Comments on: On Demonic Umbrellas and Japanese Banking

By: On Praying to a Fox in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

On Praying to a Fox in Japan | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 13:16:21 +0000

[...] spirit – kami. This connects the faith to nature and the environment, but there is a spirit within tools and the occasional machine – Shinto priests will bless a new car, for [...]

By: Shinjuku | A Broad Abroad

Shinjuku | A Broad Abroad — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 01:47:19 +0000

[...] Read “On Demonic Umbrellas and Japanese Banking” for a hilarious and informative discussion of Shinto faith: http://thisjapaneselife.org/2011/10/26/japan-atm-kasa-obake/ . [...]

By: Rosemary Mercer

Rosemary Mercer — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 22:39:56 +0000

I love your stuff Eryk. I hope you have preserved it all somewhere.
I’ve always known I had a leaning towards Zen but now I think I have more than a touch of Shinto. I once wrote a chapter on Shinto for an anthology, by default because the expert who was asked said ‘There’s no such religion’ and I would do anything for $500.
I love the attitude to tools, not so interested in the clothes.
I’m Josie’s Grandma in Wellington, NZ.

By: On Turning on the Japanese Air Conditioner | This Japanese Life. | 生命を外面九天です

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:47:05 +0000

[...] The air conditioner can inspire awe, too – and artificial objects have kami, too (see ATM machines). But the air conditioner doesn’t inspire awe, really – it just isolates you from [...]

By: Brett Sowerby

Brett Sowerby — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:49:51 +0000

When I lived in Hawaii, many of the native Hawaiians believed that your soul attempted to leave the island off the highest point (the volcano). They believed that not all spirits made the leap and stuck around by attaching themselves to the nearest object (usually depicted as a volcanic rock). To this day, people believe there are angry spirits associated with every rock you take from the volcano. The postal service receives hundreds of pounds of rocks every year from tourists who think they’ve been hexed by a ghost because they stole their rock.

By: Pattie Reaves

Pattie Reaves — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 01:30:26 +0000

Now I’m all creeped out, Eryk. Thankfully I think the oldest thing in my house might be the house itself (1942).

By: owwls

owwls — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:51:58 +0000

For the first year I was here, I bought all my clothes at thrift stores in Japan. Now I’m a little creeped out, not gonna lie.

By: Renmi

Renmi — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:29:02 +0000

My stepmom, who’s Japanese, always gets upset whenever I bring a used item into the house. “There’s maybe a spirit attached to that thing!” she always says.