ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

A fun Halloween-oriented contest from Tokyo-based author/translator Matt Alt’s AltJapan blog:

They’re out there. Multi-mouthed women. Cucumber-lovin’ frogmen. Giant skeletons. Bathtub lickers. So. What kind of yokai are you?

It’s almost Halloween, and you know what that means. It’s time for a costume contest! That’s right: send us photos of yourself dressed as a Japanese yokai (refer to Yokai Attack! for inspiration, but feel free to draw on other sources from Japanese mythology). We’ll select the best one and award the winner a full full-color poster-sized print of their favorite yokai illustration from Yokai Attack! signed by Hiroko Yoda, Matt Alt, and Tatsuya Morino. It looks like Yokai are going to be a popular costume choice this year!

Forget the giant beasties karate-chopped into oblivion by endless incarnations of Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and the Power Rangers. Forget the Pocket Monsters. Forget Sadako from The Ring and that creepy all-white kid from The Grudge. Forget everything you know about Japanese tales of terror. The yokai are the spookiest Japanese creatures you’ve never heard of, and it’s high time they got their due.

It’s your chance to own a one of a kind piece of yokai history, so act soon! The deadline for submissions is November 3rd 2008, and we’ll announce the winner by November 10th 2008. Submissions should be sent via email to info [at] yokaiattack [dot] [com]. Happy haunting!