Customer Reviews

Supernatural and Mysterious Japan: Spirits, Hauntings and Paranormal Phenomena

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"Supernatural and Mysterious Japan: Spirits, Hauntings and Paranormal Phenomena" is the type of book one might pick up in a New Age bookstore, right next to "Forbidden Secrets of the Pyramids" and "How to See Leprechauns." The author, Catrien Ross, runs QRQ in Nishi Hachioji Japan, a "healing center" for "healers, alternative thinkers and futurists."

With that in mind, "Supernatural and Mysterious Japan" is a decent little book on with some good information on psychic phenomena in modern Japan as well as some nice ghost stories and haunted places. The book is heavier on psychics than ghosts, with quite a bit on mystic healing which is Ross's own forte. The "Strange but True" chapter contains some nice weirdness, such as the grave of Jesus Christ in northern Aomori prefecture and the living mummies of Gassan mountain.

My personal favorite sections were "Modern Day Hauntings" and "Edo Era Tales." While I had heard many of the stories before, Ross is well-informed and added some new bits and some new stories, as well as some haunted places to check out. Her take on the famous "Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan" was very nice, with some history of the tale and how it was adapted by various media.

Overall, not a great book on the Japanese supernatural, but not terrible either. It is small, at only 160 pages, but she manages to pack in quite a bit of good stuff.