User Profile

Mukashibanashi (昔話 : むかしばなし) is the Japanese term for folktales, though it can also be translated as folklore. Japanese folklore, legends (densetsu), ghost stories (kaidan) and traditional monsters (bakemono) are all subjects I enjoy researching, as well as the traditions, customs, and ways of life of historical Japanese folk, most specifically the farming class and village life.

I created this LiveJournal as an online journal of books I'm reading and have read. It's like one of those book journals you see at bookstores, only online. It will include not only book reviews, but reading lists, thoughts about certain books I'm reading, and other literature and/or folklore thoughts and discoveries. I've chosen this focus because otherwise there would be no reason for anyone to read my boring thoughts, and thus no reason for me to post here in the first place. I have not yet decided how this will interact with The Wahlburg Foundation, my other online review site which was co-founded by Matthew Miller.

Here are some links of interest:

Mukashibanashi Library: a database of traditional Japanese folktales.
The Obakemono Project: a guide to traditional Japanese monsters, ghosts, and apparitions.
Shelfari, a social networking site revolving around books.
Ink Drops on Water, by Matthew Miller: my good friend's self-published book of modern poetry.
James Jean, only the best modern artist out there. He does covers for Fables, among other things.
Google Books, a searchable system of books and their contents. Sometimes you can only view snippets, but it's helpful for finding out more info on certain titles, or finding certain titles for a subject.
Kitsune, Kumiho, Huli Jing, Fox: a well-researched resource on fox folklore as it appears in Japan, China and Korea.
The Saint of Mount Kōya, a gothic story of the supernatural by Meiji Era writer Izumi Kyōka.
And then there's my crappy my space page which never gets updated. Why would you even want to go there?

I'm trying to get all my Livejournal friends' locations plotted on a map - please add your location starting with this form. Username: (Then get your friends to!)

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