AltJapan

Yokai Attack: the eBook!

Great news! The ebook edition of Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide is finally here. It's available both on Amazon for both Kindle and iPad/iPhone, and also on Kobo for those of you who roll that way.

We'll always be partial to the paper edition, but the ebook really shines for the illustrations. Not only does it display Tatsuya Morino's awesome illustrations at a super huge, screen-filling size - like this "Nue" below - but it also allows you to zoom in to see them in all of their cross-hatched glory.

Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide has been available as an ebook since last year, and of course the paper editions of all three books in the Attack! trilogy are on sale too. (The ebook of Ninja Attack! will be sneaking into an ebook reader near you soon.)

How to Survive a Kappa Attack

A few weeks back, I prepared a 5-minute slideshow on How to Survive a Kappa Attack for hordes of drunken visitors to Pecha Kucha Night at the now-closed Heineken Star Bar in Harajuku. The trick with Pecha Kucha talks is their speed: speakers get only 20 slides of just 20 seconds duration each to make their point.

My point was how dangerous Japan's single most famous yokai can be - and how to save your butt (literally). Not only has Pecha Kucha made it available online, it's been selected as the Presentation of the Day. So bust out the cucumbers and take a look!

The Ghosts of Christmas Present

This season, why not give the gift of total frickin' terror? The Yurei Attack ebook is here, satisfying all of your portable, digital Japanese ghost-hunting needs. In fact, you can download it from the Kindle Store instantly. That means you've never been closer to the ghosts of Yurei Attack than right this very second. Kind of spooky, when you think about it.

Yokai Attack! and Ninja Attack! ebooks to follow soon... Stay tuned for details! 

Yokai Attack Hong Kong!

Attention Hong Kong readers! I will be presenting about yokai in both English and Japanese (with Cantonese simultaneous intepretation) at the Japan Media Arts Festival in Hong Kong on December 8, 2012. It's being held at Taikoo Plaza. For more details, check out the official website. See you in Hong Kong!

Ghost Army

Tuttle's Language Omnivore blog is raffling off a free copy of "Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide." It's only happening this Friday - enter here to win!

 

From Shinkichi, With Love

Be afraid. Be... sort of afraid

 

Yurei Attack: The Movie! ...Well, trailer, anyway.

Yurei Metropolis

Yurei Attack haunts this week's Metropolis, with a custom Shinkichi cover and an exclusive excerpt inside! Ever wonder why summer is the spook season in Japan? Knowing is half the battle.

Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide

 

BE AFRAID. Lock the doors and hide the kids. The yurei are coming.

But don't worry, because Hiroko and I just wrote Yurei Attack! The Japanese Ghost Survival Guide. It's the sequel to Yokai Attack! and Ninja Attack! It's coming out in just a few months from Tuttle Publishing. And it's available for pre-order on Amazon right now!

Yurei Attack! is the world's first English-language survival manual for Japanese ghosts. It gets you through encounters with Japan's angriest ghosts and sexy spectres. Guides you to haunted places in Tokyo and beyond. Teaches you traditional games of the occult and how to play them. It even gives you a guided tour of what awaits in the world of the dead.

Yurei is the Japanese word for "ghost." They are the souls of the dead unable - or unwilling - to shuffle off this mortal coil. They are driven by emotions so uncontrollably powerful that they have taken on a life of their own: rage. Sadness. Devotion. Revenge. Or even the simple belief that they are still alive. Many are considered dangerous even today.

Scary stuff to be sure. Equally terrifying are the illustrations by lovely lady manga artist Shinkichi, with layouts by the equally lovely Andrew Lee.

So how's this different from Yokai Attack? Glad you asked. Although they're often conflated, yurei and yokai are very different beasts. Yokai are a "something." Yurei are a "someone." Someone with an axe to grind... Usually right against your neck.

Hiroko and I spent years conducting field research in some of Japan's spookiest places, and we've compiled detailed illustrated dossiers on 39 of the most frightening spirits in Japan, along with real-life haunted spots, occult games like Kokkuri-san and Hyakumonogatari, and even an illustrated tour of the underworld itself. It is your complete guide to the Japanese occult and afterlife.

Trust us: it's the last guidebook to Japan you'll ever need. Just don't blame us if you have to sleep with the lights on for a while.

More good news! Tuttle is also releasing new revised editions of Yokai Attack! and Ninja Attack! with all-color pages and additional new profiles. Stay tuned for more info!