August 24, 2024 • 37 mins
First things first: You may think Kentucky Fried Chicken is popular in the States, but we've got nothing on Japan. Join the guys as they delve into a story involving baseball, fried chicken, superstition, curses and drunken revelry in today's episode on the Hanshin Tigers and the infamous Curse of the Colonel in today's Classic episode.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous historians. Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
We've got a classic episode on the way to you,
and I'm Bet Bullen, joined as always with our super
producer Max the Madman Williams as our colleague Noel Brown
is also on Adventures Max. I suppose I can say
(00:20):
it now as part of the intro to this, I
am actually in Japan. As people hear.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This, are you watching the baseball game while eating fried chicken?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I should be through the magic of editing. That may
well be the case, but we don't know yet. This episode, dude,
it makes me think of you so back in twenty eighteen.
I can't remember how often I was messing around with
Japan at that point, but back in twenty eighteen, we
got obsessed. Noel and I and our our good friend
(00:51):
of the show, former producer Casey Pegram, we got obsessed
with Kentucky fried chicken in Japan. It's a whole thing
We've talked about on multiple shows, and we may have
referred to this episode, but it is peak ridiculous history,
and it's something that you know a little bit about
because you're an absolute baseball encyclopedia.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
On two legs, American baseball, Major League Baseball, as I
sit here with my Alanta Braves replica ring and my
really old Atlanta Braves baseball. But yeah, I mean two
very large American exports to Japan baseball and fried chicken, and.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Also superstitions, curses, drunken revelry. Why did the Hunshin Tigers
spend so long laboring under something called the curse of
the Klonel? Yes that, colonel, Colonel Sanders, this is a
true story. We can't wait for you to hear it.
(01:49):
And also, by the way, Max, what year is a
baseball from?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Oh, like two thousand and three?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Ancient history?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
At this point, it really is. It makes me feel old.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Ridiculous history is a production of iHeartRadio. Tiger Tiger burning
(02:32):
bright in the forest of the night, What immortal hand
or I could frame thy fearful symmetry? That is an
excerpt of a poem called The Tiger by William Blake.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Hi, I'm Ben, Ben, it is I Noel, and I
have a query to pose to you. What does this
poem snippet have to do with today's episode? I am
so glad you asked, Noel. Oh before we go any further,
let's have a big and everybody listening just go ahead
and clap by yourself for our super producer Casey Pegram.
(03:07):
It's okay if you don't want to clap, yeah, you know,
just you can snap. Just give him props, Natalie.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Props in such a way as you feel moved to provide.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But Ben, yes, props. Aside, we're talking about tigers today.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We are in a way. We are in a way.
We are talking about the Hunshen Tigers, which is a
sports team. We're also talking about urban legends. We're also
talking about a somewhat romanticized view of the American South,
which you know, you and I both love a big
(03:41):
old accent. And we're talking about Japan, and we're talking
about a curse.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
L Yeah, the curse of the colonel. And that's not
just any colonel that is the standard bearer of greased
chicken legs the world over. As it turns out, Colonel
Sanders does he have a proper.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Name, Yes, Colonel Harland David Sanders born in eighteen ninety.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think you mean halland David Sanders.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, do you mean Colonel Hall and David Julip Sanders.
Don't you try to out Southern meme, Ben Bolin, Oh,
I could chew this ax you O day least.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Don't old sweet. People will tune out, people will not
have it.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
We want to hear, by the way, your best Southern
accent impression. If you record yourself, write us a letter
and include that, we'd love to hear it.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Absolutely. But yeah, so we were mashing now this is
a mash up episode. This is a ridiculous history, the
mash up episode wherein we mashed together quite a few themes.
You mentioned curses, we're talking about chicken, We're talking about
the South, We're talking about Japan. Where do we start.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Let's start in nineteen eighty five. How about that.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It was a very good year.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was a very good year, especially for the Hanshin Tigers.
They're a baseball team in Japan. You see. They went
on to win the Japan Championship Series, which is the
equivalent of the World Series in Major League Baseball, and
the fans went crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And I know, maybe correct me if I'm wrong, Ben,
but I feel like there's sort of a stereotype out
there the Japanese being very reserved people. They know how
to keep it together and not get carried away? Shall
we say, but this is a great example of a
stereotype buster, and that these Japanese sports fans got quite
carried away and there was alcohol involved too, right, Ben.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yes, Yes, this is another episode where we find a
group of people misbehaving, perhaps in part due to alcohol,
perhaps just due to passions running high sports fever. Yes, yes,
these drunken revelers took to a bridge in Osaka, the
Ibisubashi Bridge. We should also note that Noel and I
(05:59):
are not native Japanese speakers. This is very true, a
fact that will become increasingly apparent if it has not
already been clear from the jump.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'll throw my hat into the mispronunciation ring in saying
that the eb Subashi Bridge is a bridge overlooking the
dotan Bori River, which is notoriously polluted. I'm not sure
today if that's still the case, but back in nineteen
eighty five, not a very clean body of water. But
that aside, these drunken revelers dove in kind of or
(06:31):
jumped in off the bridge. I'm trying to picture. Yeah,
that was how far a jump are we talking here? Ben?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
They jumped It was a safe enough distance It wasn't
like jumping off the Golden gate Bridge. Don't do it
for kicks, by the way, because you will break your
legs easily. This was not going to be a lethal jump. Still,
you're not supposed to do it. Still, you're dangerous. It's
very much a hold my beer situation is what we
(06:57):
would call it today. But they were jumped in a
pattern because the crowd was screaming out the names of
the players on the Tigers, and every time they yelled
the name of one of the players, someone who looked
like that player or was perceived to look like the player.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
How do you think this idea came to the forefront?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'm just still mystify, man, Like, how did they just
think of the level of sophistication this game must have?
