaker 3: origins of this mythical creature ex seemingly extend back through

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Speaker 3: Chinese and Vedic influences, namely connecting to the chai Win

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Speaker 3: and the Makara in those different mythologies, both creatures that

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Speaker 3: were often used as rooftop guardian sculptures, so comparable in

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Speaker 3: some ways to like a gargoyle in the West. Okay,

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Speaker 3: though some sources still when talking about the shatshi go

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Speaker 3: with more of a literal. This was modeled after a

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Speaker 3: killer whale. But as we often discussed in the show,

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Speaker 3: monsters are generally born of like multiple reference points. There

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Speaker 3: can be a lot of different things going on when

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Speaker 3: a monster has created wholesale, or when it makes the

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Speaker 3: journey from one culture into another, and then add you know,

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Speaker 3: one hundred two hundred years or more on top of that.

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Speaker 3: So the sashi joko, this golden fish with upturned tail

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Speaker 3: is frequently found as a traditional Japanese architectural flourish, so

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Speaker 3: great golden fish upward tail generally gleaming gold in appearance,

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Speaker 3: and traditionally employed as a means of supernatural fire prevention,

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Speaker 3: because because the mythical fish here was said to hold

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Speaker 3: water in its belly and it could control the rain,

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Speaker 3: So you know, you can think of this as an

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Speaker 3: invocation of a protective spirit while you're doing other things

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Speaker 3: as well, of course, to try and keep fires from

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Speaker 3: getting out of hand and burning down buildings or districts.

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Speaker 1: Almost like a symbolic sprinkler system.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but why on the subway, you might ask. Well,

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Speaker 3: the main reason is because Nigoya's historic Nigoya Castle, originally

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Speaker 3: built in sixteen ten, partially destroyed in nineteen forty five,

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Speaker 3: and sort of continually restored since nineteen fifty seven, prominently

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Speaker 3: features a golden satchi on the roof, and I included

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Speaker 3: a picture of one here for you, Joe and everyone

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Speaker 3: out there. You can look these up as well. The

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Speaker 3: English for this word is shachi.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay so am I understanding this image correctly? If

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at it right. The fish's face is not

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Speaker 1: facing out from the roof. It's turned inward along the

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Speaker 1: roof line, and the fish is sort of waving its

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Speaker 1: tail out toward the rest of the world.

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Speaker 3: That's correct, yes, and pretty much. I think all the

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Speaker 3: times that I saw it utilized while I was over

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Speaker 3: there and just looking around at various pictures, that that

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Speaker 3: seems to be the standard.

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Speaker 1: Interesting. I guess when I imagine artistic conventions of representing

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Speaker 1: like an animal or a creature on the outside of

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Speaker 1: a building, I would always have thought of it as

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Speaker 1: having the face facing out. But there's no reason it

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Speaker 1: has to be that way.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And the front half of the creature is very impressive.

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Speaker 3: Again in these statues, it's very much of like a

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Speaker 3: dragonoid sort of head. You know, even I can see

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Speaker 3: the tiger associations, and also you can sort of see

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Speaker 3: roughly okay, I can imagine an orca or dolphin standing

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Speaker 3: in for this creature. Now on top of that, you know,

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Speaker 3: I guess we can also acknowledge that subway fires are

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Speaker 3: certainly always a possibility, So I imagine you could also make

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Speaker 3: a case for employing a mythological creature associated with fire

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Speaker 3: prevention against subway fires, or maybe more generally again unwanted

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Speaker 3: safety related scenarios in general, you know, like it's employed

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Speaker 3: on buildings as a protective spirit to help protect against

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Speaker 3: like sort of worst case scenarios. And likewise, in the subway,

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Speaker 3: our friend here, the mascot hot sheet is here to help.

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Speaker 1: Just looking at this fellow, I cannot help but feel assured.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, he's very lovable. I highly recommend if you're interested

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Speaker 3: look him up. It's generally spelled h A t chi

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Speaker 3: I in English, or just look for Nagoya Municipal Subway

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Speaker 3: mascot and you'll find him.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you ready to talk about my next selection? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, here you got a very interesting choice. Is not

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Speaker 3: one that was that I was familiar with?

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Speaker 1: Well, so, I think the most interesting thing about the

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Speaker 1: uukiara I'm about to talk about is that it is

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Speaker 1: the only one I'm aware of. There may be others

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Speaker 1: that have escaped to my attention. That is a successful

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Speaker 1: usurper king so I mentioned in the last episode coming

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Speaker 1: across Awesome mascot who was said to be a big

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Speaker 1: fan of heavy metal music, which it seems incongruous with

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Speaker 1: the vibe of most of these mascots, Like what soft

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Speaker 1: toddling character of this kind could be a metal head.

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Speaker 1: The answer is it's Funasi, the unofficial mascot of Funubashi, Chiba.

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Speaker 1: Now you might wonder unofficial. How does a city end

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Speaker 1: up with an unofficial mascot? So I was reading about

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Speaker 1: this in a couple of blog posts, one on a

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Speaker 1: Kawhi culture site called You May Twins, and also on

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Speaker 1: the Mondo Mascots blog. WHEB, I think you name dropped

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Speaker 1: this one in the last episode, didn't you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. It's a great resource, especially if you just want

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Speaker 3: to overload on images of various mascots and eventually like learn,

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Speaker 3: like what they represent.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so the short story is that in the

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Speaker 1: year twenty thirteen, Funubashi City decided to get in on

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Speaker 1: the mascot hype and created its own official character. This

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Speaker 1: character was called Funeimon, who was widely considered by locals

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Speaker 1: to be excruciatingly bland and boring. Rob. I will let

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Speaker 1: you judge for yourself. Here I've included a picture. This

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Speaker 1: is a Funeimon on the right. He is described in

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Speaker 1: most of the sources I could find as an Edo

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Speaker 1: period salaryman or Edo period merchant. He's wearing typical clothing

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Speaker 1: for the period and glasses, and I have to agree

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Speaker 1: it is not a thrilling design. It's also not even

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Speaker 1: super cute. It's just like an adult guy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it just looks like somebody's dad. Who's you know,

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Speaker 3: I'm pretty cool dad. But as a mascot for the city,

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So, in rebellion against this uninspiring official mascot, the

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Speaker 1: people of Funabashi City elevated I think a pre existing character.

