So I'm pretty sure I encountered a Yokai in Japan

Im currently visiting Kyoto with my wife and one of our best friends, and we were out in the city late the other night, and it was dark and stormy, so we decided to take a taxi home.

We found one on the side of the road with the door wide open (weird), and it was an old antique car (weird - most taxis are newer cars), and an old man with long swoopy white hair. We got in, and noticed he had an old garmin gps, and an old phone, and he couldnt figure out how to get our destination on his gps, so he just held my phone the whole time while driving (weird).

On the way, we noticed that he barely knew how to drive like hed give it a little gas then brake really hard, then gas then brake again, over and over like he just learned how to drive yesterday.

And he kept doing and saying odd shit. Like wow these gps are so convenient! and wed nervously laugh, and hed just do this loud high pitched creepy laugh back at us.

And hed yell shit like GO GO GO!

I started to think wed been abducted by a serial killer or something, and I glanced at my wife and friend, and found out their phones had somehow both died, and he was holding my phone, so our lives were just in this guys hands I guess

It was like the scariest taxi ride ever, and it was so dark and rainy, we could barely see. But we finally got to our hotel, and he didnt really care about the money (weird), and then I gave him a little bit more yen than was owed, and he still didnt care (also weird - people over here are really particular about exact change)

When we got inside, we looked it over up to see if there was a yokai taxi driver, and sure enough - Oboroguruma from Kyoto

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/3/2/AAK53VAAEegc.jpg

This guy looked exactly like this, im not even kidding. Heres more info if youre interested

https://yokai.com/oboroguruma/

And man. Im a stone cold atheist, but even I cant help but feel like I just went through the spirit realm

nah i'm pretty sure he was just drunk

I know we in the West have this notion that Japan is super high tech and futuristic, but that isn't entirely true. Many Japanese people in fact have a mentality of "if it's not broken, don't replace it." Also, older folks in Japan are just as likely to be less tech savvy as anywhere else.

If you were to walk into the typical Japanese office you'd see plenty of modern computers for obvious reasons, but you'd also find plenty of copiers and fax machines and other tech that might seem like they're straight out of the 80s. Walk around and try to spot people using their phones and you will see many people still use flip phones.

The process of modernizing is a slow one in Japan. It's not that they aren't fascinated with new technology, but they also aren't especially quick to add it to their lives unless it's pretty revolutionary in its usefulness. They have one foot rooted in progress and one in tradition.

Thats very true. Japan in general seems somehow simultaneously in the future and stuck in the 1800s lol, and I do love it for that. Like I got coffee served by a robot and visited the Shinsengumi headquarters all in the same day.

I guess I just wasn't expecting someone working in Kyoto to be so unhinged lol. Maybe in Osaka, but this guy was wild. Definitely a great memory now that its the next day, but i still say he definitely channeled that yokai

You have to burst counter to break their horns and then beat up the core when it pops out of the taxi.

Maybe he was just doing a bit to fuck with the tourists?

That's a hell of a bit, and far more funny an idea than him just being an eccentric old man.

lol this fucking rules