Hey guys, I'm your host Tara A. Devlin, and welcome to this week's episode of Kowabana,

true Japanese scary stories from around the internet. My latest book, Me Tai Shō, Bizarre Incidence from Japan's

Past, is now out. If hearing about some of the weird, bizarre, strange and downright frightening

events from the last 100 or so years of Japanese history interests you, then do head over and check

it out right now. We also have a brand new design up in the Koobabana merchandise store. You can find that at kowabana.store. We have shirts, mugs, stickers,

masks and much more, so do check it out and help support the show at the same time.

It's almost Christmas, so this week we have a selection of strange, weird, horrifying, and even a little

heartwarming Christmas tales from Japan.

First up, a man is hired to work security at a supermarket over the Christmas period,

and while there, he runs into a rather strange woman who is, perhaps hiding a deadly secret.

Find out what in Homeless Woman.

When I was a university student, I worked part-time as a security guard, and one winter night I was patrolling a supermarket.

I'd never worked patrol before, but when I got there and spoke to the owner, he said the

supermarket was open 24 hours, so, at night, the nearby homeless people would often come in

to get warm. And so, he wanted me to remove these people from the premises so that they wouldn't ruin

the store's image.

The job was for five days, starting December 21st and ending December 25th.

On the very first day, I chased out quite a few people.

They were all hard of hearing and had trouble

walking, so it was hard to drive them out of the warmth, but that was the job. And finally,

I had to deal with a 50-year-old woman who was apparently rather well known, and the store owner

had even told me to do something about

...