You know, how did this happen organically? Yeah, we're not
anywhere near this level of revelry.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, And this is a very specific form of revelry,
almost kind of a ritual that they just invented out
of whole cloth. I'm guessing I've not seen evidence of
this type of thing anywhere else. But yeah, like you're saying,
so every time, I'm guessing they were hearing the announcement
from the stadium or was it on a televised broadcast.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It was after the game, so it sounds like it
was people in the crowd. So the crowd would yell out,
you know, third basement Casey Pegram, and everybody go whoa.
And then somebody is like, I look kind of like
third baseman Casey Pegrim. They it's my turn to jump
off the bridge.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So you had to kind of like take it upon
yourself to go forth when that name was called.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Would hope so, because the alternative is that someone else
points at a random person in the crowd and says, hey,
he looks like third basement Casey Pegrim, and then they
grab him and throw him off the bridge. But it
appeared to be all in good fun until they called
the name of first baseman Randy Bass.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Wait, Ben, that doesn't sound like a Japanese name. What gives?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm so glad you asked, because you and I did
a little bit of research based on that name. It
turns out Randy Bass was an American on the team.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Interesting how did he find himself playing for a Japanese team? Ooh?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He had spent six seasons in Major League Baseball with
five different teams and then his contract expired, so he
expanded his horizons.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay, and they made him an offer he could not refuse,
I imagine, and then he decided to take up his glove,
his mit. He was a baseman, take up a mitt,
I guess for the Tigers. He committed to the Tigers,
and we're committing to the Bites, Yes we really are.
But yeah, so here's the issue, right immediately, if that
they're going for this this gag or this bit that
(09:21):
they're committing to, which they were committing quite hard of
having to look like the player in question whose name
is being called. That sort of threw a wrench into
the works there when they called mister Bass's name, because
you know, there was nobody in the crowd. I'm guessing
from the story at least it seems to be the
case that looked like a big six foot something American
(09:43):
first baseman.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And this was a snag for sure, because you see,
when Randy joined Japanese baseball, he became one of the
most powerful hitters in the history of the game in
that country. So with him on their side, the Tiger
shot through the championship. This guy was a big deal.
(10:05):
He was crucial to the game. Yes, so of course
in this very specific, ritualized revelry, he needed to be represented, right,
someone needed to be thrown off the bridge in his
honor or to jump themselves.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, so what what? What is it? What is a
drunken pack of sports fans to do? Ben?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I propose that before we follow the rest of the story,
we bring in an outside factor. Oh, a tangent, if
you will. I love it, A tangy, crispy, crunchy tangent.
How many herbs and spices does this tangent contain? Is
it eleven?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I don't know. It's a secret.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
It is a secret. The number may not be a secret,
but the specificity es spice wise is.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's one of those things where they probably have two
executives that carry half of the secrets each and they
never let them be on the same plane, like Coca
Cola exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah. Yeah, we're talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken, by the way,
we're talking about Tucky Fried Chicken, or KFC as it
is known today, the iconic red and white bucket, the
vaguely creepy plantation owner. I feel like the representation got
creepy now.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Big time.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You know, they had Darryl Hammond, they had Norm MacDonald
do commercials.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
I think KFC advertising is sort of going down that
same path that Burger King did years ago with the
super creepy King with the you know, expressionless face kind
of looks like a serial killer mask kind of. The
KFC is doing that too with the Colonel. They're sort
of doubling down on his creepy factor. Yes, because it's
just like, you know, it works, I guess for like
a memorable weird commercial as opposed to back in the day,
(11:41):
where I think it was sort of like I felt
like they shied away from it, even getting rid of
Kentucky in the name. KFC kind of replaced it because
I think they were shying away from that image, right,
because it was a little problematic.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, like the Learning Channel became TLC when they said,
what are people actually learning on this thing? Right? That's
a little shade. But yes, so KFC. There's probably one
in a town near you if you live in the
United States, right somewhere. It turns out KFC is phenomenally
extraordinarily popular in Japan. The first KFC opened in nineteen
(12:20):
seventy in Japan, and shortly after it opened, the guy
who was the manager of this, Takeshi Okawara, woke up
at midnight and he had a dream that he had
to write down and make into reality. He said, let's
sell a party barrel. A party barrel, you say, every Christmas? Yes,
(12:41):
you can read this. You can read the full story
of this in a great article by the BBC called
Why Japan Celebrates Christmas with KFC by Eric Barton. Here's
the rub. Every Christmas, an estimated three point six million
Japanese families eat themselves to Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's true, and we're going to get into more of
these amazing Japanese phonetic kind of pronunciations for things. I'm
just a huge fan of these. So they created that.
This became kind of a local tradition for this original
KFC joint. But then the company realized this was a
super smart move to sell Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan.
