Toshiden: Exploring Japanese Urban Legends: Volume One

by Tara A. Devlin

  White noise

  They say that if you keep watching the white noise after a broadcast has ended it will drive you crazy, or in some cases even kill you.

  ABOUT

  Japanese free-to-air channels tend to finish airing programs around 2 or 3 in the morning. After that you get a lot of white noise and “broadcast has ended for the day” colour bars. The idea that something subliminal may be hiding in white noise isn’t unique to Japan, and there are several legends of videos or broadcasts that are designed to cause people to have a fit or freak out. Who could forget the Pokemon episode that was pulled from the air after children were reported to have epileptic fits while watching?

  FURTHER WHITE NOISE

  Another legend featuring some late night white noise goes as follows:

  There perhaps aren’t many people who enjoy watching the white noise after a channel has finished airing programs for the day, but occasionally you can see some extremely perverted images in it. Apparently they do this as a cheap way of drawing in people’s interest.

  According to this legend, the white noise after a channel has finished broadcasting for the day isn’t just that. They occasionally slip in lewd images to keep people watching, just on the off-chance they might see something for free. While this is highly unlikely (there are no sponsors broadcast at this time of night, thus no need for viewers), there was reportedly an incident in the past involving a night guard who was watching an adult video and accidentally broadcast it over the TV network…

  NNN special broadcast

  About 15 years ago, at 2:30 in the morning, I turned the TV on and there was nothing but coloured bars. ‘Ah, I guess nothing’s on at this time. Maybe I should go to sleep…’ I thought, when suddenly the picture changed and there was something like a garbage processing plant on the TV.

  A caption appeared saying, “NNN special broadcast,” and the processing plant continued to display in the background. ‘What’s this?’ I thought and watched it a little more. Names started to scroll up the screen like a staff roll call, and the voiceover read them out in a flat tone. Some dark classical music played in the background, and it went on for about five minutes.

  Then finally at the end a single sentence was displayed. “These are tomorrow’s victims, good night.”

  Ever since then I’ve been terrified of late night broadcasts. Nobody around me will believe what I saw…

  ABOUT

  A broadcast that appears out of nowhere. A strange processing plant in the background with dark classical music playing over the top. Names that scroll up for five minutes, only to have it revealed in the end that “These are tomorrow’s victims. Good night.” This story took the supernatural corners of the Japanese web by storm when it came out, and as you may have guessed by the style, it was originally published on 2chan. Unlike most urban legends, but very like 2chan stories, this one is told in first person, a supposed direct experience the author had.

  THE TRUTH

  NNN is a real-life station: the Nippon News Network. It’s unknown whether the NNN in the legend is supposed to be the same one, a local station, or just a string of letters that seem creepy. There’s one particular part of the story that stands out as a red flag, however, something that may not be clear at first glance. If you’ve ever looked at a TV guide or watched TV in Japan, you’ll notice they tend to refer to late night programs as starting at 25:00 or 26:30. They take army time to the extreme, with 25:00 being 1 a.m., 26:30 being 2:30 a.m., and so on for all times before broadcasts end for the day. The reason for this is that it’s believed using the words “yesterday, today, tomorrow” are confusing after midnight. If you haven’t gone to sleep yet, then 10 minutes ago isn’t really yesterday, is it? And if someone says “tomorrow” after midnight, does that mean when I wake up, or the next day on the 24 hour calendar?

  So, when the special broadcast says that “these are tomorrow’s victims”… when is tomorrow? A few hours from now, or over 24 hours away? It’s not something a broadcast is likely to say; a news report would give the exact date to avoid such confusion. So rather than “these are tomorrow’s victims” you would be more likely to hear “these are the victims for April 23,” for example.

  Obviously, an exact date doesn’t make for a good scary story, but it’s worth keeping in mind for an urban legend people spread on the notion that it might be true.

  NHK SHAME LIST

  A vaguely related rumour has it that late at night, after all their TV shows have finished for the day, NHK occasionally broadcasts a list of names. Rather than being a list of victims who are to die the next day, however, this is a list of shame. It’s a list of all the people who haven’t paid their NHK fees.

  While NHK is a public channel, you must pay to view it if you own a TV. You don’t have a choice in the matter, even if you don’t watch NHK, and their salesmen aren’t too dissimilar to loan sharks out to collect debts when it comes to making sure you pay up. They hassle people incessantly, constantly visiting your house, calling, sending letters, contacting your family and so on. They don’t give up, and the law is on their side. Type in “NHK salesman” into Google and you’ll see what I mean.

  But many people still try to avoid paying fees for a channel they may never watch, and with how famous their tactics are for getting that money they’re owed, this legend popped up as a joke, making fun of their money-grabbing ways.

  Jokes

  The scariest story of all

  Four youths went on a trip to Malaysia during the summer vacation and stayed in a famous high-rise hotel. Furthermore, their room was on the 100th floor with an amazing view, so the four youths were extremely pleased.

