Story Today’s ghost story is a touching tale from “Patrick” of Laos: I was raised in Laos by my mother and her family. Since my parents had always had a bad relationship they divorced shortly after my birth, and since my father was a foreigner I never had more than a passing relationship with him or his family and that [...]

Some time ago I posted about Tama, a cat in Japan who has been granted the title of station master at a small train station. Well, Tama recently got promoted- to SIR TAMA! Sir Tama! While the article refers to Tama as a ‘he’, I have to wonder if someone didn’t do their kitty-sexing homework…since calicos are invariably female. I [...]

A Japanese man wants to marry an unnamed comic book character, and have it all nice and legal. Seriously… That’s a good idea, because I bet those superhero leagues have great insurance and if you’re legally married you can get on the plan! If this law is passed, I can move to Japan and marry Batou from Ghost in the [...]

Today’s ghost story is a classic Japanese folk tale; this version is taken from Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan. He titled it “A Dead Secret”: A DEAD SECRET A long time ago, in the province of Tamba (1), there lived a rich merchant named Inamuraya Gensuke. He had a daughter called O-Sono. As she was very clever and pretty, he thought it [...]

My short story “Noble Calling” is printed in the newest issue of A Thousand Faces, a totally amazing superhero fiction journal that has incredible writing every single issue (so I have no idea why they accepted me…). The editor, Frank Byrns, even said something nice about me in the introduction! Neat! The Intro! The Story!

Today’s totally creepy Asian ghost story comes from the Phillipines. It is about people getting drunk and seeing a scary floating lady (hmmm…maybe the alcohol had something to do with it?) but the story is nice and shivery all the same.  Sorry for the pic; Martha Stewart/Good Housekeeping Halloween decorations aren’t usually my thing but the picture was a good [...]

A 41-year old man has been charged with copyright violation for creating and selling a replica Juken Sentai Gekirenja costume, scaring the bejeezus out of the Japanese cosplay community – which operates entirely to replicate copyrighted works. Then again, if this means I won’t have to see overweight bearded dudes cosplaying as Sailor Moon at conventions anymore, then I’m down. [...]

Despite recent comments made by newly minted Japanese PM Taro Aso that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il ‘…may be hospitalized’, Japanese intelligence reportedly has no ‘effing clue where the sumbitch is. Not that it matters, really, whether he’s dead or not – as journalist Christopher Hitchens likes to point out, North Korea is ruled by dead people already. You may [...]

Man, if you believe the headlines these days, it looks like Japanese comics are the new video games. Prosecutors making the case against a pair of Italian students indicted in the murder of 21-year old Meredith Kercher made sideline allegations that the killers may have drawn inspiration from the manga Blood: The Last Vampire. While there’s no shortage of sexual [...]

Well, it looks like somebody got something useful out of the Star Wars prequel flicks. A malaysian man was recently arrested for attempting to kill his neighbor by unleashing a number of potentially venemous centipedes (and other bugs) on him. Perhaps the victim had a pair of vigilant Jedi standing outside his bedroom? A Malaysian man has been accused of [...]

If you’ve been reading YM for a while, you might be aware that I am a fan of all things paranormal- from ghosts to UFOs to werewolves. With my favorite holiday coming up on Friday, I’ve decided to post one creepy Asian ghost story every day until Halloween. This tale of love and death and love in death and deathly [...]

[rating:4] On October 15th and 16th Viz released into theaters the second live-action Death Note movie, following up its May theatrical release of the first film. My review of the second live-action Death Note movie is going to be much like my review of the first. Death Note II: The Last Name is a direct continuation of the first movie, [...]

Warner Brothers has snagged the rights to make a live-action version of Madhouse’s classic film Ninja Scroll. Eh? Oddly enough, I really don’t feel anything in particular about this. Hollywood has snagged live-action rights to so many anime lately (most of which have languished in Pre-Production Hell) that the news no longer makes me annoyed as it once did.

Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso, better known as the Dalai Lama, has apparently given up hope that China will come to some sort of agreement on Tibet. I can’t say I’m surprised. China is supremely recalcitrant, especially with regards to land masses they consider to be their property – and the Dalai Lama is nothing if not a realist. One [...]

This interview with Star Trek alumnus William Shatner (and since he was dis-invited to appear in J.J. Abrams Star Trek, I suppose we can refer to him thusly…) gets all passive-aggressive on George Takei about his former co-star’s recent wedding. Invited or not, Shatner clearly has some deep-seated issues with Takei. He rails on about Takei’s decision to come out [...]