Sento

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)

 

💖Hi, everyone! Guess what... This is a new CRYPTIC STORY!!!😆💖

Please comment below and tell me what you think the answer is!

A traditional sento building (Kodakarayu, Tokyo)

                                                                                                                                                 

Inside a sento (Atamiyu, Tokyo)

 

 I go to a sento ( public bath house) every day.*1

 After a bath, I always like to have a sauna; that is part of my daily routine. 

  I have been in a sauna for a few minutes when another man comes in. 

I decide to play a game. I won't leave the sauna unless he leaves it first. 

This game is also part of my daily routine. 

  10 minutes goes by. The man is a fatso who must weigh much more than 100 kg. 

  15 minutes goes by. He is sweating like crazy. Isn't it about time you give up, fatso? 

   18 minutes goes by. Finally the fatso stands up. He looks as if he will pass out any minute. He staggers to the door and leaves. 

   I win! I clench my first and raise it in the air in triumphant victory.

I wake up and find myself in an unfamiliar room. 

  An old guy is peering down at me. I have seen him before.

  Oh yes, he is the guy I saw at the reception desk.*2 The old guy says, "I found you when I went to check the sauna. You were sitting unconscious against the door." 

  It looks like I passed out from heatstroke. I guess I pushed myself too hard. 

  The old guy gives a heavy sigh. "It was a lot of work to carry you to this room. Be careful next time." 

   I thank him and go home. I think I might have some cold beer*3 before going to bed. 

 

 

---------------------------------------------

NOTES: 

*1 Sento ---- Sentō (銭湯) is a type of Japanese communal bathhouse where
customers pay for entrance. (Wikipedia)

Inside a sento (It often has a picture of Mt. Fuji. There are artists who specialize in drawing pictures for sento walls.)

More links:

A Beginner's Guide to Sento

Sento Guide  

Tokyo Sento

Let's go to "Sento," a public bath house! 

*2 The guy at the reception desk ---- "Bandai （番台）" in Japanese. The word refers
to both the desk and the person who sits at it. Bandai is the place where you pay the entrance fee for sento. You can also buy stuff like towels, soap and shampoo there.

Bandai

 

*3 Beer in Japan:

Wikipedia

Japan Guide: Beer in Japan

The Five Best Beer In Japan You Need to Know About

 

---------------------------------------------

 Read more cryptic stories from here:

Cryptic 1

Cryptic 2

Cryptic 3

Creepy Woman Captured on Google Street View

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If you remember, sometime ago, I created THIS POST that talked about a creepy woman found on Google Street View:

"Remember me?"

"You think all I do is just stand here...but you're wrong!"

I now regret posting such a misleading article...😱

 

I used to think she was a ghost or yokai... But it turns out that I was wrong. A new piece of evidence shows that SHE IS JUST A NORMAL WOMAN WHO HAPPENS TO WORSHIP SOMETHING UNUSUAL. 

 

Be prepared for the new revelation!  ↓↓↓

 

*Watch the embedded video on the web version of this blog below,  or GO TO YOUTUBE TO WATCH IT !

 

Friendship spell

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)

This fantastic artwork was created by 💛iafwstatic💛 (see their details below!)

 

There was a girl who transferred from a school in the countryside to a school in Tokyo. 

She was so pretty that soon the whole school was gossiping about her. 

But for some reason, a few days after she transferred to the school, bullying started against her. 

The girl, however, didn't tell neither her teacher nor her parents about it, because she didn't want them to worry.

One day, though, the girl found a sinister-looking pattern on her chair and desk. 

It looked like a sort of curse spell.

The girl was so shaken by this that soon afterwards she committed suicide by cutting her wrists.

Her classmates attended her funeral and they were all sobbing, saying "oh, why did you have to die?" 

The girl's mother saw them and was enraged.

"You were bullying her and drove her to kill herself! It is all written in her diary!" 

But the truth was very different from what the girl and her mother had thought. 

Her classmates only longed to become friends with the girl because she was so pretty, but couldn't find any opportunities to do so. 

Thus they resorted to other indirect means to get closer to her.  

They had stolen the girl's belongings and made silent calls to her house only out of admiration for her. 

That sinister-looking pattern was not a curse spell but only a friendship spell. 

Later that day, when all the mourners had left the funeral, the mother spoke quietly to the girl's portrait:

"A long time ago....when I was a girl, I taught my best friend a friendship spell. But I was lying to her. It was actually a bad luck spell. 

  I did it because I wanted her boyfriend to myself....That boy is now your father. 

I guess it's "what's goes around comes around.""  

Back in school, the classmates were discussing about why all this had to happen to the girl. 

"Hey...I think we can't blame her if she misunderstood about the spell.

