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audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your offer. This week, I'm going to recommend Quaidon by

Lafcadio Hearn. We're going to be talking about this book a lot this week,

and it is a classic as one of the first books in English to deal with Japanese culture.

Specifically, it's got some great discussion of supernatural stories from Japan,

and if you've never read it before, now's a really good chance.

So, go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your offer. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast.

Episode 75, Quaidan.

When I was planning out this week's episode, I noticed that our release day would be All Saints Day 2014, the day after Halloween.

So I figured we should do something appropriately spooky.

Then I figured it would be a good chance to tell two stories I couldn't really think of a way to fit anywhere else, both of which would fit that kind of theme really well.

So, this week's episode is going to have three parts.

First, I'm going to tell you a story of an American who went to Japan and found himself,

among other things, collecting Japanese stories of the supernatural to present them

to Western audiences.

Second, I'm going to talk about a specific type of yokey or spirit in Japanese folklore, the Yukyona,

or Snow Woman.

...