  That night they dropped by the front desk on their way out to see the nightlife.

  “Today the elevator will be undergoing maintenance, so please make sure you’re back before midnight. After that you’ll be unable to use the elevator until morning,” the front desk clerk told them.

  Even so, the four youths soon forgot what he said and partied the night away, not returning to the hotel until 1 a.m. Of course, all the elevators were out of order, so they were forced to use the stairs to reach their room on the 100th floor.

  They ascended the dark, silent stairs, and as they struggled their way to the 50th floor one of the youths suggested, “Hey, why don’t we tell a scary story for each floor we climb?” Everyone agreed, and they climbed the stairs to the sound of each other’s scary tales. They got so wrapped up that they forgot about their tiredness, and before they knew it they reached the 99th floor.

  “Phew, finally the next floor is the last one. Alright, the last story is mine. Listen closely, this one is so scary that I don’t want you falling over and hurting yourself.”

  The last youth to tell a story said this with such a serious face that the other three drew in closer, full of interest, and tried to hurry him alone.

  “Okay, okay, just tell us already!”

  “Well, you see… I forgot to pick up the room key from the front desk on the first floor…”

  ABOUT

  The story first popped up around 2000, although in the original version it was five university students visiting Singapore for a holiday over New Year’s. They’re told the electricity will be turned off in the hotel at midnight because of the Y2K bug, so they need to be back before then. They get back to the hotel too late, however, and everything is dark. It’s too cold to sleep in the hotel lobby, so they decide to walk all the way to their room on the 100th floor. It then proceeds the same (although for some reason, perhaps a typo in the original story, the five students become four) and ends with the last person revealing he forgot to pick up the key.

  While the story may have worked around the time of the Y2K bug, there were still too many inconsistencies in the original version. Why was it too cold to sleep in the lobby? Why did one member of the group disappear without ever being mentioned again? Even for a problem such as the Y2K bug it seems strange that a hotel would turn off all its el
ectricity to deal with it. As such, the story was changed and became the version above that is more well-known now.

  Barometer

  A professor at a certain university received a new barometer. During physics class that day he turned to the students and said, “I want you to use this barometer and measure how high we are right now.”

  Several students were baffled at this sudden problem, but then one male student rose to the challenge. He took the barometer, walked over to the classroom window and dropped it.

  “1… 2… 3…” He started counting. Then when the barometer hit the ground, he measured the time it took and was accurately able to tell the professor the building’s height.

  ABOUT

  This legend also exists in English where the student is said to be Niels Bohr and the problem was a question on a physics exam. Other versions include tying the barometer to a string and lowering it, or measuring shadow from the sun’s movement. The question itself is meant to demonstrate that there’s often more than one way to correctly answer a question, even if the way of going about it was not what the professor had in mind. At some point it made its way to Japan as well and is now a famous joke legend.

  The doctor’s powers of observation

  A professor was holding a lecture at a certain university. He indicated to some paper cups used for urinary analysis and said, “Now that you are doctors, you need to have sharp observational skills. I’ve prepared several samples of urine here. In order to test whether someone has diabetes or not, I do this.” He stuck his index finger in the cup of urine and then turned to the students with his tongue out, licking his finger.

  “How about you? Do you think you could do this?” he asked, satisfied with himself.

  One student who intensely disliked losing made his way to the front of the class and stuck his index finger in the cup, just like the professor did. He then triumphantly licked his finger in front of everyone, but this made the professor smile even more.

  “It would seem that your powers of observation as a doctor are still lacking. I put my index finger into the cup, but I licked my middle finger. I couldn’t imagine licking something as dirty as another person’s urine.”

  ABOUT

  It’s thought this legend originated from a story told about Joseph Bell, the man who inspired Sherlock Holmes. A similar story was told about one of his classes involving a nasty tasting medicine rather than urine, however. While most versions of this legend take place in a medical school, a variation exists in Hokkaido that takes place in an agricultural university involving cow urine instead.

  The Japanese man with poor English skills

  One day a Japanese businessman was sent to America on business. He went to the ticket window to buy a ticket for the subway, but his English skills were weak and he didn’t know what to say.

  In the end he tried to tell the person where he wanted to go. “To OO.” But the attendant mistook “to” for “two” and gave him two tickets.

  Panicked, the man then said, “For OO.” This time the attendant gave him four tickets.

  At a complete loss, the man unwittingly sighed, “etto…” The attendant gave him eight tickets.

  ABOUT

  The subways in New York differ to Japan in that a one-way ticket in NY always costs the same price, regardless of where you’re going. In Japan, the subway is charged by station, just like regular trains. So while the man was trying to tell the attendant where he wanted to go, that was of no concern to her. The joke explains itself in both languages, with the last “etto” being the sound Japanese people make when they’re thinking, much like “hmm” or “aah” in English. It also sounds very similar to how Japanese people pronounce the word “eight” in English. This legend serves as a reminder to Japanese people travelling overseas that it’s not just the language you should be careful about, but customs and general knowledge as well.

