With Halloween fast approaching, one common thing you can see all over are tissue-paper ghosts.

These cute flying ghosts are a staple of American elementary schools, and if you are lucky you might even find a lollipop inside one of them on Halloween.

I’ve been seeing these ghosts hanging from windows and doors all around town. In Japan, though, one thing I thought was interesting is that I saw these ghosts all over the place too, only not during Halloween season!

It turns out, in Japan, these are also a popular kid’s craft. Only, instead of flying ghosts, they are a charm meant to bring out good weather, called teruteru bōzu. Kids hang them in their windows and pray to them for nice, sunny days.

It turns out that the teruteru bōzu has yokai origins! It actually originates in a yokai called hiyori bōzu. Click to read more:

Hiyoribou / 日和坊 / ひよりぼう