(13:23):
So they created this marketing plan and they called it
Kurisamasu niwa Kentucky or Kentucky for Christmas. I just love
Kuri Samasu. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And these are spelled phonetically.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yes, exactly, and the idea being that it's creating a
new tradition out of nothing, because even though there are
quite a large number of Christians in Japan, Christmas is
not a nationally celebrated holiday and there's really no national
tradition around it. So these folks at KFC kind of
saw a niche and they filled the crap out of it,
(14:00):
didn't They.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Been, Yes, yes, there was absolutely no tradition, somewhat of
a void a niche as you said, Noel, And they
they morphed it into more than just a single bucket
of chicken. It didn't include just the breast and thighs. Now.
They came with these, they came with Christmas cakes, They
(14:22):
included wine, they had sides. You could get the entry
box for around thirty seven hundred yen that's about thirty
two bucks yep, up to the premium one, which is
about fifty eight hundred yen, and according to KFC, these
(14:43):
Christmas packages alone make up about a third of the
chain's yearly sales in Japan.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
It's insane, it's phenomenal, and you have to like reserve
your package weeks in advance or risk having to stand
in massive lines to get this. And you know it's interesting.
In this article, they actually talked to you a local
Atlanta chef.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yes, I know the guy, Kevin Gespie, Kevin Gillespie.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I've never been to any of his restaurants, but I
looked him up and he seems like really tasty stuff.
What's one of his spots called Revival.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Oh, that's like a really hot brunch place, right, yeah, yeah,
he's a James Beard Award winning chef and they consulted
him for this BBC article and he had a couple
of good quotes. He said, if you brought a bucket
of fried chicken to Christmas dinner, honestly, I'd be mad
at you. And this is interesting because this is a
very American perspective specifically surrounding Christmas, because it's all about family,
(15:35):
it's all about homemade comfort food.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
But in Japan, since there's no official holiday aka time
off work, surrounding Christmas, probably about the best you can
do to reserve that KFC party barrel.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Right, And this is not you know, this isn't too
crazy because there's a huge tradition of eating Chinese food
in Christmas here in these states.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Right, for example, within the Jewish community, especially in New York.
This came up a lot during our Chinese Food episode
about the chop suet houses in New York. It became
a huge tradition for Jewish families to have a Chinese
dinner out on Christmas. That was also because not a
lot of other stuff is open.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
True, So we do see an analog here. And you
may be asking yourself, Ben Nole, super producer Casey Pecram,
why why did you guys just start telling me about
this granted fascinating story of chicken in Japan. We are
going somewhere with this, folks, We promise back to Randy Bass.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Okay, so we're gonna join. We're gonna rejoin our original
story already in progress. It's all coming together, all coming together.
So Randy Bass's name is called these drunken Tigers. Fans
are looking around. They're looking for someone. They don't see
anybody that even remotely resembles this hulking American man, any
living any living person but nearby. This is not something
you see typically in the States, or at least I
(17:04):
have not.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Oh that's a good point.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, outside of Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC joints in Japan,
you're gonna find a kind of, I think a little
bit macabre statue of Colonel Sanders himself leering at the passers.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
By, daring them to accept the challenge of chicken, exactly,
the chicken challenge.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
And they saw one of those nearby. It was it
was as though it were written in the stars. They
saw one of these nearby, and they goes, that guy
kind of looks vaguely American.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
And in Randy's defense, he does not look like Colonel
Sanders at this time.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Right, there was a little profiling going on. He is
just also American. He's just also American. Did not have
a little little colonel beard. In fact, in the article
from how Stuff Works Ridiculous History, the Curse of the Colonel,
there's a fantastic side by side comparison. They did both
have mustaches, though not you know, Randy's was not pure
white and did not have the accompany being a little
(18:00):
pointed goateee, nor the little what do you call that
a cravat, You have a little kind of a bow
tie thing around a string tie, a string tie exactly.
But yeah, so they they uprooted this thing, right, They
just ripped it out of the ground.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And then they carried it to the bridge and they
threw it into the river, and everybody presumably went yay.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And then I'm guessing there was a current and it
just got carried away, because if these folks were hanging
out in the river themselves and not just up to
their necks and water, I don't think the statue would
have sunk right away. It probably got carried away in
the current of the river downstream and then they lost it.
It did.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, it did apparently go under quickly, and that might
be due to current. It's also it's got to be
due to the weight of the statue as well, probably
weigh more than a person.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
You think so I would have I would picture it
as being hollow. I don't think they would have been
able to rip it out of the ground unless it
was just kind of a hollow, plastic shell.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
That's a good point. You know what, we need to
take an extra credit segment, go to pan get some chicken,
and investigate.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
I don't think that's in the budget, ben, but we
can talk to management about it.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
We'll see. Let's write to the tigers, because we're telling
a story that they feel needs to be told. You see,
after they threw the statue in and everyone went yay
Tigers forever World champions, decades and decades went by, and
to date they have never won a championship again. And
(19:28):
the Tigers fans will tell you that this is not
simply a matter of being outplayed or having bad luck
on the field. No, they believe there's something supernatural at work.