I just found out that the spell wasn't a friendship spell at all. It is actually a bad luck spell." 

"That can't be! Who said it was a friendship spell then? " 

"It was you, wasn't it, Sensei (teacher)?" 

One girl looked at the female teacher who was there with them in the classroom. 

The teacher gave them a chilling smile. 

"Indeed. It was a friendship spell that my best friend once taught me." 

 

 

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Note: 

 

Some interesting articles below explaining the meaning of "Sensei":

 

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/sensei/

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/whats-the-difference-between-sensei-and-senpai/

---------------------------------------------------

Special Thanks to 💫💖iafwstatic💖💫, the artist who drew the picture for this post! 

They are an AMAZING artist. PLEASE check out their details below:😊

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/iafwstatic/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iafwStatic

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/iafwstatic

Website: https://iamfilledwithstatic.com/

Carrd: https://iafwstatic.carrd.co/

(Note: if you link the carrd, also link the website at least, just in case Carrd goes down, the website should still be good.)

 

Kidnapped

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)

I got kidnapped once.

It happened nearly ten years ago.
The person who kidnapped me was a woman who lived in the same apartment building as I did.

She locked me up inside a bathroom.

While she didn't tie me up, she threatened to kill me if I tried to escape, and also she piled some stuff up outside the door. I couldn't escape even if I wanted to.  

The woman didn't try to hurt me and she only kept me in there; and I was still in the same apartment building, so I had much hope that I would be found soon. 

Despite all that, it was impossible for me to fall asleep.
Before long I lost track of time and fell into a delirious state.
My mind kept going back and forth between the reality and dream.
I felt numb and just sat still in the bathtub. 

It was then that my boyfriend suddenly appeared in the bathroom.
"Are you alright?" He asked me.

I didn't understand what was happening, and I asked him in return:
"What are you doing here?"
I thought I was losing my mind.

"This is probably a dream. I must be dreaming right now," he said. "This is your bathroom."
I told him, "A crazy woman locked me up in a bathroom in another room in the same apartment building. "

He asked me the room number, but I could only guess which floor I was on. 

He then told me that I had been missing for two days, and added:
"Hang in there, because we will come rescue you."
As soon as he said that, he opened the door and walked out of the bathroom, so I concluded that I had been hallucinating after all.

But not long after that, I was rescued from the place. It was three days after I had gone missing.

The police came to the hospital and questioned me. After they finished asking me some general questions, they suddenly started talking about my boyfriend.

My boyfriend apparently went to the police saying he had a dream about me getting locked up in a room by another resident of the same apartment building.

Needless to say, under normal circumstances, the police would not have taken such a claim seriously; but when my boyfriend gave them the number of the room in which I was supposed to be confined, they took a note of it just in case. And while making an inquiry, they found something suspicious about the said room; which led them to search inside and then eventually discover me.

When they told me that, I remembered the hallucination I saw in the bathroom, but wondered how he found out the room number.
So I asked him about that when he came to visit me in the hospital.

He told me that while he was on the university campus, he lost consciousness ( he fell from some stairs. He had been having sleepless nights because of me, and he wasn't paying attention) and then he had a dream.

He recounted the exact same conversation I remembered having with him in my hallucination. After he came out of the bathroom, he walked out the front door and checked the room number; it was just then that he woke up.

"Maybe I had an out-of-body experience when I fell," he smiled.
I think it was thanks to this strange experience I had with him that I was never traumatized by the incident.

I am much more upset by the fact that my boyfriend passed away before we could get married.

Please excuse me for this long story.
Since we are commemorating his third death anniversary soon, I remembered this incident and thought I would write it down here.

Grateful Tanuki

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Happy New Year everyone 😆🌈💕✨⭐

May all your wishes come true and may all your days be full of love and happiness this year! 

Here is another happy story for you ✨🎁 Enjoy! Thank you for visiting my blog 🙏💖✨

Tanuki (raccoon dog)

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

A day before yesterday, I went to Hakone *1 on a business trip; and while I was there, I experienced something similar to the story "The Grateful Crane." *2

After I finished my work, I was driving on a mountain road, but it was so foggy that I could barely see anything. 

That was why I didn't notice it when a baby tanuki (raccoon dog) *3 suddenly ran out into the road. I ran over it before I could stop the car. 

Plasters

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I wish you all a Merry Christmas 🎄 😊💖✨ (If you follow a different religion, I wish you happiness anyway!)

Since it's a happy occasion, I wanted to post something a little more cheerful than usual! LOL ✨

I wish you are happy and surrounded by loved ones🌈⭐✨ I am sending my love to you all✨✨✨🌸🌸🌸💗

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

This is a story from my own childhood. 

One day when I was in a nursery school, I tripped and fell in the playground. 