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Speaker 1: This character is a hyperactive sentient pair named Funasi, who

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Speaker 1: was born in a pair orchard and loves headbanging Ozzy

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Speaker 1: Osbourne Fvnasi seems to have an appetite for extreme experiences

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Speaker 1: and thrill seeking, and also allegedly sustained an injury while

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Speaker 1: participating in a luchador exhibition in Mexico in twenty sixteen. Now,

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Speaker 1: for whoever's writing this character's sort of backstory, As we

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Speaker 1: mentioned in the last episode, a lot of these mascot

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Speaker 1: characters have more extensive personal histories and backstories and sort

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Speaker 1: of storylines than you might expect. You know, we talked

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Speaker 1: last time about the ones that were falling in love

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Speaker 1: with each other and all that stuff, but so this

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Speaker 1: one really likes getting into extreme experiences and you know,

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Speaker 1: the loud headbanging and all that. And I wonder if

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Speaker 1: that is, in fact a reaction to the fact that

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Speaker 1: this character filled the void of a character who was

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Speaker 1: perceived to be too boring.

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Speaker 3: Hmmm, yeah, I can see that being the case. Maybe

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Speaker 3: combine that with some of this sort of attention seeking,

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Speaker 3: arguably at times out of control, enthusiasm for these various mascots.

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Speaker 3: You know, I was reading about about one the other day.

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Speaker 3: In fact, it was the one that was prominently featured

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Speaker 3: on John Oliver. How that particular mascot kind of got

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Speaker 3: into a little bit of trouble based on just sort

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Speaker 3: of being a little bit too aggressive and a bit

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Speaker 3: too extreme and it's stunts.

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Speaker 1: That's not the same one, is it.

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Speaker 3: It was different one.

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Speaker 1: Oh okay, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Different one. But I'm saying it seems like there's there

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Speaker 3: is a line somewhere in there where you could go

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Speaker 3: too far. But I guess Funasi's doing it right. I

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Speaker 3: looked up Funasi and wrestling to see, okay, well, what

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Speaker 3: is he doing? Where has he been engaging with like

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Speaker 3: Lucha Libre or whatever? And I couldn't find many immediate answers.

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Speaker 3: But I did see some clips of him being like

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Speaker 3: thrown and flung around by some pretty big name Japanese

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Speaker 3: professional wrestlers, So you know he's he's getting out there.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think he's having official matches. He's

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Speaker 3: getting out there carpet m all right. The next one

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Speaker 3: I want to cover here is terreb tosin Aka Father

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Speaker 3: Television a Kaido Prefecture. This guy. I included a picture

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Speaker 3: of him before you here, Joe, tell me what you

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Speaker 3: get off of just an initial look here at terreb Toasin.

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Speaker 3: What do you say? What do you think he is?

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Speaker 1: He is a red thing almost maybe like an upturned

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Speaker 1: flower pot for a head, a sort of a slightly

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Speaker 1: you know, like a upside down flower pot with a

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Speaker 1: little bit of soft corners on it, with a face.

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Speaker 1: The face looks very jolly hit, you know, a big,

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Speaker 1: big smile on the face. It has the best kind

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Speaker 1: of mustache, which is just four hairs, and then has

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Speaker 1: a sort of I don't know, a black spike reaching

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Speaker 1: up from the top of his head, which almost suggests

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Speaker 1: a piece of fruit, you know, like an apple has

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Speaker 1: a stem. Maybe it's a piece of fruit with a

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Speaker 1: stem poking off and then oh, also, so if his

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Speaker 1: head and body is an upturned clay flower flower pot,

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Speaker 1: he has two legs underneath that are right side up

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Speaker 1: clay flower pots of a smaller size, and then sort

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Speaker 1: of a green loin cloth. That that's what I get.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I looked at him and I instantly thought

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Speaker 3: like maybe pepper, like, maybe he's a hot pepper or

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Speaker 3: other kind of a yeah, vegetable or fruit. I showed

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Speaker 3: a picture of him to my wife and she was like,

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Speaker 3: I think he's a traffic cone. Also, I think a

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Speaker 3: valid guess.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's good.

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Speaker 3: But the reality here, and this makes sense once you

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Speaker 3: see the images side by side, is he's designed to

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Speaker 3: resemble the Supporo TV tower, and once once you see it,

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Speaker 3: you're like, okay, I can see it now. With the like,

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Speaker 3: he's very vaguely tower shaped. The tower in question has

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Speaker 3: this kind of like green band structure around the lower

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Speaker 3: portion of it that has been transformed into a belt

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Speaker 3: in his mascot form. And then that black apparatus on

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Speaker 3: the top of his head, well, that's those are the

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Speaker 3: upper extremes of the television tower itself.

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Speaker 1: I see, yes, now, so I like that.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's like a journey to for at least

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Speaker 3: for someone like me to figure out what he is.

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Speaker 3: But I was looking into it more, and I think

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Speaker 3: part of the appeal of this guy is that his

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Speaker 3: name in Japanese also has there's like a pun involved here,

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Speaker 3: like mister television tower, which does not translate all that well.

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Speaker 3: But I was instantly amused as well because someone's for

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Speaker 3: me ideas of TV as this kind of like stand

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Speaker 3: in parent or teacher, you know, father television. And it

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Speaker 3: also reminds me of that old Simpson's line from Treehouse

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Speaker 3: of Horror Television teacher mother, secret lover.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, are you kids hugging the TV?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's father television. He just has the

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Speaker 3: best of intentions for us. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I like this one. He seems sage and redolent with pleasure.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's not a lot to him, I admit,

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Speaker 3: But it's another example of like what they can be

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Speaker 3: born of. They can be born of local landmarks, you know,

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Speaker 3: architectural touches and so forth. But the next one I

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Speaker 3: want to mention is interesting because it seems to be

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Speaker 3: very mission oriented, Like this is a Yuri kiara that

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Speaker 3: was dreamt up that was designed in order to fulfill

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Speaker 3: a particular objective in reaching the masses and conveying some

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Speaker 3: very important safety ideas.

