Perhaps stemming from the belief that hearing a scary story will send a chill down the spine and provide welcome relief from the summer heat, August is Japan's favorite season for traditional tales of horror. At local festivals and in theme parks, the obake yashiki (haunted house) is a standby for dating couples. A few of the bolder ones might even head for the sites of historic murders or hauntings, such as the shrine to O-Iwa, located a short walk from Yotsuya-Sanchome Station on the Marunouchi Subway Line. It is said to memorialize a young woman who was killed by an unfaithful husband who coveted her inheritance. She then returned to wreak terrible vengeance, as featured in Tsuruya Nanboku's celebrated 1825 kabuki drama, "Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan."

It's also time for the weekly magazines to run scary stories, so once a year, just for fun, we spread our net for a few choice examples.

For stories with a modern twist, Weekly Playboy (Sept. 2) features a collection of eight terrifying tales titled "Keitai no Kaidan" (cell phone ghost stories). One, supposedly submitted by a 31-year-old man, reflects on events 11 years ago, at which time he was dividing his affections between two female friends. One was a "serious" relationship and the other a casual one mostly physical in nature.