I hurt myself and burst into tears. A girl in the same class as me saw it and came running over to me. 

She had in her hand a set of about five plasters in a box. The box was made of tin. 

"Here, take all of them. But be careful how you use them!" 

 

Hello Kitty plasters in a tin LOL ✨

When I went back home, my mother saw the plaster on me and asked: 

"What happened? Did you hurt yourself?" 

I peeled the plaster off to show the scar to her, but there was no trace of it anymore. 

I believed at the time that plasters were endowed with such power.

A few days later, I noticed that my favourite teacup had a crack in it. 

Being a mere child, I put one of the plasters from the tin on the crack without thinking much about it. 

At dinner time, I took it off the teacup; the crack was gone. 

I also had this push car with a duck on it, and the duck's head came off. 

I put a plaster on it too and it was fixed in no time.

I must use them with care!

Just as I began to understand the importance of those plasters, my cat Yaya got run over by a car. 

I skipped the nursery school to take care of Yaya. I used all the remaining plasters on the cat and covered her with a blanket. 

I then curled up next to her, and cried myself to sleep.

Some hours later, I woke up suddenly to the feeling of something wet on my cheek. 

It was Yaya licking my face. She was fine again! Not even a scratch marred her beautiful little body. 

I thought to myself that tomorrow when I went to the nursery school, I would have to thank Miya-chan for giving me the plasters.

It wasn't until I got to the nursery school the next day that I realised that we had no girl called Miya-chan there. 

I had never seen her except when she gave me the plasters. 

But somehow, the moment I saw her, I knew she was Miya-chan. 

Incidentally, the mother cat of Yaya, who died soon after giving birth to her, was also called Miya. 

 

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

⭐🎄Maneki Neko🎄⭐

The picture above shows you "Maneki Neko" (招き猫 beckoning cat), Japanese figurines that are thought to bring you good luck, fortune, and happiness! I hope they will bring you these things as well!😊💕💕💕

💚Find out more about Maneki Neko by following the links below:

➡(Manekineko: Wikipedia)
➡(Maneki Neko: The Lucky Cats of Japan)
➡(Top places to see and buy maneki-neko in Tokyo)
➡(Maneki Neko: Pinterest)
➡(The Origin of the Maneki Neko)

💘I happened to find these Maneki Neko sweets in a supermarket yesterday 😆⭐

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

🌈➡(For more stories under the same category click here)

What it means to be loved by a god

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💖 Thank you so much for leaving comments 😊💞⭐⭐✨ Lots of love from Underworld 😆💘💘💘🎵✨

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

I was told by a soothsayer that I didn't have many years left to live. 

I asked her why. 

"You have been to the Continent, haven't you? That's where you got it from. It's much more than an ordinary evil spirit. Its nature is closer to a god and you would have hard time finding someone who would be willing to exorcise it."

It's true that I lived and worked in C__ for a few years in the past. 

"Well, don't worry for now, because you will stay alive at least until your son reaches adulthood.*1 I can see a white fox *2 behind you. That's a strong spirit and also there are people in your family who worship Masakado. *3 You have to be grateful for your grandparents. It seems you have one ancestor who went to a nunnery too... But still, you have only a number of years left." 

My son is already 15 years old. 

Five more years, and I would be saying goodbye to this world? How could she be so sure? 

The soothsayer saw the look of disbelief on my face, and continued. 

"Didn't you injure your hand in the past which forced you to quit something?" 

I did. I was once a jazz pianist with many performance opportunities, but my left hand was injured in a car accident, and it was now all but impossible for me to play the piano.

"It was taken away from you. But your guardian spirits managed to save your life, although just barely. But it is saying that it will definitely take your whole life away too the next time...I am so sorry I have to tell you all these things."

Said the soothsayer, and she didn't charge me for her service. 

I would be dead, five years from now? 

I couldn't believe it then, and I don't quite believe it now. 

But the soothsayer was famous for being accurate with her predictions. She normally charged costly fees, and I talked to her for a long time, but she didn't accept my payment, saying "you should spend that for yourself because your time in this world is short."

After I returned home, I told my husband and son about it. 

I said, "I don't really believe it myself, but still I worry what may happen to you if I die..."

They said, "that is for us to worry about. Don't think about it and spend the rest of your life in any way you like."

As of today, I don't have any serious illnesses; but as we all know, each day we live could be our last.  

A Kannushi at a shrine

 

I did pay a visit to a famous shrine sometime after I saw the soothsayer, to request a purification ritual; but it all turned out to be just as the soothsayer had foreseen. 

"We want to avoid disturbing a god as much as possible. We would risk our own lives too." 

"Pardon me, but what sort of god is possessing me?" 

