Japan is a country full of legends, mythologies, and superstitions. In this article, we selected 5 urban legends from Japan that are completely strange and crazy. We also recommend reading our article about monsters, myths, and Japanese legends that are also quite bizarre.
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Fire Pants and Women of 1932
On December 16, 1932, the eight-story Shirokiya department store caught fire in Tokyo, killing 14 people. There are rumors that women at the location who were dressed in kimono were forced to go to the roof and refused to jump into the firefighters’ safety nets for fear of exposing themselves. This is because women usually do not wear underwear when they are in kimono.
It is believed that after the incident, the store management ordered all saleswomen to wear underwear along with kimono, and this practice slowly spread throughout Japan. Despite the legend being strong and appearing in books, it has never been proven.
Curse of the Red Room
The legend was based on a horror flash animation (swf). A pop-up appears on the Internet and a recording will ask, “Do you like the red room?” Even if you close the pop-up, it will keep reappearing until the recording finishes asking the question. Shortly after, the viewer will be killed and their room will be painted red with their own blood.
The urban legend gained notoriety after it was discovered that the 11-year-old student who killed a 12-year-old (Sasebo Slashing) had the Flash animation saved in her computer’s favorites.
Cursed Kleenex Commercial
In 1986, Kleenex released three exclusive commercials for Japan. As you can see in the ad above, many viewers found this advertisement disturbing. Because of these commercials, curses began to spread.
Rumors started saying that the song “It’s a Fine Day” was a German curse (despite being sung in English), and led the crew members to face premature deaths. The biggest incident happened with the lead actress of the ads, Keiko Matsuzaka. She would die, or be institutionalized, or give birth to a demon child. None of this actually happened.
The Curse of Colonel Sanders
According to fans of the baseball team Hanshin Tigers, Colonel Sanders of KFC was the main reason the team did not win the championship in 1985!
This is because after the team’s first victory in a championship, fans threw a statue of Colonel Sanders into the Dōtonbori river in Osaka. Since then, the team has not been able to win any other championships. Fans believe that the curse will end when the original statue is recovered. To this day, they have not found the hand or the glasses of Colonel Sanders.
Kiyotaki Tunnel
This tunnel was built in 1927. It is 444m long (4 is a cursed number in Japan, similar to the number 13 for most Western people). Kiyotaki is, according to legends, cursed by all the workers who died while building it, due to the terrible working conditions of the time, which forced them to work like slaves, and by all those who died in the tunnel, victims of accidents caused by the spirits of the workers.
It is said that ghosts can be seen in the tunnel at night, and that they can even possess your car and cause an accident. It is also said that there is a mirror in this tunnel, and that if you look into it and see a ghost, you will have a horrible death. The length of the tunnel can also vary, depending on the time and the period in which you are measuring it (night or day).
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