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.

The latest book in the Daykan series, Volume 3, is now out.

If you'd like to learn more about some of Japan's most haunted and dangerous spots,

then this is the book for you.

You can find all sorts of abandoned shrines, hospitals, parks,

and even lesser-known places you wouldn't even think could be haunted.

That's Nekan, the Most Haunted Locations in Japan, Volume 3. Out now.

This week, we're looking at a selection of tales from the Chugoku region of Japan,

the westernmost part of the main island of Honshu, and also the area where I lived for a decade.

As such, these stories are somewhat familiar and special to me.

We'll eventually be taking a tour all over Japan's different regions in different episodes,

but to kick today's off, we're heading to a place very familiar to me, Tot-Tori Prefecture.

A small village close to Mount Dysen has a very strange custom that continues to this day,

but is there any truth to the superstitions behind it?

Find out in The Strange Custom.

This story comes from the area where my mother's family lives.

Our family home is in a really remote location, with the Sea of Japan in front and Mount Dysen right

behind it. And there, they've long had a strange custom. Once a year, I won't say when,

to avoid identification. Everyone in the village gathers at the community centre before sundown,

and they stay there all night until dawn.

But it's a bit weird.

...