Yōkai is a common designation for all the supernatural, mythological and folkloric creatures, as well as entities in Japan. Yōkai has different translations. I love bewitching(yō) and strange (kai) . This translation to me has a certain romantic quality. It perfectly encompasses our fascination with the supernatural. The strangeness or unfamiliarity with something that casts a spell over us and once bewitched we can’t pull ourselves away. The only way to break the spell is through quantification and labeling. Once done, the supernatural becomes natural, and we move on with our day. Yōkai are different, at least for me, in that even once they’ve been categorized they keep their air of mystery. Yes, a bakeneko is a shape-shifting cat and a kappa is essentially a large bipedal turtle with a love of cucumbers and fragrant booties yet an oni is just an oni. Taking that into account, why does the bakeneko occasionally eat its loving owner and why do kappa’s rip the shirikodama from a person’s anus. Yōkai maintain their intrigue and mystery because their motivations are unknown or just so fantastical that it leaves are heads spinning. Maybe we all need to believe in something that is so bewitchingly strange that it keeps us normal and sane.