They believe there is a curse.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yes, and what they referred to as I only saw
this printed one place, but it definitely translates correctly as
kanuru Sandasu no norroy or the curse of Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yes, the curse of Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
As well.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They believe that by committing this disrespectful act, the entity
the non corporeal Colonel Sanders, Yes, in the sky, the
demigod of chicken all Chicken Fried, has decreed that they
will be punished for this disrespect And you know, you
(20:22):
have to wonder how much of this is just a joke, right,
and how much people really believe it? Oh well, I
mean well, it falls in line with some other pretty
serious superstitions that exist in Japanese culture, which we'll get
to in a little bit and sports are sports themselves
are very rich soil for superstitions. But after such a
strong showing, I mean, you know, the Colonel definitely brought
(20:46):
down the hammer on them. The Tigers, they just barely
won anything at all. Their best finish was third in
eighty six and in nineteen ninety two, and they finished
last a whopping eight times.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Right, so it was exceptionally bad. Not just not winning, No, no,
it was demoralizing. The fans were utterly humiliated, and they
concocted I guess among themselves. How does something like this
spread just by word of mouth? These people in the
fan community or their message boards. What are we talking?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
These people are great at improv man, how did they
figure out this ritual so quickly? And then how did
they say, oh, okay, well here's the explanation.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
It's also reminds me of one of those things where
it's like a I know what you did last summer
kind of scenario where you and a close group of
friends commit a horrible atrocity and then you are punished
for it later, and then you have to figure out
how to make it right.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I hope someone feels like they saw the kernel.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Exactly did you picture this though, is this this should
be a movie and they should this should be a
kind of Ringo or like the Grudge kind of movie
based around connorou Sandu sou No, no, that could be
the name of the movie.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, and then we'll just translate to the Curse of
the Colonel for the American audience.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Because they banded together to make this right.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yes, they said, just like we would imagine a Colonel
Sanders esque figure. They said this injustice shall not stand
and into But they you know, they didn't say it
with this other accent.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You don't know, or they did.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Maybe they did. Maybe they were cause playing as well.
So they went to search for the statue. They went
to the bottom of the river and attempted to recover it,
and in two thousand and nine they found a piece
of it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I actually read two bend that in one of these attempts,
a twenty four year old fan named Maseya Shitababa actually drowned.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hm. I read that as well.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, so I mean this was no joke. They were
This was not a lark. They were out to break
this curse, right, and as you were saying, Ben, they
did find some success.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, And in a way, in a very strange way, Noel.
This death led to the discovery because after the death,
the community announced plans to build a new bridge that
would make it more difficult to jump into the river
from and then they began constructing this in two thousand
and four. But while they were constructing a walkway in
(23:19):
two thousand and nine related to this new bridge, that's
where they found. They didn't find all of the statue.
It's like the torso in the head and the arms,
but not the hands.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So there was no mistaking that rictus grin of Colonel Sanders,
even with the decay, that was definitely him. So you know,
they were reasonably overjoyed and decided they needed to find
some of the other pieces.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yes, because what if I love this horror movie that
you just pitched to me. What if they haven't appeased
the angry spirit of the statue until they assemble it all.
You know, they find the hands, they find the glasses.
Some were worried that until the statue was made whole again,
the Tigers would never win another series.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
And you know, superstition and sports in general are super
common even right here in the States.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you might be referring
to another famous curse, my friend, one that affects Boston
Red Sox fans.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
The Curse of the Bambino.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yes, yes, the Curse of the Bambino, where the Red
Sox fans believe that their team was cursed for almost
a century eighty years for trading away legendary player Babe Ruth.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, they probably just you know, Babe Ruth was really
good and they would have done better if they'd had him.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I but I love the I love the high dramatic
stakes from a storytelling perspective of a curse. I feel
like I have never encountered a curse, nor have I
laid a curse upon someone, because I'm you know, I'm
actually a really kind purseon. But I would love to
just be involved in like a curse type situation, like
(25:05):
solving a curse.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Would you curse like someone who really had it coming?
Maybe some maybe one of an enemy I.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Guess so, But I don't really have enemies really, Yeah,
that's cool.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I wish you all could see no slight eye rolled there,
But yeah, I would like to solve a curse. And
a lot of sports fans of course would like to
do the same. We had an interesting quotation here in
observation from a sports columnist named Dick Harmon for writing
for The Desert News, who described athletes and superstition this way. Athletes,
(25:43):
says mister Harmon, by their very nature tend to be superstitious,
especially when it comes to preparing for events. I've seen
players wear the same socks beneath their actual game socks,
listen to the same song or music, eat the same food,
hit the bathroom at the same time before going out
on the court or field. I don't think this is
hatched out of fear, but of comfort, not of jinxing themselves,
(26:05):
but of setting their minds straight.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Agreed. Yeah, Ritual to me is all about getting in
kind of a zen state, you know, where you feel
in control of your surroundings just by virtue of doing
something the same way. I personally am a creature of habit.
I typically get the same things to eat at restaurants,
and you know, take the same routes home, even if
there's a quicker route that my map is telling me,
(26:29):
I'll typically go the way that I'm super comfortable with,
And to me, that's a way of kind of doing
all I can in the little way that I can
to control my environment and my chaotic life.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Right the vast incomprehensible universe that cares not which way
this great world spins. We must exercise some control over
our existence. With podcasting, for instance, you know, I've been
doing this a while. I've got rituals, and we as
a cohort collectively a house of works. A lot of
(27:00):
podcasters have their own rituals. Chuck used to do a thing,
remember with his cheeks.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I I don't know about that. And now I know.
