Japan has ghosts; lots of them. Before I arrived, I'd never given those spooky creatures half a thought. To me, they were simply characters of myth, superstition, or somebody's imagination. My views changed when I arrived in Osaka.
One by one, my students began sharing with me their ghostly encounters--sometimes in private; other times in groups; always inexplicable.
A few cases stood out. Two female co-workers reported that, at the busy karaoke box downtown where they worked, spirits abound. "Everybody sees them", they said enthusiastically.
Then there was Sonhae Kim, who revealed that she sees ghost just as easily as she see's me sitting across the lesson table. "I mostly see them walking the streets", she said. In both cases, it was difficult for me to determine their motivation for lying.
Still there was doubt.
I later learned that WW2 had been especially gruesome for the Japanese. Beside the fact that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated by nuclear bombs, an additionally 100,000 people were killed in Tokyo by incendiary bombs designed to burn much of the city to the ground.
It did just that.
Osaka, too, was devastated with more than 10,000 civilian casualties, the dead bodies of which were publicly cremated in the middle of downtown close to where I worked, lived and played. There were so many innocent souls burned alive that this unspeakable tragedy remains difficult for me to fathom today.
I was seated on a small stool before the white board while three young adults encircled me on the black pleather sofa. As always, the mood was light and casual as we discussed the lesson point of the hour, interrupted only by the occasional honk of a passing car. As I turned my back and scribbled on the board, a comment was made.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” I asked.
"Nothing." gestured one of the students, so I turned back around and kept writing.
A female voice yelled out. It was a scolding tone. Snapping, angry, and in our mist. We all jumped in astonishment, yet the male in the group heard not a sound. The lesson ended abruptly with everyone feeling a bit rattled. As they exited my small apartment, I was nervous about being left alone. In the months that passed, the voice returned at least once or twice, leaving me to ponder even more about all the other ghosts that wander the corridors of Japan, and why.
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