Informant: my mother

Original Script: After the heaven was created, a book recorded the heaven’s secret was made. To prohibit human from discovering the secret of the heaven, a group of white monkeys was sent to guard the book. However, one of the monkeys was very curious so he looked at the book when there was no one around and learned some secrets of the heaven. As punishment, the monkey had to guard the book forever by himself, knowing the secrets but never able to tell anyone. The other white monkeys were set free and went down to the man’s world to discover knowledge from other sources.

Thoughts on this piece: Monkey plays a significant role in Chinese culture. The character of monkey is always curious and disobedient to the rules. One of the famous examples is the Monkey King, who rebelled against the heaven and then was imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha.

In Japan, Ama divers are all female. Unlike average people who usually diving with the air tank, ama divers use no equipment but a special breathing technique called isobue when underwater. Ama harvests a lot of things from the sea, such as seaweed, sea snails, and abalone. Abalone in Japanese culture is believed to have a spiritual connection with Ise Jingu. Eating abalone contributes to longevity and youth and the deities like them. Tomokazuki is a sea demon who lures ama divers with abalone and lead to deep sea and drowns them. And it is said that Tomokazuki is a spirit of drowned ama. To protect themselves from the demon, ama sews symbols called seiman and doman on their cloth.

Informant: Yume grows up in Tokyo and now studies in USC.

Original Script: The kitsune is a tricky fox that can transform its appearance. It can transform itself into the form of human or surrounding objects. There is a story that a poor man walked alone at night and found a warm house with a hot meal on the table. After the man was full he slept on the cozy bed. However, when he wake up in the morning, he was in a muddy pool, belly full of rotten leaves. The illusions were all created by the kitsune.

Background information: Kitsune is an evil animal in Japanese folklore. Kitsune is also said to be able to possess and control a person, usually a woman. The kitsune-possessed woman would suddenly act strangely. For example, she would throw things away, jump into the river, or climb up to the roof. If her family call in witches to pray for her, she will return to normal.

Thoughts on this piece: Besides foxes, cats are also the subject to many superstitions in Japanese folklore. Though kittens are much loved and considered cute and innocent, older cats are thought to possess evil spirits. Cats are also believed to have the ability to transform into the form of human. They use the form of older women to get close to people and eat them, then they disappear again as a cat.

The number 4 in Chinese culture is usually considered to be unlucky because its pronunciation is the same as the word “death” in Chinese. However, my roommate was from the southern part of China told me that in her hometown if two number 4 come together that means wealth, as 4 plus 4 equals to 8, and the number 8 represents prosper and wealth. So if you have two 4 in your phone number, that is very lucky.

Emily once told me that there was a flashing headlights gang initiation. If you are driving at night and see a car with no headlights on, do not flash your head lights. This is an initiation game of the gang–the first car that flashes the head light will be the target of the gang. The gang member will turn around and chase the people who flash the light and shoot them.