Talk:Japanese urban legends

WP:Japan Assessment Commentary

I'm sorry to say this, but this article is quite disappointing. Style is terrible, content is terrible, and title is misleading. I assessed it as Stub because there was almost no new meaningful information. I evaluated it as Mid-importance based on the title and the supposed content, or what the content should be under that title. Here are my thoughts for improvement:

• Lead section - Needs to be scrapped and re-written. The Lead should summarize the rest of the article, such that a reader can get a general idea and decide if he wants to read more in-depth. The Lead should not start by explaining what's wrong with use of terms. Put that in the body under the heading "Background" or "Terminology" or something.
• So the difference between traditional folklore and modern myths is explained; then the article describes a few traditional mythical figures. There are other articles that deal with each creature, and one that treats the overall topic more in-depth. Except for maybe one example (say, the yuki-onna) delete all that material.
• Then we get to the taxi driver; fine, now we're into modern/urban legends (though sounds more like a made-up story; if the driver died after going over the cliff, who started the legend that he had a fare giving him directions?). The account of the kuchisake-onna relates how a traditional myth has evolved with the times; good. Then there's Toire no Hanako-san; there's no explanation of what the words mean, the cultural significance of the name Hanako, and there's the misleading statement that the ghost is found "in every elementary school in Japan" (strange that I never heard this in the 6 or 7 elementary schools where I taught). There's also no background on the story, like when it began, foundation in the truth (not about the ghost, about the possibility that a girl named Hanako committed suicide in a restroom after bullying), etc.
• Correct the occasional use of contractions.
• Last, urban legends are often believed to be real. Has there ever been an urban legend reported by media sources as if it were a real concern? Has a corporation ever have to issue a statement to counter the marketing effects of bad publicity of an urban legend? (I'm thinking of the Pop Rocks and cola urban legend.

In its present form, this article is more like a freshman essay than an encyclopedia entry. Boneyard90 (talk) 12:39, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

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Sources

Better sourcing would be helpful. Instead of sources that merely repeat the legend without providing a way to pursue the subject further, we should be using folkloristic sources where they can be found. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 17:21, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

疲れたジャック or Tired Jack

This is an urban legend behind the story 疲れたジャック which translates roughly to tired jack. This story begins when the farming industry was at its primary state. Farmers worked all day to pick, plant, sell, and send crops. There was one farmer in particular that was rather bad tempered and, well to put it simply haughty. This arrogance led him to act as though the was the boss of everyone and everything, two farmers in particular were fed up with it. They made a scarecrow that resembled the arrogant farmer and had his name written sloppily on a piece of paper pinned to its head. Everyday when they felt over worked by jack they would beat the scarecrow wishing they could beat the real jack in the same manner. One day one of the farmers saw the scarecrow laugh and move and became so scared he no longer beat it, let alone come near it. The other merely laughed at him. Then jack saw what the farmers were doing oneday and attempted to burn the scarecrow, instead it came to life just as it had before and burned him in its place. Now tired jack threatens to kill anyone that comes near it, just as he killed the farmer that did not believe the other. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaime son (talk • contribs) 15:59, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Are these urban legends or ghost stories?

The vast majority of this article (the "Supernatural legends" section) seems to deal with ghost stories rather than urban legends, and many of the article's sources use the term "ghost stories" as well. Although some of the sources also use "urban legend", the stories don't seem to fit Wikipedia's definition of urban legend. What gives? —  AjaxSmack  18:15, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

Urban legend and ghost story are connected. But, I am aware they aren’t the same. This could be due to differences culture. like some of these “urban legends” might have just been a story made up that no Japanese person took seriously. But, when westerners read the story they turned it into a legend.CycoMa (talk) 18:18, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

Exactly. —  AjaxSmack  18:45, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

I am aware there are indeed some stories that are considered urban legends and taken seriously by Japanese. Like the urban legend of the silt mouth woman was taken seriously by Japanese people.CycoMa (talk) 18:52, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

Coconut

Aka Manto Is Urban Legend 120.29.78.93 (talk) 09:59, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

why is hachishakusama not on wikipedia?

hachishakusama, also known as the eight feet woman or tall woman, is a japanese urban legend about that is gained over the years, this eerie tale envolves a mysterious and scary entity that is said the stalk and prey upon children. the legend describes an imposobly talll woman inspector with pale skin and long black hair, she wears a white hat and dress, and sometimes going barefoot. Tia normie (talk) 00:49, 27 June 2024 (UTC)