Yokai Stamps by Japan Post

This August, Japan Post is releasing a set of special yokai stamps based on characters from my newest book, Echizen-Wakasa Kidan.

The stamps go on sale August 3rd. They feature characters from the tales Magoemon’s Wife, The Ghost of Shibata Katsuie, The Demon Pond, The Holy Man’s Rug, and The Name of Wakasa, all from Echizen-Wakasa Kidan (currently available in Japanese, English version coming soon).

Limited supplies available. You can read the press release here (Japanese): https://www.post.japanpost.jp/enjoy/culture/stamp/frame/detail.php?id=3840

Mononoke Ichi in July

Summer is upon us, and in Japan, that means yokai season is also upon us! Every summer, there are yokai events and exhibitions all around the country.

As usual, this year I will be participating in Kyoto’s Mononoke Ichi yokai art market. It takes place on July 19-20 at the Daishōgun Hachi-jinja Shrine in Hakubaichō, not far from the Kitano Tenmangū Shrine.

If you’re in Kyoto this July, don’t miss out! This is one of my favorite yokai events, full of passionate yokai artists and crafters, as well as featuring some of the best yokai cosplay you can see anywhere in the world.

Since July is hot, this event takes place in the afternoon until nightfall, making it all the more perfect an atmosphere for a yokai event.

I hope you see you there!

Yokai Talk in Osaka

Boy, it’s nice to have fewer places to update these days, since I quit Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and now that I just use Bluesky… although I still sometimes forget to cross post here. To be honest it was so much more enjoyable way back before “social networks” even existed and everyone used blogs and RSS feeds. But that’s a completely different conversation…

I’ll be giving a talk about yokai and kaidan with Kyoto-based yokai researcher Kōno Jun’ya down in Osaka this May 2, at the Osaka Museum of History. As you can tell by the poster below, some of this will have to do with Koizumi Yakumo (aka Lafcadio Hearn), as he has been in the news a lot lately with the conclusion of the morning TV drama “Bake Bake” / “The Ghost-Writer’s Wife.” There will also be a biwa-player and kaidan-teller! That should be extremely cool!

Click on the poster below to register. I hope to see you there!

Yokai Studies in the Digital Age: The Business of Making the Invisible Visible

The latest book I worked on, デジタル時代の妖怪学 (Yokai Studies in the Digital Age: The Business of Making the Invisible Visible), published by Kasama Shoin, is coming out this month!

This book started out as a talk on yokai studies in the digital age at Teikyō University a couple of years ago. I contributed illustrations (including the cover illustration), as well as one section of the book. The rest of it is co-authored by several yokai scholars including:

Watanabe Mizuki
Associate Professor, Department of Tourism Policy, Faculty of Regional Policy, Takasaki University of Economics
Kagawa Masanobu
Curator, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History
Hirota Ryuhei
Assistant Professor, Department of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Letters, Daito Bunka University
Matsumoto Kentaro
Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Dokkyo University
Takemura Masaharu
Professor, Liberal Arts Department, Kagurazaka Campus, Institute for Liberal Arts Education, Tokyo University of Science

Unlike my previous book with Kasama, this is a Japanese-language-only book, so the audience probably does not align too closely with readers of my blog. It’s an academic work, rather than a purely entertainment-focused one, but it is still quite entertaining and interesting. The book itself is gorgeous, and the design is really cool. Kasama Shoin really puts out great-looking stuff!

You can pre-order the book from Kasama Shoin’s website, or from Amazon and other booksellers.

This Month: THE KIDAN

A-Yokai-A-Day for 2025 is over, but there is still a lot of yokai activity going on here in Fukui!

I’ll be giving a yokai talk at Goshōshi Temple in Echizen City this weekend, and the second half of my exhibition at the Children’s History Museum here in Fukui City is going on right now.

But the main event of this month is my big exhibit at Fukui Shimbun’s Kaze no Mori Hall, from November 15 to 24. Here is the flyer:

I hope to see you there!