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Speaker 1: Oh, I'm intrigued. Who is it? All right?

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Speaker 3: This one is Zukimi moriy So this is another one.

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Speaker 3: I'm fairly certain that I got to see this one

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Speaker 3: in the wild because we were in Osaka. That's where

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Speaker 3: this one is utilized. Osaka is a really fun city though,

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Speaker 3: but and we had a little harder time navigating ourselves

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Speaker 3: on the public transportation, so I wasn't as on the

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Speaker 3: ball about like getting pictures and chronicling him. But basically,

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Speaker 3: this is a large, slightly scary purple and pink creature

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Speaker 3: with a single glowing eye with a yellow pupil, and

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Speaker 3: he lives in the gap in the subway stations.

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Speaker 1: Oh my lord, Rob, I was trying to think, what

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Speaker 1: does he remind me of? And he looks like a

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Speaker 1: purple version of the monsters from the Green Slime.

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Speaker 3: He really does. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a sense of

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Speaker 3: the Green Slime to him. If we were to see

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Speaker 3: him animated, I bet he would have some very Miyazaki

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Speaker 3: esque elements. He kind of reminds me of cat bus

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Speaker 3: a few times, but like a darkness cat bus. And

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Speaker 3: so his mission here is And there are a lot

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Speaker 3: of I think objectively cute signs warning people of all ages,

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Speaker 3: but especially children, about the dangers of closing doors and

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Speaker 3: the gap on Japanese trains and subways. So gaijen may

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Speaker 3: be more used to you know meor mind the gap

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Speaker 3: and watch for the closing doors announcements, but Japanese subway

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Speaker 3: and train systems are generally more proactive on this. Oftentimes

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Speaker 3: there are automatic gates in front of the gap that

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Speaker 3: help you know, that help make sure that people are

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Speaker 3: not getting too close, and then you have initiatives like this,

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Speaker 3: and uh yeah, I love him because Sukima Moury isn't

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Speaker 3: just a cute lax fellow to make you feel chill

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Speaker 3: about public transportation. He is very cute, but he could

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Speaker 3: also be mistaken for one of the darker pokemon, perhaps

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Speaker 3: you know some of the ghost types. But again, his

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Speaker 3: whole deal is about reminding you of the dangers of

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Speaker 3: the gap, so he needs to be a little bit scary,

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Speaker 3: even if he is not malicious. Like I want to

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Speaker 3: be clear, Soukima Moury is not here to grab your

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Speaker 3: children and pull them into the gap.

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Speaker 1: I gotta say it looks like that in some of

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Speaker 1: the pictures you've supplied below, like he's peeking out below

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Speaker 1: the train with his like fingers ready as a child

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Speaker 1: is wandering by. It looks like he's going to snatch

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Speaker 1: the child, right.

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Speaker 3: This has led to some comparisons in the West to

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Speaker 3: Penny Wise, the dancing clown, you know, the lur king

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Speaker 3: and the sewer to pull children down. That is not

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Speaker 3: what Suki memory is about. Okay, he is here. He's friendly,

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Speaker 3: but he is scary because he is scaring you away

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Speaker 3: from the danger dangerous part of the train, or one

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Speaker 3: of the dangerous parts. Because again remember he is a

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Speaker 3: creature of the gap. His name quite literally means the gap,

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Speaker 3: get go. And he was created by j R. West Railways,

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Speaker 3: again largely to serve as a reminder for children and

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Speaker 3: adults and parents, kind of a nursery bogie, you know,

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Speaker 3: to scare kids away from from the danger zone. And

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Speaker 3: this was in response to apparently troubling stats at the

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Speaker 3: time about gap related accidents with kids. So you know,

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Speaker 3: there is a real reason to roll out this mascot.

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00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:01,760
Speaker 3: It wasn't just situation where wouldn't it be cool if

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00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:04,080
Speaker 3: we had a cute mascot. This again seemed to have

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Speaker 3: been a very mission first scenario.

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00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:09,359
Speaker 1: We need a jinny green teeth of the subways exactly.

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00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,879
Speaker 3: Yeah. He's also really down on cell phone use on

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00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,080
Speaker 3: the train and on the move, especially among parents who

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00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,080
Speaker 3: should be helping their kids navigate that gap, and you know,

340
00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,399
Speaker 3: not get a footstuck or anything. We're told that he

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00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,520
Speaker 3: does love to dance, and I love this detail. He

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00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,520
Speaker 3: sleeps among the many lost things in the gap, so

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00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 3: there are various images of him like sleeping around like

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00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:36,439
Speaker 3: lost shoes and lost cell phones and so forth, like

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00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,760
Speaker 3: sort of sleeping in the junk down there, his own

346
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,199
Speaker 3: treasure trove. He loves declaires, So you know, you do

347
00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:44,439
Speaker 3: have some just sort of like neutral information about him,

348
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Speaker 3: and we can we can relate to that.

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Speaker 1: I guess, huh is that like a thing people drop

350
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Speaker 1: a Claire's through the gap?

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Speaker 3: I don't know. I mean maybe one person dropped in

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Speaker 3: a Claire and he was like, this is good. I'm

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00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,600
Speaker 3: a fan. Now I wait other Eclaires to be dropped

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00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:01,480
Speaker 3: into the gap. So again, it would be unfair to

355
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Speaker 3: classify Zukima Moury as a malevolent force, but he's at

356
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 3: least adjacent to dangerous realities and as such, you know,

357
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Speaker 3: he reminds me a bit of past discussions of things

358
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Speaker 3: like Jenny Green Teeth and indeed like the Kappa, you know,

359
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:20,240
Speaker 3: a superstitious, supernatural monster to warn people away from water

360
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,320
Speaker 3: related dangers. And in this case it's it's subway oriented.

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Speaker 1: Yes, But though as soon as I said Jenny green

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Speaker 1: Teeth a few moments ago, I did realize, no, that's

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00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,880
Speaker 1: still not quite right, because Jenny green Teeth does want

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Speaker 1: to snatch the children and Sukima Moury does not.