"....It is a god of netherworld. It has taken hold of your left hand....It is not a god of Japan." 

So there was no way to escape my fate. Still, I said to the Kannushi,*4

"To tell you the truth, deep down, I'm still skeptical. Because it's something I can't see." 

"Having such an attitude actually helps," replied the Kannushi. 

"But why me?" 

"It is the same as humans. They have preferences. You may have heard of the old wisdom which says that when you are favoured by a god, you have not long to live; that essentially expresses it." 

"But I am not a young woman." 

"You are more than young enough, in comparison to your true lifespan."

I went to pray at an Inari shrine*5 in my hometown, and I also go to a Masakado shrine near my house daily. 

In spite of all that, I have been noticing a strange heaviness on my right shoulder lately. 

Moreover, I started dreaming often, although I had seldom dreamed before. 

In the dream, I am always in an unknown mansion, perpetually playing the piano. 

I feel so happy that my left hand is moving, and I think I want to stay here forever. 

"You can stay here forever, if you so wish." 

Someone replies to my thought, and lies a hand on my right shoulder from behind. That is the moment when I wake up. 

I wonder if a day will come when I fail to wake up from the dream. 

-----------------------------------------

*1 Adulthood --- People in Japan attend the Coming of Age ceremony in Japan when they reach the age of 20 (See Wikipedia). But they are allowed to vote from the age of 18 due to the recent legal change (See Japan Times)

*2 Fox --- See these articles! ➡(Kitsune: The Foxy Side of Japanese Mythology),(Kitsune: Divine/Evil Fox Yokai), (6 Things You Should Know About the Inari Fox in Japanese Folklore)

*3 Masakado --- a samurai in the Heian Period, deified after his death. There are many shrines and monuments built in dedication to him, mainly to pacify his spirit and seal off his curse (See Wikipedia).Read this interesting article about Masakado's monuments in Tokyo! ➡(Japan is full of ghosts: Visiting the grave of Taira no Masakado’s head)

*4 Kannushi --- A kannushi (神主, "god master"), is a person responsible for the maintenance of a Shinto shrine (神社, jinja) as well as for leading worship of a given kami (神　god) (See Wikipedia).

*5 Innari Shrine --- An Inari shrine (稲荷神社, Inari Jinja) is a type of Japanese shrine used to worship the deity Inari. Inari is a popular deity associated with foxes, rice, household wellbeing, business prosperity, and general prosperity. Inari shrines are typically constructed of white stucco walls with red-lacquered woodwork, and their entrances are marked by vermilion torii. Shinto Inari shrines are located throughout Japan.(See Wikipedia. Also see articles at *3 Fox)

💚On Youtube:

➡(Tokyo’s Legend of Taira no Masakado Grave | Japanese Vengeful Spirit Story)

➡(Nippon TV News: A usually private Shinto ritual streamed online) 

➡(A Shinto Ritual involving archery)

➡(Oharae | Shinto Cleansing Ritual)

💛Other stories under the same category ➡(Gods)

Do Not Lose Hope

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⭐😊As always, thank you so much for leaving comments. Much love💖💖💖

(Translated and arranged by Saya)

4th December

24 hours have passed since I have been stranded in this mountain. 

It is impossible to warm myself up in such an old cabin. I feel a little cold but it is still much better than being outside. 

I know that the rescue is on its way. 

-----------

6th December 

No sign of rescue yet. 

This snowstorm is probably causing the delay.

I will continue to wait patiently. 

-----------

My watch is broken and I cannot tell the date anymore.  

I am running short of food. 

Water can be obtained from snow but hunger will be hard to bear. 

Snowstorm     not stopping 

-----------

A cold draught is coming from the door. I am glad I brought extra warm clothes with me. 

My hand shakes because of the cold and I cannot write so well, but I will not give up. 

If I give up it will mean the end of me.

-----------

It is truly unbelievable!

The vicious snowstorm stopped and it cleared up as if by a miracle. 

I was found by a rescue team. They told me it is 12th December. 

This has been one long nightmarish experience, but it is over now. I will leave this diary behind for those who may need it.

If someone gets stranded again in this cabin, and has a chance to read this diary, this is I want to say to that person:

Do not lose hope! The rescue will come! 

12th December *****

--------------------------------------------

The pen pressure got weaker and weaker with each entry, but the last message was written with such clarity and strength as to show that the writer's heart was filled with hope. 

It should be noted that, however, that the snowstorm lasted for days until 14th December, and the rescue team restarted the search only on the morning after it stopped.

The writer of this diary was never found, and he is still missing as of today.

---------------------------

Click the following links below to view more stories under the same category:
(Inexplicable)
(Inexplicable #2)
(Inexplicable #3)

➡Here is a similar story! (An Incident on a Snowy Mountain)