Robert Lamb has a little squishy dinosaur that he brings
in when he podcasts. Robert Lamb from Stuff to brow
your Mind and I personally have been wearing the same
pair of me undies the entire time we've been podcasting.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, and I respect you for that. You know, I
think you've you've gone past the area of diminishing returns
to you were cleaning up now, you know, I do
watch them occasionally. I've heard that, Yeah, I've heard. I
can't remember why I heard that or how it came
up in conversation, but I do remember hearing that.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
You're a very attentive listener, Ben, thank.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You, thank you, And likewise, my friend, we thought this
was fascinating because it's still in play. Like the Tigers
fans will tell you.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Did their fortunes turn around? Though, Ben' that's the kicker here.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Well, we do know we can't predict what will happen
by the end of twenty eighteen. None can, but we
do know that things weren't completely bleak and dire for
the Tigers. In fact, we had some good news in
the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
That's right. They returned to the Japan Series after eighteen
years away, and they had the best record in the
Central League. And many of these KFC outlets, as sort
of a precaution, I guess in the area in Kobe
and Osaka, they personally uprooted their Colonel Sanders statues and
(28:30):
moved them inside until the series was over, you know,
to guard them against any potential desecration by over zeales
Tigers fans.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
This is one of my favorite parts of the story. Now, though,
let's say that you are in Let's say that you
are in the area and you want to eat at
this iconic KFC. You can't because it's closed. But let's
say you travel to the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. There,
(28:59):
if you have permission from KFC management, or if you're
a VIP special guest or you are an honored employee,
you may be allowed to see the rescued colonel.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
And they found most of his parts, right, they found
a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, but you can't. It's not viewable by the public.
That's what's strange to me. Like, you can go in
and see the origin of the curse, but only if
you have special permission.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Well, I propose that we pitch our Curse of the
Colonel horror movie to KFC Japan and they could sponsor
and it could just be like a really elaborate commercial
for KFC, and maybe we can actually get some some
of those chicken dollars to make this thing really hit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Also, also, here's what we'll sell them on it. I'm
telling you, it'll be cross brand promotion if they make
special meals that are related, Yeah, to the tigers or
to the curse ghost Pepper Chicken just off the top
of the dome.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Why not? You know what I've got to say, Man,
thank you for this one. I've really enjoyed today's episode.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I did too, and we're going to wrap up just
with a couple of interesting Japanese superstitions. We mentioned it
earlier at the show that this is a thing and
they all have these amazing names. So, for example, one
of them is it's apparently considered bad luck to cut
your nails at night, and this tradition or superstition is
known as yoru nitsume wakit jaken i. And apparently this
(30:39):
is tied to the fact that in the olden days
there were no lights at night due to lack of electricity,
and people believed that evil spirits would come around to
your home at night, and that when you cut your nails,
because they imbue cutting tools of any kind with a
lot of power, and that when you cut your nails,
(31:01):
you're creating a sort of a window between worlds. This
comes up time and time again on a lot of
these superstitions, and that if you do it at night,
you're opening that window and one of these evil spirits
or a kuru could exit the nether world through that
or possess you.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
There's also the one that happens if a funeral hearst
drives past, you have to hide your thumbs in a fist,
and that's because the word for thumb translates to parent fingers.
So it's symbolically hiding your parents from death and if
you don't. Similar to the way there's the old superstition
step on a crack bake your mom's back, this is
(31:42):
one where you hide your parents symbolically from death, and
if you don't do it, your parents will die, it's right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
And this one is known as rakayusha kara. Oh yeah,
yubi will kakusu. And then there's one that I think
you'll like ben where you shouldn't whistle at night. Yes, yes, yeah,
you shouldn't whistle at night. You're no fui subeki d nik.
And this one is more tied to a functional thing,
right like not necessarily supernatural, although it may there may
(32:10):
be some crossover.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah. So, back in the day in Japan, whistling was
a sign used by burglars and other ne'er do wells,
other good old fashioned nocturnal scumbags to communicate with each other. Yep,
so whistling is associated with intruders, thieves.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's sort of like that urban legend of like flashing
your brights or something, and how that's a sign for
gangs or something, or like putting in your shoes in
the power lines or I don't know, I'm reaching here.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
There are a lot of unlucky numbers too, which is fascinating,
especially we're Did we ever talk about this off air?
I think there are a lot of buildings that don't
have a fourth floor.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Is that correct? I don't know about that for sure,
but I know in the States there's no thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Floor, right, yes, yeah, yeah, I know that four is
an unlucky number because the word for for she closely
resembles the word for death.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
So what's a what's a good one? What's an up one?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Like a silly one? Yeah, I don't know. I mean
it's silly on the on the surface, but then it's
also kind of morbid. You know. You're apparently when it's
bad weather, when there's lightning and thunder, you are supposed
to hide your children's mid sections or belly buttons.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Oh specifically. Yeah, yeah, that checks out as a former meteorologist.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And that's because the god of thunder ryi Gin supposedly
would eat children's entire abdomens or their mid sections. And
he also had a little running buddy named Rai Ju,
who would nest himself supposedly in the belly buttons of
children while they sleep, and this could lead to these
(33:46):
kids being struck by lightning. That's right, because Rai Gin,
in order to jostle his little familiar, I guess from
this little nest, would shoot him with a bolt of lightning.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Right, naturally, right, and this checks.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Out, And then I assume eat mid section.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
So do take care in storms. But as you know,
we are all about self empowerment, not just for ourselves
but for you, dear listeners. So you might be asking, Hey,
this curse thing sounds cool. How can I get in
on this? How can I make a wish or make
a curse? We'd like to introduce you to oyakudu mari.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, there's a ceremony even called ushi no koku mari
where when you visit a shrine during a particular hour
sort of the Japanese equivalent of the witching hour I'm
guessing called the hour of the Ox, which is between
one and three am, you can start your very own curse.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Right. Yes, all you'll need to do is visit during
the hour of the Ox, bring a straw doll with you,
representing the person who will receive the curse, and use
a long nail to nail the doll to the shrine's
holy tree. That's for cursing. That's not for a wish.
