August 6, 2025
TOKYO – Ghost stories, called “kaidan” in Japanese, are enjoying a quiet boom in the country. Live performances by popular ghost storytellers attract large crowds, and paperbacks featuring ghost stories are regularly published. Experts say that the boom has been fueled by YouTube and anxiety about the future of society.
Popular after COVID-19
“I’ll share a somewhat strange story.”
In March, ghost storyteller Murakami Rock, 47, began speaking slowly to customers under dim, purple-red lighting at Thriller Night, a bar in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district that features live ghost storytelling.
Murakami’s performance opened with a description of a strange experience he heard about from a man in his 40s.
The bar decorated with creepy dolls and other strange items in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
In the story, the man moves into a new apartment in Tokyo and starts to experience strange things in it a few days later. The apartment, which was built on land that had been vacant for nearly 50 years, has something very wrong with it. At one point, the story takes a spine-chilling turn. Murakami’s skillful storytelling captivated the audience, who found themselves screaming in terror.
The bar’s main attraction is that customers can enjoy ghost stories while drinking alcohol. The interior is decorated with eerie Western dolls, skeletons and other creepy items, creating a spooky atmosphere. Every day, the bar attracts many customers wanting to hear ghost stories told live, giving it a reputation for providing “amazing experiences.”
Murakami, who said he was a “struggling actor,” became a storyteller specializing in ghost stories in 2014. His popularity got a boost thanks to performances that he streamed on YouTube beginning in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bar decorated with creepy dolls and other strange items in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
“The response was huge,” Murakami said. “As soon as the pandemic subsided, the bar started getting many customers.” He is now a highly sought-after ghost storyteller, getting requests to perform from all over the country.
The publishing industry is also enjoying the ghost story boom.
Takeshobo Co., for example, publishes the “Takeshobo Kaidan Bunko” (ghost story paperback) series, releasing five books a month. The series specializes in ghost stories that are based on the authors’ own experiences or the accounts of others.
Yoriko Ogawa, deputy editor-in-chief, explains that ghost-themed videos and ghost story gatherings have become popular since the pandemic. “Many readers are impressed by the fact that the people who experienced the events actually exist, which gives the events a sense of realness and authenticity,” Ogawa said.
Ghost story culture in Edo
PHOTO: THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
The history of ghost stories in Japan started many years ago. Some ghost stories are already found in “Konjaku Monogatari-shu,” a collection of old tales from the Heian period (794 to late 12th century).
Ghost story culture flourished during the Edo period (1603-1867). Some ghost stories were adapted into kabuki plays that gained popularity among common people. “Yotsuya Kaidan” (The ghost story of Yotsuya) based mainly on rumors that spread in Edo, now Tokyo, is among those stories.
According to Prof. Yoshiyuki Iikura, a folklorist at Kokugakuin University who is knowledgeable about ghost stories, death was a frequent occurrence in everyday life during the medieval period due to wars and epidemics. In the era of peace that followed, death became more of a distant concept. As a result, people began to be scared by ghost stories, which relate to death, and even enjoy them for entertainment.
Prof. Iikura said: “Ghost stories didn’t flourish during times of war. People only started enjoying them when there was no more immediate threat to their lives.”
Many ghost stories from the Edo period, such as “Yotsuya Kaidan,” feature oppressed women who become ghosts and seek revenge against powerful men.
“Although society in the late Edo period was stable, there was a sense of stagnation, and common people were anxious about the future,” Prof. Iikura said. “They sought to vent their frustrations through ghost stories.”
‘Real-life ghost stories’ in 1990s
People today may share a mindset of using ghost stories to distract themselves from anxiety.
Ghost story researcher Yuki Yoshida, 44, says that the recent boom began in the 1990s, when “school ghost stories” became popular in books and films. Then “real-life ghost stories” based on personal experiences emerged and went mainstream.
The collapse of the bubble economy, which filled people with anxiety about the future, coincided with the growing popularity of ghost stories.
“Ghost stories depict a mysterious and unstable world,” Yoshida said. “That’s why they resonate with unstable social climates and easily attract people.”
He added, “They evoke a certain sense, suggesting that this world is not the only one, that there might be another world out there.”
Awe of deceased in disaster areas
Ghost stories have also become an important bridge, connecting the memories of deceased loved ones with the feelings of those living today.
Prof. Kiyoshi Kanebishi, an expert of disaster sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University, compiled a book titled “Yobisamasareru Reisei no Shinsaigaku” (Awakened Spirituality in Earthquake Disaster Studies) with his seminar students and had it published by Shin-yo-sha Publishing Ltd. while working at Tohoku Gakuin University.
The book includes accounts of ghost sightings in areas affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In Ishinomaki, a city in Miyagi Prefecture affected by the disaster, several taxi drivers said they had “ghost” passengers after the earthquake.
A common thread in these narratives is that the people involved felt Lemore awe or kindness toward the ghosts than fear. Some people have visited the locations where the ghosts are said to have appeared in hopes of sensing the presence of their missing loved ones.
“In disaster-affected areas, ghosts are treated thoughtfully,” Prof. Kanebishi said. “Unusual phenomena involving the appearance of deceased people are viewed as relatively common events.”
One possible reason for the emergence of ghost stories is that the unprecedented quake resulted in a huge number of missing people. Many surviving families have had difficulty sending their loved ones off to the afterlife and calming their souls.
“The feelings of the families of missing people have not settled down,” Prof. Kanebishi said. “I want people to understand that those in disaster-affected areas have a different perception of ghost stories from the typical perception involving curses and evil spirits.”