Ghosts of the Japanese Tsunami

When a tsunami suddenly struck Japan in 2011, it stole the lives of over 20,000 people.

During the few months after this tragedy, hundreds of people in Japan claimed to see the spirits of those that perished during the tsunami.

From ghostly passengers in cabs and spirit-filled beaches to forlorn possessions, we discuss countless ghost sightings. But, are they believable? Listen now.

Has a person ever disappeared in front of your eyes?

Could a major disaster cause 100s of ghosts?

Does the confusion of death infect the living?

What is up, Bizarros! This week we dive into a truly terrifying event and see if the Japanese Tsunami created ghosts.

The Japanese Tsunami

The Japanese tsunami was triggered by a massive undersea earthquake, leaving a devastating impact on the nation. With waves reaching heights of almost 40 meters, entire coastal communities were swept away, resulting in an untold loss of life.

The disaster also caused widespread destruction to infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, leading to the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The Japanese people demonstrated immense resilience, unity, and determination in their efforts to rebuild and recover from the tragedy, fostering hope amidst the immense challenges they faced.

When Did the Japanese Tsunami Happen?

This natural disaster happened on March 11, 2011.

It affected thousands of people and resulted in restless spirits.

From The National Geographic Society

March 11th, 2011, a record-breaking earthquake (a magnitude 9) shook the coast of Japan. It was 81 miles east of Sendi, the largest city of the Tohoku region.

This Tsunami made waves up to 40 meters high or about 132 feet.

There was mass property destruction causing 450,000 homeless, injuring over 6,000, killing almost 20,000 people, and over 2,000 people went missing.

The Tsunami also hurt the country’s infrastructure. It caused almost 360 billion in damages.

Roads, buildings, and businesses were taken out by the waves.

It also caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors and, in turn, released radioactive and toxic materials into the environment. This also caused thousands to relocate.

This event left so many people missing or gone and left hundreds of stories of ghosts in the aftermath.

Another factor that could lead to so many ghost sightings is the fact that many bodies were buried instead of the traditional cremation and funeral due to the lack of power and fuel.

This creates unhappy spirits that were unable to get their deserved resting places.

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Possession by ghosts of the dead after the Tsunami

From NPR

Takashi Ono was a resident of the same town as Reverend Kaneda and was known for being kind and ordinary.

The tsunami was located at a considerable distance. He realized the severity of the situation after approximately a week, and he chose to go down and observe.

He went to the beach and was shocked by what he saw there.

He’d had no idea the devastation was so bad. But he came back that evening, sat down for dinner with his family, had his tea and a beer, and then all of a sudden fell to the ground and began rolling around making animal noises,

He ran into the field behind his house, rolling in the mud, to the horror of his wife and his mother.

He woke up the next day not knowing anything about this. And this continued for three days. He was talking in a guttural way, talking about the lost souls and threatening violence.

His family was beside themselves. They convinced him to go to the priest who recited the Buddhist sutras and drove out these spirits, and he felt better soon after that.

Ghosts Of The Massive Tsunami

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Excerpt from Richard Lloyd Parry’s book Ghosts of Tsunami from cosmopolitan.com

At Okawa Elementary School, 75 students died when the tidal wave reached their school.

One Japanese magazine reported that kids would dare each other to travel to the primary school grounds in search of the students’ ghosts.

One mother of an Okawa student consulted with a psychic, Lloyd Parry reported. They went to the school grounds, & after, the mother put decorations on the bamboo trees. The psychic told the mother that the deceased children were “delighted” with them.

But he also described horrifying scenes of the veneer between life and death, describing that the dead were “crawling on the ground” near the school.

“Some of them were stuck in the water, covered in mud, and swallowing the dirty water in terrible suffering. Some of them were trapped and trying to get out,” the mother described to Parry.

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From the Mirror

For father-of-two Shinichi Yamada, the frightening phenomenon following the tsunami seemed all too real when he and his children tried to rebuild their lives.

He had escaped the waves that destroyed his home and later salvaged two Buddhist statues from the wreckage.

But when he brought them back to the temporary housing where he lived, he said strange things began to happen.

He claimed his two children suddenly got sick, and an inexplicable chill seemed to follow the family through the house, he said.

Yamada explained: “A couple of times when I was lying in bed, I felt something walking across me, stepping across my chest.”

The worried dad, along with many others in the aftermath of the tsunami, felt there was only one place he could turn – to an exorcist

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From All that’s interesting

Unsolved Mysteries cites the work of a sociology graduate student Yuka Kudo of Tohokue Gakuin University,

The taxi driver told Kudo of an encounter he had in the summer of 2011. It had only been a few months since the tsunami, and there were barely any customers. He was naturally shocked to suddenly spot a young woman hailing him down in a particularly hard-hit area.

It was the middle of summer, and she was wearing a large winter coat. The figure was also completely drenched.

The driver noticed the lack of recent rainfall before being asked to drive to the mostly-deserted Minamihama district.

“That area is almost empty,” he said while switching on the meter. “Are you sure?” There was a long silence. Then, in a shivering voice, the woman asked: “Have I died?”

The driver turned around to face the customer but found absolutely nothing or anyone in his car.

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Another cabbie told Kudo that he picked up a confused-looking man in his 20s who kept pointing forward when asked where he needed to go.

Finally, he said simply, “Hiyoriyama,” a mountain park near the city. After careening up the mountain near Ishinomaki, the driver dropped his customer on a plateau at the summit.

But when he turned around to be paid, there was nobody in the rear seat.

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At the beginning of unsolved mysteries, a Buddhist monk tells a quick story of a man that had had a spirit inside him. He asked the spirit who he was, and he said, “I am at the bottom of the ocean.”

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YouTube Encounters Of Ghost Stories

There are hundreds of shorter stories.

Things like people looking at the city that was hit by the Tsunami and seeing lines of people just waiting by the beach and then being gone the next second.

There’s also the story of a woman looking in a puddle and seeing a man’s face for a moment, and then he vanished.

Do You Believe In The Ghosts In The Post-Disaster Life Of The Tsunami?

What do you think, Bizarros?

Did this natural disaster result in the spirits of people unable to move on?

What would you do if saw one of these ghosts?