  Foreigner at the sushi restaurant

  A foreigner went into a sushi restaurant and sat on a stool by the counter. All the restaurant’s sushi was made fresh and the man stuffed his cheeks, one after the other. When he couldn’t eat any more, he recalled the Japanese he’d just learnt and asked for the bill.

  “Master, ikura?”

  The master placed a plate of salmon roe (ikura) before him.

  The man quietly ate the sushi, seeing no other way around it. This time he tried some English he thought the Japanese man might understand.

  “How much?”

  This time the master put down a plate of amberjack (hamachi).

  ABOUT

  Just like the Japanese businessman trying to get subway tickets in America, this joke plays on language puns. In the first instance, the foreigner asks in Japanese, “Ikura?” which means “How much?” But ikura also means salmon roe, a popular sushi dish, so that’s what he gets instead. His next attempt with “How much?” in English results in him receiving hamachi, another popular Japanese dish.

  This story is often told in English lessons starting from junior high school all the way up to university level. It usually involves an American friend of the Japanese English teacher, although unsurprisingly no foreigners asked about the question claim to have ever heard of the story.

  Crime

  Aokigahara suicide hunters

  To the north-west of Mt. Fuji lies the Aokigahara sea of trees. With an area of 30 square kilometres, it rivals the entire inside of the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. There are camping areas and nature parks, and paths for walkers that cut through the forest as well. The scenery is beautiful, and it’s a popular sightseeing spot. But Aokigahara is such a thick, dense forest that if you leave the path for just a moment, it can be very difficult to find your way back. For that reason it has become famous as a “suicide spot,” and not far from the walking trails people often find the dead bodies of those who have killed themselves, or the physical possessions they have left behind.

  Every year people make their way to Aokigahara in an attempt to end their lives, but there is another group of people who visit the area with a different goal in mind. They are the terrifying “murder enthusiasts,” and their goal is the people who plan to commit suicide. These strange creatures experience pleasure in the killing of others, and they come to the sea of trees in order to kill those already planning to end their lives. By the time bodies are found in Aokigahara, usually so long has passed that they’ve turned to nothing but bone, and it becomes near impossible to tell if they were murdered or not, so the existence of this murder enthusiasts is unlikely to be discovered.

  ABOUT

  Aokigahara, as stated in the above legend, lies to the north-west of Mount Fuji and covers an area of 30 square kilometres of densely packed forest. It’s also known as the Sea of Trees, and when seen from above you can easily see why. The forest floor is made up of mostly volcanic rock from Mount Fuji’s last explosion over 1000 years ago, and has long been home to tales of ghosts and evil spirits. It’s so dense and everything looks the same, no matter what direction you go in, that people get lost every year and often don’t make it back out. This has made it the perfect suicide spot, and it’s often referred to as the most popular suicide spot in Japan.

  So how did this legend come about? While details are scarce on the exact timeline of when this legend first appeared, it’s not too difficult to see how it came about. It’s a situation that brings about the perfect crime. Every year hundreds of people go to Aokigahara to end their lives. For a lot of people this means they tie up all their loose ends first before entering the forest, never planning to return. With how easy it is to get lost in the forest, and the large number of undiscovered dead bodies still in there today, who is to say that some of them weren’t actually murdered instead? For someone who enjoys the thrill of the kill, there’s no better target and no better place.

  But how grounded in reality is it? Of course it’s possible there are murderers taking advantage of the situation to satisfy their bloodlust, but it’s also highly unlikely. Ther
e are several walking trails throughout Aokigahara dotted with picnic spots. However, the moment you leave the trail the forest becomes incredibly dense, the forest floor uneven, and the scenery unchanging. This is why it’s become the preferred spot for people to kill themselves. Once you go in, you’re not coming back out. It stands to reason that this would be likely for those looking to murder as well. If we suppose these murder enthusiasts follow people in, people who have no intention of returning, how do they get back out themselves?

  There’s a common urban legend that states that compasses don’t work in Aokigahara because of the volcanic rock floor. It’s true that if you place a compass on the forest floor, it will align itself somewhat with the natural magnetic pull in the rocks, but it’s untrue that they don’t work at all. Compasses work just fine, and at best only waver a degree or two. GPS also works perfectly fine. This is pretty much the only way someone hoping to enter the forest and come back out alive can do it, so some fairly specialised equipment and a good knowledge of the area (which is full of caves and other potholes) is essential.

  Is it possible that people are killing others and nobody knows? Sure. Is it likely? Not really. Of all the bodies recovered from the forest over the years, there have never been any reports of foul play.