365
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,879
Speaker 3: That's right. Yeah, The the the energy here seems to

366
00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:41,080
Speaker 3: be to amuse, to entertain, but also to be a

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00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 3: little bit scary, because he is a scary but cute

368
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Speaker 3: creature that comes from a place that you should be

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Speaker 3: more aware of and you should have a little more

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Speaker 3: uncertainty about, because it is like a dangerous in between

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Speaker 3: zone when boarding the train. So look him up. This

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00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,120
Speaker 3: one's There are a lot of interesting posters and images

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00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,439
Speaker 3: of this guy, and so interesting reactions to him. But

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00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,000
Speaker 3: he's doing good work, so I applaud him. So say

375
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:09,119
Speaker 3: we all all right now, this brings us to some

376
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:12,679
Speaker 3: more cultural connections that we can make about our euro kiara.

377
00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,640
Speaker 3: So most cultures have their various mythological and folkloric creatures.

378
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,480
Speaker 3: Obviously we talk about a lot of them on the show.

379
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 3: We're always trying to drag them in from different parts

380
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,080
Speaker 3: of the world, and it is, but it is often

381
00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:29,520
Speaker 3: observed that Japanese culture offers a particularly powerful trifecta of

382
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,800
Speaker 3: cultural influences that may help us understand some of the

383
00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 3: energy underlying the appeal of their mascots, of their euro kiara.

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Speaker 3: You know, why are they such a big deal compared

385
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Speaker 3: to other parts of the world that also have cute,

386
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,560
Speaker 3: you know, imaginary beings that may be invoked in various

387
00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 3: ad campaigns and public awareness and typical mascot work and

388
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,159
Speaker 3: so forth. And on one hand, that there is certainly

389
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 3: and this is you know, sit in a a lot

390
00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,200
Speaker 3: of sources we're looking at. There is the polytheist stick

391
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:05,560
Speaker 3: nature of Japan's Shinto religion and the presence of supernatural

392
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Speaker 3: kami in all things in Shintoism. So this absolutely can't

393
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 3: be overlooked. You know, it's a traditional worldview in which

394
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 3: there are multiple supernatural agents of power, that can reside

395
00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:22,359
Speaker 3: in pretty much anything that's very sort of like fast

396
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 3: and loose. There's a lot more to Shintoism than that,

397
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,159
Speaker 3: but basically, like in terms of like the key points

398
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 3: we might reference in understanding something as far far more

399
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,639
Speaker 3: simple as Japanese mascots, essentially, you can look at that

400
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,560
Speaker 3: Shintoism as one possible leg of understanding them culturally. Now,

401
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,720
Speaker 3: I think we do have to also be careful here

402
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,439
Speaker 3: not to other the situation too much, because while there

403
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,200
Speaker 3: does seem to be a uniquely Japanese emphasis in play here,

404
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,919
Speaker 3: we can of course point to the coexistence of various mythic, folkloric,

405
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 3: and otherwise at least supernatural adjacent beings in various cultures,

406
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 3: regardless of the dominant religion or religions in that culture,

407
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 3: and beings from outside traditions have a way of working

408
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,359
Speaker 3: their way into even those religions, at least into the periphery. Okay,

409
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:13,879
Speaker 3: So there's Shintoism, and then, as we we've already referred

410
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 3: to several examples of this, but they're also the yokai,

411
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,479
Speaker 3: which we've discussed in greater detail on the show before

412
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 3: it catch all, for various monsters, supernatural phenomenon and ghosts,

413
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 3: though yuri, which are more in line with the haunting

414
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,680
Speaker 3: ghosts of Western tradition, are kind of their own separate category.

415
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 3: Yokai ghosts are they're more in line with this idea

416
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 3: of kami and that they're they're everywhere, and they might

417
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 3: be just completely neutral to humans, or they might be

418
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:46,400
Speaker 3: a little bit mischievous. It just depends. So we've talked

419
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:48,920
Speaker 3: about them before. They occur in various places throughout one's

420
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,560
Speaker 3: daily life, according to the traditions, often associated with things

421
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 3: such as bathrooms, restaurant kitchens, alleys, and so forth. And

422
00:23:57,800 --> 00:23:59,480
Speaker 3: there's a very strong case to be made that the

423
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 3: Pokemon as well, oh a lot of their popularity to

424
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,680
Speaker 3: these traditions, and various Pokemon are directly based on yokai,

425
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 3: and some Yokai and some Pokemon are also Eurokiara, so

426
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 3: you know, it's all kind of interconnected. I should also

427
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:20,960
Speaker 3: know that we've discussed sukumogami on the show before, household

428
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,560
Speaker 3: objects that are thought to become animant through age and

429
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:28,919
Speaker 3: Japanese traditions. There seems to be this slide towards personification,

430
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,160
Speaker 3: which of course ties into the very basic human tendency

431
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 3: to identify human like qualities and animals, plants, and various

432
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:40,040
Speaker 3: inanimate or even non corporeal things. I think sometimes examples

433
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:42,560
Speaker 3: like this from another culture just give us the distance

434
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:47,680
Speaker 3: to recognize the larger global phenomena. Also kind of I'm

435
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 3: going to present as kind of like the third leg

436
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 3: of the tripod here potentially to understand eurokiara as and

437
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 3: this also ties into sort of cuteness in general and kauai.

438
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:01,919
Speaker 3: But as Eddie ya El Chang points out in the

439
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,280
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen article, let the Eurokiara do the job, there's

440
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 3: also this long standing popularity of small things in Japanese culture,

441
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 3: particularly the small sculpture art form of netsuki, combined with

442
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,359
Speaker 3: long standing appreciation for animal forms and cute things in general.

443
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 1: All Right, so you've got this sort of pyramid of

444
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:26,439
Speaker 1: different influences that could be feeding into the eurokiara phenomenon.

445
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: On one hand, the traditional Shinto beliefs about the spirits

446
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 1: or entities all throughout nature. On the other hand, you've

447
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 1: got the sort of yokai, the various sort of like

448
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: monsters or beings that we've talked about on the show.