If you're trying to wish someone's success, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But there's a kicker ben because if you are witnessed
making the curse, then that curse will visit itself on
you tenfold. I added the tenfold part. But you know
it doesn't sound good.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
No, no, it doesn't. So these shrines are powerful symbolically.
Maybe we should end on how you make a wish.
So we talked about making a curse, but we also
mentioned making a wish. So to make a wish in
a shrine, you must walk from a shrine gate to
its altar or from the gate to a main haul
(35:34):
one hundred times while praying for your wish to come true.
If you want to increase your odds, walk barefoot. A
little life pro tip there a little life hack. Alternatively,
you can visit the shrine and make one prayer for
your wish to come true each day for one hundred days.
That's the long game. This is only scratching the surface
of some of the fascinating Japanese superstitions we found, and
(35:58):
granted there are a lot of fasting US or Western
superstitions as well, but at this point we do not
have a curse associated with Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Now, but you know that could change.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, you know the future. The future stretches before us,
vast and endlessen its beautiful possibilities.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
What are some of your favorite Japanese curses? Can you
think of any that could potentially be as outrageous and
absurd as the curse of the Colonel? We'd like to know.
You can write to us at Ridiculous at HowStuffWorks dot com.
You can hit us up on social media where we
are Ridiculous History on Facebook, Instagram, and I believe Twitter.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
And thank you so much for journeying with us as
we stumbled through Japanese phrases. I feel like we shall
also thank Casey for this. As always, Casey, don't go
change it. You're amazing. Thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
He keeps us honest and I didn't notice him wincing
super hard during any of those pronunciations, but sometimes it's
hard too.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I think it might have been a baseball related wins
other than Casey's into sports pronunciation, well maybe not American
baseball fair enough anyway. Also, thank you to Alex Williams
for composing our soundtrack YEP.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
And most importantly, thank you to you for listening to
the show. We hope you'll join us for our next
episode where we get kind of grizzly with it.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yes, we are exploring gold in one of its most
dangerous applications. What will it be? Tune in to find
out in the meantime. On a personal request, if you
guys have any great chicken recipes or you want to
just send us pictures of chicken, please do it now.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous historians. Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
We've got a classic episode on the way to you,
and I'm Bet Bullen, joined as always with our super
producer Max the Madman Williams as our colleague Noel Brown
is also on Adventures Max. I suppose I can say
(00:20):
it now as part of the intro to this, I
am actually in Japan. As people hear.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
This, are you watching the baseball game while eating fried chicken?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I should be through the magic of editing. That may
well be the case, but we don't know yet. This episode, dude,
it makes me think of you so back in twenty eighteen.
I can't remember how often I was messing around with
Japan at that point, but back in twenty eighteen, we
got obsessed. Noel and I and our our good friend
(00:51):
of the show, former producer Casey Pegram, we got obsessed
with Kentucky fried chicken in Japan. It's a whole thing
We've talked about on multiple shows, and we may have
referred to this episode, but it is peak ridiculous history,
and it's something that you know a little bit about
because you're an absolute baseball encyclopedia.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
On two legs, American baseball, Major League Baseball, as I
sit here with my Alanta Braves replica ring and my
really old Atlanta Braves baseball. But yeah, I mean two
very large American exports to Japan baseball and fried chicken, and.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Also superstitions, curses, drunken revelry. Why did the Hunshin Tigers
spend so long laboring under something called the curse of
the Klonel? Yes that, colonel, Colonel Sanders, this is a
true story. We can't wait for you to hear it.
(01:49):
And also, by the way, Max, what year is a
baseball from?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Oh, like two thousand and three?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Ancient history?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
At this point, it really is. It makes me feel old.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Ridiculous history is a production of iHeartRadio. Tiger Tiger burning
(02:32):
bright in the forest of the night, What immortal hand
or I could frame thy fearful symmetry? That is an
excerpt of a poem called The Tiger by William Blake.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Hi, I'm Ben, Ben, it is I Noel, and I
have a query to pose to you. What does this
poem snippet have to do with today's episode? I am
so glad you asked, Noel. Oh before we go any further,
let's have a big and everybody listening just go ahead
and clap by yourself for our super producer Casey Pegram.
(03:07):
It's okay if you don't want to clap, yeah, you know,
just you can snap. Just give him props, Natalie.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Props in such a way as you feel moved to provide.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
But Ben, yes, props. Aside, we're talking about tigers today.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We are in a way. We are in a way.
