Episode 49: Close Encounter with an Amabie
Uncanny Japan - Japanese Folklore, Folktales, Myths and Language
English - April 01, 2020 01:31 - 13 minutes - 13.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 153 ratingsPlaces & Travel Society & Culture History hyperbolicparaboloid japan japanese japaneseculture japanesefolklore japanesefolktales japanesehistory japaneselanguage japaneseliterature japanesemyths Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
An amabie is a Japanese yokai that is said to have predicted a plague and then encouraged people to share its image to protect them from that previously predicted plague. Or something like that.
The amabie has recently been re-remembered all over Japanese social media with people posting their own adorable depictions of that long-haired, beak-faced, three-footed creature and wishing the current plague (Covid-19) to go away.
But that's not the half of it. Imagine my surprise when I learned of rumors about a mysterious glowing object was appearing just off the coast near my house. A little research and some very good friends and I was able to track down the when and where and sneak over in the dead of night and see what I could see.
Recipe for yummilicious (below) Amabie Weiners here.