449
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 1: And then also this tradition of making these cute small

450
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:59,199
Speaker 1: sculptures like Netsuki, specifically regarding the one leg of the

451
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:03,439
Speaker 1: tripod here of Yokai. I wanted to come back to

452
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:07,359
Speaker 1: something from an essay that I mentioned in Part one,

453
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,320
Speaker 1: so and the last time I talked about the essay

454
00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 1: about Kumaman, the bear or not Bear urukyara of the

455
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:22,119
Speaker 1: Kumamoto Prefecture. This essay was called Kumaman, Japan's surprisingly Cheeky Mascot.

456
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,520
Speaker 1: That was in a book called Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

457
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three from Rutledge, edited by Elisa Friedman. The

458
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: essay was by Deborah j Ochi, and this part that

459
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 1: I'm about to mention was in the context of a

460
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: paragraph talking about how urukyara are sometimes deployed by authorities

461
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 1: after large, frightening public events. One big example is the

462
00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 1: March twenty eleven earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear incident at Fukushima,

463
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 1: after which Ochi says that the number of mascots in

464
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,960
Speaker 1: Japan increased, as did the perception of their healing power

465
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: for the people. And I've also read that the figure

466
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: of Kumaman specifically was widely used to comfort the public

467
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: after the devastating twenty sixteen Kumamoto earthquakes. So there's a

468
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 1: sense that part of the role, part of the cultural

469
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: role of these like these sort of cute, positive informal characters,

470
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: is that they help people feel better after a tragic event.

471
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,240
Speaker 1: On the topic of linking kumaman to pre existing yokai,

472
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 1: here's the quote I wanted to discuss, Ochi writes quote.

473
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: During the COVID nineteen pandemic, yurukiara were again mobilized across

474
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 1: the linguistic landscape, appearing on public notices and backdrops for

475
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:48,360
Speaker 1: televised official announcements. Kumaman occasionally appeared along with his Kumamoto

476
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 1: ancestor Amabi, a folkloric yokai spirit associated with pandemic relief

477
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,680
Speaker 1: who was also widely used. So I had to learn

478
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,480
Speaker 1: more about this Amabi, and I did so by consulting

479
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,439
Speaker 1: the Book of Yokai by the folklorist Michael Dylan Foster.

480
00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,800
Speaker 1: I've talked about this book before on the show. He

481
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 1: is a scholar currently affiliated with UC Davis, and the

482
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: section on the Amabi I think it's from the expanded

483
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 1: recent edition of the book. So, according to Foster, the

484
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:23,439
Speaker 1: earliest image we have of this yokai is printed on

485
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,880
Speaker 1: a kowaraban broadsheet from the year eighteen forty six. Now

486
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: kowaraban means tile block printing, and it was a type

487
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 1: of media similar to a newspaper or a tabloid, considered

488
00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: very ephemeral, so printed roughly on cheap paper, with the

489
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 1: idea that it would be read once and then tossed away.

490
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: And it was used in the Edo period for reporting

491
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,880
Speaker 1: major news events and for reporting official announcements, but also

492
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:59,959
Speaker 1: on scandals, rumors, and gossip, including things of a supernatural character.

493
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: So you might read about the effects of a recent typhoon,

494
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 1: you might read about the siege of a castle or

495
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,080
Speaker 1: a murder in the city, but also you might read

496
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: about a ghost woman who turned into a giant spider.

497
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 3: Why not, I mean it's basically just an extension of

498
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 3: your rumor mill and your gossip columns, right, I don't

499
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 3: want to know what the ghost women are up to

500
00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:20,560
Speaker 3: around town.

501
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: Yes, So there is a particular eighteen forty six coorabon

502
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: preserved in the library of Kyoto University that includes both

503
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:35,360
Speaker 1: a narrative and an illustration about a Kumamoto official's encounter

504
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 1: with a spirit from the ocean. So the text reads

505
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: as follows in translation, every night, something brightly lit would

506
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: appear in the sea of he Go. And that's off

507
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 1: of a present day Kumamoto Prefecture, when a local official

508
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: went out to take a look, something like what is

509
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,720
Speaker 1: in the picture here appeared and said, I live in

510
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,720
Speaker 1: the sea and am called a mobi. For the next

511
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: six years, there will be abundant harvests throughout the provinces,

512
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,719
Speaker 1: but disease will spread. So make haste to copy an

513
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: image of me and show it to the people. So

514
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 1: saying it returned back into the sea, and Rob, I've

515
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: included here a photograph of this broadsheet, including the illustration.

516
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,400
Speaker 1: So this is the first representation of the Amabi and

517
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,720
Speaker 1: the text that showed up next to it. Now, I

518
00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 1: was thinking, man, the face really reminds me of something,

519
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: but I was not able to figure out what it was. Rob,

520
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:34,840
Speaker 1: in the notes, you figured out what it was it

521
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: was reminding me of. But the Amabi is a three

522
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 1: legged Avian mermaid. So it's got a bird's beak, a

523
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:48,600
Speaker 1: diamond shaped eyes, though we can usually only see one

524
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: of its eyes because its head is turned in profile.

525
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: It's got long hair reaching down to her feet and

526
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: of which there are three. By the way, she has

527
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: three feet, three toes on each foot, and a body

528
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: covered in shingled rounded scales like a fish. But I

529
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:08,320
Speaker 1: was trying to think, what does the face remind me of?

530
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 1: And you got it exactly What is it?

531
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:12,520
Speaker 3: Oh man? I thought it was just me, But I

532
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 3: look at this creature and monstrous aspects of the creature aside,

533
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,840
Speaker 3: I get strong Kathy vibe Kathy from your chemical newspaper

534
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 3: cartoon section.

535
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 1: Yes, it's Kathy. It's the combination of like the hair

536
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,040
Speaker 1: and something about the eye.

537
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 3: It's yeah, like Kathy has like her eyes are depicted

538
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 3: like so close to each other they're touching. And then yeah,

539
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 3: the long hair and sort of the general shape of

540
00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 3: Kathy is also present in this creature from the sea.