We are talking about the Hunshen Tigers, which is a
sports team. We're also talking about urban legends. We're also
talking about a somewhat romanticized view of the American South,
which you know, you and I both love a big
(03:41):
old accent. And we're talking about Japan, and we're talking
about a curse.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
L Yeah, the curse of the colonel. And that's not
just any colonel that is the standard bearer of greased
chicken legs the world over. As it turns out, Colonel
Sanders does he have a proper.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Name, Yes, Colonel Harland David Sanders born in eighteen ninety.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I think you mean halland David Sanders.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh, do you mean Colonel Hall and David Julip Sanders.
Don't you try to out Southern meme, Ben Bolin, Oh,
I could chew this ax you O day least.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Don't old sweet. People will tune out, people will not
have it.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
We want to hear, by the way, your best Southern
accent impression. If you record yourself, write us a letter
and include that, we'd love to hear it.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Absolutely. But yeah, so we were mashing now this is
a mash up episode. This is a ridiculous history, the
mash up episode wherein we mashed together quite a few themes.
You mentioned curses, we're talking about chicken, We're talking about
the South, We're talking about Japan. Where do we start.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Let's start in nineteen eighty five. How about that.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It was a very good year.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
It was a very good year, especially for the Hanshin Tigers.
They're a baseball team in Japan. You see. They went
on to win the Japan Championship Series, which is the
equivalent of the World Series in Major League Baseball, and
the fans went crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
And I know, maybe correct me if I'm wrong, Ben,
but I feel like there's sort of a stereotype out
there the Japanese being very reserved people. They know how
to keep it together and not get carried away? Shall
we say, but this is a great example of a
stereotype buster, and that these Japanese sports fans got quite
carried away and there was alcohol involved too, right, Ben.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yes, Yes, this is another episode where we find a
group of people misbehaving, perhaps in part due to alcohol,
perhaps just due to passions running high sports fever. Yes, yes,
these drunken revelers took to a bridge in Osaka, the
Ibisubashi Bridge. We should also note that Noel and I
(05:59):
are not native Japanese speakers. This is very true, a
fact that will become increasingly apparent if it has not
already been clear from the jump.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'll throw my hat into the mispronunciation ring in saying
that the eb Subashi Bridge is a bridge overlooking the
dotan Bori River, which is notoriously polluted. I'm not sure
today if that's still the case, but back in nineteen
eighty five, not a very clean body of water. But
that aside, these drunken revelers dove in kind of or
(06:31):
jumped in off the bridge. I'm trying to picture. Yeah,
that was how far a jump are we talking here? Ben?
Speaker 1 (06:36):
They jumped It was a safe enough distance It wasn't
like jumping off the Golden gate Bridge. Don't do it
for kicks, by the way, because you will break your
legs easily. This was not going to be a lethal jump. Still,
you're not supposed to do it. Still, you're dangerous. It's
very much a hold my beer situation is what we
(06:57):
would call it today. But they were jumped in a
pattern because the crowd was screaming out the names of
the players on the Tigers, and every time they yelled
the name of one of the players, someone who looked
like that player or was perceived to look like the player.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
How do you think this idea came to the forefront?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I'm just still mystify, man, Like, how did they just
think of the level of sophistication this game must have?
You know, how did this happen organically? Yeah, we're not
anywhere near this level of revelry.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, And this is a very specific form of revelry,
almost kind of a ritual that they just invented out
of whole cloth. I'm guessing I've not seen evidence of
this type of thing anywhere else. But yeah, like you're saying,
so every time, I'm guessing they were hearing the announcement
from the stadium or was it on a televised broadcast.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It was after the game, so it sounds like it
was people in the crowd. So the crowd would yell out,
you know, third basement Casey Pegram, and everybody go whoa.
And then somebody is like, I look kind of like
third baseman Casey Pegrim. They it's my turn to jump
off the bridge.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So you had to kind of like take it upon
yourself to go forth when that name was called.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Would hope so, because the alternative is that someone else
points at a random person in the crowd and says, hey,
he looks like third basement Casey Pegrim, and then they
grab him and throw him off the bridge. But it
appeared to be all in good fun until they called
the name of first baseman Randy Bass.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Wait, Ben, that doesn't sound like a Japanese name. What gives?
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm so glad you asked, because you and I did
a little bit of research based on that name. It
turns out Randy Bass was an American on the team.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Interesting how did he find himself playing for a Japanese team? Ooh?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
He had spent six seasons in Major League Baseball with
five different teams and then his contract expired, so he
expanded his horizons.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Okay, and they made him an offer he could not refuse,
I imagine, and then he decided to take up his glove,
his mit. He was a baseman, take up a mitt,
I guess for the Tigers. He committed to the Tigers,
and we're committing to the Bites, Yes we really are.
But yeah, so here's the issue, right immediately, if that
they're going for this this gag or this bit that
(09:21):
they're committing to, which they were committing quite hard of
having to look like the player in question whose name
is being called. That sort of threw a wrench into
the works there when they called mister Bass's name, because
you know, there was nobody in the crowd. I'm guessing
from the story at least it seems to be the
case that looked like a big six foot something American
(09:43):
first baseman.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And this was a snag for sure, because you see,
when Randy joined Japanese baseball, he became one of the
most powerful hitters in the history of the game in
that country. So with him on their side, the Tiger
shot through the championship. This guy was a big deal.
