Caught Red-handed!

According to Yokai Finder, there are two other Miyagi-based Yokai but when I read their respective articles, I couldn't pinpoint where exactly and they were relegated to other prefectures. Soooo, I've decided to move onto Miyagi's neighbour to the south, Fukushima. Not only had I lived there for three years, I visit there at least thrice a year. Most recently a few weeks ago when I had a wedding in Aizu-Wakamatsu, home of the Akabeko. 

Click the Akabeko link above for a whole herd of that Red Cow's pals. 

While I was there though, I visited the birthplace of Ultraman's creator, Eiji Tsuburaya, once again. I arrived too late to visit the Museum in Sukagawa but I did get a chance to wander around places I'd never seen before. Such as this big building with a Ultra-bus outside.

There were several statues around though not a sole to talk to. Must have been closing time.

I snapped a pic with a friend and reminisced with a few of his pals on the street.

Inside the City Centre is a library and a few more statues. Such as, Baltan 

King Joe, 

and Red King, who isn't red (?).

I popped into a few neighbouring shops that were still open and looked at their wares.

So much cool stuff though all I picked up were a couple of Post Cards and some Apple Juice.

I'll definitely return there someday.

So, onto Fukushima's first Yokai which alphabetically is Akateko. 

As you can see, it's a red disembodied child's hand that dangles from Japan's honey lotus trees.

Akateko drops down from trees as people pass underneath them. Aside from giving its victims a nasty surprise and the general creepiness of a disembodied red child’s hand, it is not known for causing any great harm.

Most Akateko are from Aomori, though some have their roots in Fukushima and Kagawa Prefectures as well. 

These Akateko sometimes work together with another yokai called Aka-ashi. They grab at the feet of pedestrians, causing them to stumble and fall. It has also been suggested that Akateko and Aka-ashi are two forms of the same yokai.

She has gained some popularity of late and even stars in a videogame.

I found another Junji Ito book, this time something called Gyo, about stinky fish with metal legs that attack. Here's a few representative pages.

This is near the end of book One. I dunno what else transpires, I didn't buy any other volumes. There is an Anime I may track down.

I don't have many fish to choose from though I did catch this Pokémon critter called a Clodsire. It seems to be more amphibious (Giant Salamander) than piscine but it is cuddly.

 This fellow Countdown blogger, Orrin Grey, has some interesting articles on his site so go check him out.