541
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 1: So the Amabi in this illustration is not fearsome, I

542
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: will say it. Instead, it looks strange, and I think

543
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 1: it is supposed to look strange, But it's closer to

544
00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: cute than scary. Yes, I would agree, but again, the

545
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: details of the narrative. So off the coast of what

546
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: is now Kumamoto, people would see a bright light in

547
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: the darkness at night. An official goes out there to

548
00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:05,239
Speaker 1: figure out what it is. I guess he goes out

549
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,240
Speaker 1: in a boat, though it doesn't say how he investigated.

550
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 1: I'm assuming I'm picturing a boat. Trip sees this three

551
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,480
Speaker 1: legged avan mermaid with a beak. It says, I live

552
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,080
Speaker 1: in the sea. I'm called a Mabi. You're gonna have

553
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 1: six years of good harvests, but you are also going

554
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 1: to have an epidemic of deadly disease. Share my picture

555
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:28,280
Speaker 1: with people, and the implication that I read into it

556
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: here and I think this is what it is meant,

557
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 1: is that sharing the image will prevent the disease from spreading.

558
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 1: And then finally the yokai goes back underneath the waves. Now,

559
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: Foster writes that this is the first written record we

560
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,959
Speaker 1: have of belief in the Amabi, but there is a

561
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 1: very similar being that slightly precedes it, called the Amabiko

562
00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 1: or sometimes Amahiko, which appears in at least eleven documents

563
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: from the eighteen forties through the eighteen eighties, and Foster

564
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:02,760
Speaker 1: cites a folklore scholar named Yumoto Koichi who argues that

565
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: these are actually the same creature and that Amabi is

566
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: simply a transcription error of the word amabiko that caught

567
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: on and then got copied done the line. So possibly

568
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,800
Speaker 1: the same, possibly different, but in either case they're very

569
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: similar creatures. What's the deal with the amabiko? Some are

570
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: said to rise out of the sea, others appear in

571
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: the mountains, but they tend to give similar predictions and

572
00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: warnings to what we heard in the first story. For example,

573
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: there's an eighteen forty four story of an amabiko that

574
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: appears in the Bay of Echigo and says disease is

575
00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 1: going to spread and seven out of ten people in

576
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: Japan are going to die. But if you look at

577
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: a picture of me, you will be spared. And then

578
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 1: rob I've attached a picture of what the amabiko looks

579
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,280
Speaker 1: like in this eighteen forty four document. Different kind of

580
00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,960
Speaker 1: look more like a three legged black octopus dolphin.

581
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 3: Yes, I think that's an accurate description. Yeah, totally different characters. Still,

582
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say hmm, I wouldn't say fearsome. But if

583
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,200
Speaker 3: I get a far more more of a I get

584
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 3: far more of a neutral vibe off of this guy.

585
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,239
Speaker 3: I don't know for sure if he leans more benevolent

586
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,240
Speaker 3: or benevolent Yeah, different, different sort of creature, but definitely

587
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:19,359
Speaker 3: three legs. You know, the sort of snout is still there,

588
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 3: so I can see, I can see the lineage between

589
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:22,680
Speaker 3: these two designs.

590
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:26,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, ambiguous, Yeah.

591
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 3: But I mean by the according to the story, clearly

592
00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:32,760
Speaker 3: wants to help or wants to exploit an upcoming disaster

593
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 3: or fear of disaster into getting people to look at

594
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 3: pictures of him.

595
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 1: Right, So a pattern emerges between these stories. There will

596
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,479
Speaker 1: be an epidemic, many will die, but if you see

597
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: a picture of me, you will live. So spread this

598
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:49,240
Speaker 1: illustration far and wide. And it's funny because this reminds

599
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:51,440
Speaker 1: me of stuff in the modern era, like those email

600
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,120
Speaker 1: forwards you would get in the early two thousands that

601
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: are like, you know, you will see a ghost in

602
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,520
Speaker 1: the mirror and die three days from now unless you

603
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: send this email to ten of your friends.

604
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 3: Ends. Yeah, because as far as I'm understanding, there's nothing

605
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,960
Speaker 3: really informational in this image. It's not like study this,

606
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 3: you know, it's not like various big pieces of religious art,

607
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,320
Speaker 3: you know, particularly I'm thinking of like Tibetan Buddhism where

608
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:15,680
Speaker 3: or or also you see the examples of this in

609
00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 3: Buddhism in Japan, where like a very complex piece has

610
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,359
Speaker 3: a number of messages to convey to you about, say,

611
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 3: how to reach meditative states and so forth. This is

612
00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 3: just a picture of very simple drawing of a strange creature,

613
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,200
Speaker 3: and it's just it's more like, know that I exist,

614
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,360
Speaker 3: see what I look like, and that will give you

615
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 3: an advantage against disease.

616
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think there's a lesson in how it looks.

617
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 1: I think it's just apotropeic magic's seeing me gives you

618
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,280
Speaker 1: magical protection against the disease that's coming.

619
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,520
Speaker 3: And you know that's this good news for the viewer, Right,

620
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:48,719
Speaker 3: It's like, what do I have to do to get

621
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 3: this reduction? Look at a picture I'm in. Yeah, don't

622
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 3: even have to read anything. It's easy to do. But also,

623
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 3: if you want to help your friends, you better make

624
00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:59,200
Speaker 3: a copy of this picture or buy another copy of

625
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,959
Speaker 3: the broadsheet show it to them. So it has great

626
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 3: mimetic power because it includes its own intrinsic motivation to

627
00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:06,439
Speaker 3: spread the meme.

628
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 1: Interesting now, according to Foster, the amabi and the Amabiko

629
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,200
Speaker 1: are not even the only yokai that give these types

630
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: of warnings and offer protection through replication and spreading of

631
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 1: the image. He also cites a creature called the Kudabe,

632
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:25,200
Speaker 1: which does pretty much the same thing. There's the Jingjahime,

633
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,319
Speaker 1: which has the body of a fish and the head

634
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,520
Speaker 1: of a woman, but with two horns. She predicts both

635
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 1: seven years of plenty, but also the spread of a

636
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 1: deadly disease, a named disease in this case called koori.

