Japanese student's reaction to a Ouija board

[sailorhathor]

I have a character who is a Japanese exchange student in an American college. She was raised in Japan. My question is, how would she react to seeing a Ouija board (Parker Brothers style) used for the first time? This part of the story takes place in 2004, if that's important

Comments

[aussielung]

I've not ever seen a Ouija board in Japan but also have never heard of them being banned. I would say that since Kokkuri san is more common that there is no market for the commercial sale of a Ouija board. There is a film called Kokkuri san that uses a Quija board apparently.

[aussielung]

Oh yeah. I just wanted to add that your talking about a modern Japanese teenager who would be already familiar with a Ouija Board as she would have seen it on the internet, in films etc. But Japan is traditionally a far more superstitious culture than the American one but this tends to be in the older generation and not the young although she's have some awesome ghost stories from her grandparents and parents.

[sailorhathor]

Yes, I was thinking that as long as Ouija boards/Kokkuri-san aren't banned in her home country, my character's reaction would be heehee, it's like Kokkuri-san, you actually expect to contact something with this thing?, and then when scary ghost stuff started to happen, she'd change her tune to ahhh, Oba-san was right! ;D If the boards have been banned, then her initial reaction would be a bit stronger, you know? But it isn't looking like they're banned at this point. Thanks for your input!

[sailorhathor]

I've seen Kokkuri; they use a piece of paper with Kokkuri-san style writing on it, which is extremely similar to the traditional Ouija board, but with Japanese writing and symbolism. A Japanese coin is used as the pointer. It didn't seem to be more than a teenager's game.

[blues_kun]

I found some online Japanese stores selling ouija boards, a blog mentioning it offhand as a Parker Brothers product, and the Japanese wiki page didn't say anything about illegality, so I think the person who said ouija was banned was misled. All of the information pages I read made the link with kokkuri-san, as well.

There weren't a lot a search or store results, but there were some occult hobbyist information pages. Maybe ouija boards just aren't popular in Japan.

You might ask japanese if any of them know more, as a lot of them have been to Japan to study and spent time around high school or college students.

[sailorhathor]

Thank you so much for looking that all up! Do you have a link to a Japanese store that sells boards? I'd like to look at the pictures to see what they offer; are they just Parker Brothers style boards or other types?

Ooooooh, new community to check out! Thanks!

[blues_kun]

This is the store, it's just a Yahoo marketplace store catering to young women with a section on magical crap and fortune-telling supplies and Wiccan herbal banishing oil and so on. These things are described on the site as occult items. They also sell tarot cards and goth stuff. They're selling a glow in the dark board, I'm guessing it's a Parker Brothers one. It's worth noting that this thing is 4800 yen on sale and 8300 regularly, that's a lot for a board game. It might be imported from America or some other Western nation.

[sailorhathor]

Yeah, that's a Parker Brothers board with the added bonus that it glows in the dark. I'm pretty sure you can get that in America, too. Thanks, this helps a lot!

[anonymous]

I looked at all possible sources about Ouija (ウィジャボード) in Japan and there's no word about it being banned in Japan. Ouija is not that popular or interesting by the look of it. It's mostly seen in English horror movies and Korean horror movies (Korean version: Bunshinsaba).

Your Japanese student's possible reaction may be similar to an American student's reaction to Tarot. The reputation of Tarot in America is similar to the reputation of Ouija in Japan. Some curiosity, some blase and some nervousness. Various. Mostly, "Eh, what's that? It looks harmless. So what?" Unless your Japanese student is familiar with American and Korean movies.

The reputation of ghosts in the public restrooms in Japan is similar to the reputation of Ouija in America. A lot of nervousness and suspicion.

[sailorhathor]

Thank you for your input! I've seen Bunshinsaba (the horror movie); I get a big kick out of seeing how Ouija boards are different and how they're the same from country to country.

Yes, that's pretty much how I thought my character should react. She's heard stories about these things being "dangerous," but she's dubious until something actually happens. I was thinking that her reaction would be stronger if the boards had been banned back home, but it's looking like they're not at this point.