Horror Stories on TV Loosing Viewing Rate in Japan

Years ago in the summertime, kids used to enjoy scaring each other in darkness - sort of a test courage. One favorite spot was a cemetery. As dusk sets in, they would gather outside and take turn in fetching some item ready placed on top of a tombstone way inside the cemetery - either all alone or groups of two. The way to the tombstone is lightless, too quiet and eerie. Quite a fun it was to challenge the test and to watch others challenge it.

So, in the summertime, Japanese TV stations made it a practice to televise scary stories in the evening hours. "Summer Sonic" that once drew over 10 thousand spectators was one of them: "Kaidan Night" was another. Kaidan, of course, was one of Lafcadio Hearn's favorite subjects. But, strange, there aren't that many horror stories anymore. Why?

Years ago when the air-conditioner was a luxury occult movies were indispensable. People don't need those movies to cool themselves off? Not convincing enough. Then, why?

Junji Inagawa, a popular scary story teller, provides reasons why.

"Years ago, TV was the best medium but not anymore. People are now drawn to the internet. I've done a lot on the internet. I twitter horror stories", says Inagawa. DVDs are all over and there are lots of stories more scary than those on TV, he adds. In other words, people have more options to choose from. What they can't see on TV they can easily find elsewhere.

The problem of fake photos is another element that drives people away from TV. Horror stories are by nature extraordinary. Producers are liable to resort to psychgraphs or so-called spirit photography to substantiate the stories and more often than not to artfully staged photos. Recent incidents of that nature led to tightening TV compliance standards. 

Air conditioners prevalent and fake photos damaging the ethics of TV, people are drifting away from good old scary stories as shown on the TV screen.