637
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:39,840
Speaker 1: And if you draw her picture and share it with

638
00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,319
Speaker 1: everyone you know, they will be spared. There's another one

639
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 1: called the hime Uo, which is said in an Eddo

640
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:49,680
Speaker 1: based tale to have emerged off the coast of the

641
00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 1: island of Hirado. And interesting detail here, Foster writes, quote

642
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,320
Speaker 1: Hirado might have been selected as the location for the

643
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:01,200
Speaker 1: hime Uo because it was a distant, marginal location and

644
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:05,440
Speaker 1: also a region historically associated with foreign ships and traders,

645
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 1: and thus a gateway for both prosperity and potential disease.

646
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:10,799
Speaker 3: There you go.

647
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: So it's interesting that in the Edo period there are

648
00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 1: lots of yokai with the power of prophecy, predicting the future,

649
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: often predicting disease, epidemics and plague, often predicting bounty or

650
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 1: both at the same time. And the image of this

651
00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:31,479
Speaker 1: creature can provide apotropaic immunity to anyone who lays eyes

652
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:33,439
Speaker 1: on it, so you better copy it quickly and show

653
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,600
Speaker 1: it to everyone you know. And these are categorized by

654
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: some scholars such as Eumoto Koichi as yoginju or prophecy beasts,

655
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:45,959
Speaker 1: and Foster talks about the many different kinds of motivations

656
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: somebody might have to spread a story like this. On

657
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 1: one hand, it could just be a desire to excite

658
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: and entertain the reader, you know, it's kind of like

659
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,919
Speaker 1: an interesting, entertaining story. In some cases, it could be

660
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,120
Speaker 1: a simple desire to sell broadsheet. In some cases, it

661
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,680
Speaker 1: could be a genuine desire to give people the hope

662
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 1: of protection in the face of frightening, uncontrollable forces like

663
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:09,240
Speaker 1: infectious disease.

664
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a great point, and it ties into what

665
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 3: we've been talking about too, Like a golden fish on

666
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,360
Speaker 3: your roof is not going to actually protect you against fire,

667
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:19,120
Speaker 3: but it gives you that sense of hope. It gives

668
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 3: you like this, this additional layer on top of knowledge

669
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 3: of preparation or statistics and so forth. Yeah, and you know,

670
00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:30,399
Speaker 3: I can see how that would apply to our Eurokiara

671
00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 3: as well. You know, here's one of these cute creatures

672
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 3: giving me information, giving me helpful advice. But there is

673
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 3: an optimism to it. There's a hope intrinsic in the

674
00:38:39,680 --> 00:38:42,160
Speaker 3: design of the creature that is giving me this.

675
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: Information exactly right, And that in fact brings us back

676
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 1: to the Amabi's appearance during the COVID pandemic. So before

677
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, the Amabi was a relatively obscure okai foster

678
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 1: it says, you know, it probably would have only been

679
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 1: known to like certain types of historians or or you know,

680
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,879
Speaker 1: like real hobbyists or obsessives, though it did appear in

681
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 1: some work by the manga artist Mazuki Shageru in the

682
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:13,520
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties. But after news of COVID nineteen first began

683
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:16,840
Speaker 1: to spread in early twenty twenty, the image of the

684
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 1: Amabi surged in popularity on the Internet. Foster mentions several

685
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: posts on Twitter from February and even one at the

686
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: end of January twenty twenty that included renderings of the

687
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 1: Amabi communicated the lore that we've just talked about, and

688
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: I think jokingly encouraged the proliferation of its image as

689
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,160
Speaker 1: a protective measure against infection. And while it's pretty clear

690
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 1: to me that most of these posts had a spirit

691
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:45,760
Speaker 1: of irony about them, like the use of the amabi

692
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,760
Speaker 1: was sort of meant as kidding, the amabi really caught

693
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:54,120
Speaker 1: on as a symbol of defense and vigilance against the virus,

694
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 1: both virtually and in physical media and consumer culture. So

695
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:02,280
Speaker 1: there was like a vib roll Twitter hashtag called Amabi

696
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:07,120
Speaker 1: Challenge where people posted alongside they posted the hashtag along

697
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:11,280
Speaker 1: with like images of homemade renderings of the mer bird,

698
00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 1: and the amabi imagery was also used on all kinds

699
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 1: of products, from like keychains, t shirts, tote bags, to

700
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:23,799
Speaker 1: rice crackers and beer. There were actual invocations of the

701
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: amabi in public religious rituals and prayers. And then eventually

702
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,200
Speaker 1: the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare officially produced

703
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: an amabi logo warning people that they could spread COVID

704
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: nineteen without realizing it and advising people to take measures

705
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 1: to limit exposure.

706
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 3: Ah and you included this poster art for me here

707
00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,399
Speaker 3: in our outline, and I believe I did, in fact

708
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,399
Speaker 3: see this during my travels in Japan, So either they're

709
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 3: still putting them up, or there's still you know, there's

710
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:56,360
Speaker 3: still some out there that haven't been digging down, or

711
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 3: people keep putting them up. Yeah, because again that's kind

712
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,800
Speaker 3: of the that's what you're encouraged to do with the amami.

713
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I think it's interesting connecting this back to

714
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: the urukyara we were talking about, because both the amabi

715
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:15,040
Speaker 1: and kumaman were in some cases used in top down

716
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 1: public health messaging and in bottom up cultural processing of

717
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,400
Speaker 1: events during the COVID pandemic. And I wonder if this

718
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: tells us anything about the broader role filled by urukiara

719
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: and how that relates to this yokai. I want to

720
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,360
Speaker 1: read a passage from Foster here. Foster writes, quote, the

721
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 1: Amabi's sudden rise exemplifies the eloquent adaptability of yokai, with

722
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,319
Speaker 1: perfect ease and no contradiction. The Amabi straddles life and

723
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:46,840
Speaker 1: death concerns like COVID nineteen and lighthearted fun T shirts

724
00:41:46,880 --> 00:41:52,239
Speaker 1: and beer, vernacular creativity, individuals circulating their own versions, and

725
00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: institutional promotion, a government icon, heartfelt belief in religious ceremonies,

726
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:03,400
Speaker 1: and rampant commodification. In charms and key chains. So he

727
00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:06,319
Speaker 1: notes that this kind of goes along with the fact

728
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,640
Speaker 1: that beliefs about yokai seem to thrive in the context

729
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,439
Speaker 1: of uncertainty as like a way of coping with mysterious

730
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: threats and questions that can't be answered or can't yet

731
00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 1: be answered. I think we can all recall those like

732
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,279
Speaker 1: early months of the pandemic when there was just like

733
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,080
Speaker 1: so much uncertainty and we just didn't you know, there

734
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: was just like so much not knowing what to do,

735
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: And so the beliefs of this kind sort of provide

736
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:37,960
Speaker 1: people a sense of control in some way. And while

737
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 1: the traditional apotropaic use of the amabi image may have

738
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:47,320
Speaker 1: been interpreted as like literally efficacious in protecting against disease

739
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 1: back in the day, the way I'm reading it is

740
00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:52,239
Speaker 1: that I think the majority of the use in the

741
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,560
Speaker 1: early months of twenty twenty was more playful and symbolic.

