Absolutely fantastic book, you can feel the care and love the author/ narrator has put into the work. She takes you on a fantastic voyage through Yokai, demons, monsters, and the uncanny. Through her own personal experiences making the stories come from a place where you feel like your sitting in a tea house listening to her tel tales to the community on a rainy night.

coming back to this later

This is an interesting read. I like how each of the stories were broken down- pronunciation, brief explanation and story then references in pop culture. This made it easy to digest the stories. I do feel that it is not a book to read from cover to cover. It tends to repeat details which I understand if you are new but when reading the book all the way through it felt like it was tedious. I loved the idea of just picking this up and flipping through it and the illustrations were gorgeous I wish there was more maybe one for each story.

A good beginner book for those interested in Japanese folklore.

 Lighthearted, slightly silly, informative, and charming. This is one of those non-fiction, kind of fiction books that hits all the marks.

The Book of Japanese Folklore tells you the stories, history, and cultural context of spirits, monsters, and yokai in Japanese myth. 

Honestly, this kind of book is right up my street. As a 90s kid growing up watching a mix of Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon, I now eat up anything Japanese-related. Especially if it involves mythology and folklore.

Let’s just say it scratched that itch.

Each section within the book has just enough detail to feel like you've absorbed the information, but not so much that it's hard to follow. 

Plus, I’m not sure there's anything better than learning about mythology and looking at some of the most gorgeous illustrations I’ve seen. They’re colourful, fun, and absolutely necessary.

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