742
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,320
Speaker 1: Not that most people sharing it thought that it would

743
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:04,239
Speaker 1: literally mechanistically prevent the virus from entering and infecting their tissues,

744
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:09,080
Speaker 1: but that it actually would do something, because of course,

745
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:11,800
Speaker 1: on one hand, would provide a type of psychological comfort

746
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 1: and that feeling of control over an uncontrollable situation, but

747
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:20,920
Speaker 1: also that by spreading the image of the okai you

748
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 1: were increasing front of mind public consciousness of the virus,

749
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 1: which meant people would be more likely to take actual

750
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:32,160
Speaker 1: direct steps to limit contagion. And it strikes me that

751
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,960
Speaker 1: apart from messaging about the pandemic, urukiara like kumaman have

752
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,799
Speaker 1: a similar dual function. There's like, on one hand, you

753
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,600
Speaker 1: have emotional comfort, and then on the other hand you

754
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 1: have information consciousness, and that could mean either spreading information directly,

755
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:51,239
Speaker 1: like telling you something you don't know, or increasing the

756
00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:55,000
Speaker 1: salience of information you already have making you think about what.

757
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 3: You do know. Yeah, I mean it's enough to if

758
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,400
Speaker 3: you wanted to go all ancient astronauts on this, you

759
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:04,400
Speaker 3: could say that Amabe was an actual visitor from space

760
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 3: and or the ocean that realize that that the information

761
00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,319
Speaker 3: is one of the key tools you can use against pandemics,

762
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:16,719
Speaker 3: and was like, hey, start spreading images of me in

763
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,319
Speaker 3: response to illness. It's not going to really pay off

764
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 3: right away, but there will come a time where this

765
00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:26,160
Speaker 3: could make some small difference. But anyway, obviously I love this,

766
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 3: this idea that you know, these various eurok Era much

767
00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:32,759
Speaker 3: like these older forms. You know that again they have

768
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:36,960
Speaker 3: the information, they also have this emotional comfort like you've

769
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,360
Speaker 3: been discussing that brings with it, you know, sort of

770
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,920
Speaker 3: cuteness and hope all sort of tied together in a package.

771
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,600
Speaker 3: And I wish there was more of this in the world,

772
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:50,240
Speaker 3: you know, because aside from messaging aimed directly at children,

773
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:53,040
Speaker 3: I feel like so much of the more serious messaging

774
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:55,080
Speaker 3: out there, at least in the US, is is just

775
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,359
Speaker 3: purely fear based, or at least that's how it often

776
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,480
Speaker 3: feels to me. You know. Sometimes there's this layer of

777
00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 3: hope to it, or an image of like a smiling

778
00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 3: adult where it's like, oh, this is what happiness looks like,

779
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 3: this is what this is what protection looks like, or

780
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,760
Speaker 3: so forth, or or you know, the hope is wrapped

781
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:13,760
Speaker 3: up in the purchase of something that's going to protect

782
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 3: you from the scary thing. And I don't know, I

783
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 3: would rather live in a culture of cuteness and hope

784
00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:22,920
Speaker 3: than a culture of fear. I feel like we could, overall,

785
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,080
Speaker 3: we could all push things a little more towards hope

786
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:27,880
Speaker 3: and cuteness and away from just the pure fear. I mean,

787
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 3: the fear is always going to be there. The cuteness

788
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 3: and the hope doesn't erase that fear, but you know,

789
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 3: it makes it feel a little like if your experience

790
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:39,520
Speaker 3: going to the subway is less like, don't you dare

791
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:41,800
Speaker 3: get near the gap because you'll be torn in half?

792
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:46,439
Speaker 3: You know, less shake hands with danger and more rukiara. Sorry,

793
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 3: it's a bit of a rant there.

794
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I see. There's a difference between taking proper

795
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:55,000
Speaker 1: precautions and wallowing in fear.

796
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and realizing that that kind of messaging, that

797
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 3: sort of leveling of the message can apply to everybody

798
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 3: and not just children, you know, and you can do

799
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:07,560
Speaker 3: it in a way that's also not you know, sugarcoating anything.

800
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 3: Or maybe you are sugarcoating it a little bit, but

801
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:10,400
Speaker 3: they're still medicine in the middle.

802
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:12,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right.

803
00:46:12,719 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 3: We're gonna go ahead and close out this episode, but

804
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:16,719
Speaker 3: we'd love to hear from everyone out there. What are

805
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 3: your experiences with Yurukiara, with the lax mascots, what are

806
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:25,160
Speaker 3: your favorites? Write in because we'd love to hear from you.

807
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:27,239
Speaker 3: Just a reminder that Stuff to Blow your Mind is

808
00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 3: primarily a science and culture podcast with Core episodes and

809
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:33,840
Speaker 3: Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Wednesdays we do a short form episode.

810
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,040
Speaker 3: On Fridays we do Weird House Cinema. You can get

811
00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 3: all of this in the Stuff to Blow Your Mind

812
00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:39,760
Speaker 3: podcast feed.

813
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 1: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.

814
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us

815
00:46:45,560 --> 00:46:48,080
Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

816
00:46:48,080 --> 00:46:50,160
Speaker 1: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

817
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:52,839
Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

818
00:46:52,840 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 1: your Mind dot com.

819
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,239
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820
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:08,120
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821
00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:24,879
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