(10:05):
He was crucial to the game. Yes, so of course
in this very specific, ritualized revelry, he needed to be represented, right,
someone needed to be thrown off the bridge in his
honor or to jump themselves.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Yeah, so what what? What is it? What is a
drunken pack of sports fans to do? Ben?
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I propose that before we follow the rest of the story,
we bring in an outside factor. Oh, a tangent, if
you will. I love it, A tangy, crispy, crunchy tangent.
How many herbs and spices does this tangent contain? Is
it eleven?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I don't know. It's a secret.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
It is a secret. The number may not be a secret,
but the specificity es spice wise is.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's one of those things where they probably have two
executives that carry half of the secrets each and they
never let them be on the same plane, like Coca
Cola exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Yeah. Yeah, we're talking about Kentucky Fried Chicken, by the way,
we're talking about Tucky Fried Chicken, or KFC as it
is known today, the iconic red and white bucket, the
vaguely creepy plantation owner. I feel like the representation got
creepy now.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Big time.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You know, they had Darryl Hammond, they had Norm MacDonald
do commercials.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
I think KFC advertising is sort of going down that
same path that Burger King did years ago with the
super creepy King with the you know, expressionless face kind
of looks like a serial killer mask kind of. The
KFC is doing that too with the Colonel. They're sort
of doubling down on his creepy factor. Yes, because it's
just like, you know, it works, I guess for like
a memorable weird commercial as opposed to back in the day,
(11:41):
where I think it was sort of like I felt
like they shied away from it, even getting rid of
Kentucky in the name. KFC kind of replaced it because
I think they were shying away from that image, right,
because it was a little problematic.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Yeah, like the Learning Channel became TLC when they said,
what are people actually learning on this thing? Right? That's
a little shade. But yes, so KFC. There's probably one
in a town near you if you live in the
United States, right somewhere. It turns out KFC is phenomenally
extraordinarily popular in Japan. The first KFC opened in nineteen
(12:20):
seventy in Japan, and shortly after it opened, the guy
who was the manager of this, Takeshi Okawara, woke up
at midnight and he had a dream that he had
to write down and make into reality. He said, let's
sell a party barrel. A party barrel, you say, every Christmas? Yes,
(12:41):
you can read this. You can read the full story
of this in a great article by the BBC called
Why Japan Celebrates Christmas with KFC by Eric Barton. Here's
the rub. Every Christmas, an estimated three point six million
Japanese families eat themselves to Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
It's true, and we're going to get into more of
these amazing Japanese phonetic kind of pronunciations for things. I'm
just a huge fan of these. So they created that.
This became kind of a local tradition for this original
KFC joint. But then the company realized this was a
super smart move to sell Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan.
(13:23):
So they created this marketing plan and they called it
Kurisamasu niwa Kentucky or Kentucky for Christmas. I just love
Kuri Samasu. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And these are spelled phonetically.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Yes, exactly, and the idea being that it's creating a
new tradition out of nothing, because even though there are
quite a large number of Christians in Japan, Christmas is
not a nationally celebrated holiday and there's really no national
tradition around it. So these folks at KFC kind of
saw a niche and they filled the crap out of it,
(14:00):
didn't They.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Been, Yes, yes, there was absolutely no tradition, somewhat of
a void a niche as you said, Noel, And they
they morphed it into more than just a single bucket
of chicken. It didn't include just the breast and thighs. Now.
They came with these, they came with Christmas cakes, They
(14:22):
included wine, they had sides. You could get the entry
box for around thirty seven hundred yen that's about thirty
two bucks yep, up to the premium one, which is
about fifty eight hundred yen, and according to KFC, these
(14:43):
Christmas packages alone make up about a third of the
chain's yearly sales in Japan.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
It's insane, it's phenomenal, and you have to like reserve
your package weeks in advance or risk having to stand
in massive lines to get this. And you know it's interesting.
In this article, they actually talked to you a local
Atlanta chef.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yes, I know the guy, Kevin Gespie, Kevin Gillespie.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I've never been to any of his restaurants, but I
looked him up and he seems like really tasty stuff.
What's one of his spots called Revival.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Oh, that's like a really hot brunch place, right, yeah, yeah,
he's a James Beard Award winning chef and they consulted
him for this BBC article and he had a couple
of good quotes. He said, if you brought a bucket
of fried chicken to Christmas dinner, honestly, I'd be mad
at you. And this is interesting because this is a
very American perspective specifically surrounding Christmas, because it's all about family,
(15:35):
it's all about homemade comfort food.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
But in Japan, since there's no official holiday aka time
off work, surrounding Christmas, probably about the best you can
do to reserve that KFC party barrel.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Right, And this is not you know, this isn't too
crazy because there's a huge tradition of eating Chinese food
in Christmas here in these states.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Right, for example, within the Jewish community, especially in New York.
This came up a lot during our Chinese Food episode
about the chop suet houses in New York. It became
a huge tradition for Jewish families to have a Chinese
dinner out on Christmas. That was also because not a
lot of other stuff is open.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
True, So we do see an analog here. And you
may be asking yourself, Ben Nole, super producer Casey Pecram,
why why did you guys just start telling me about
this granted fascinating story of chicken in Japan. We are
going somewhere with this, folks, We promise back to Randy Bass.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Okay, so we're gonna join. We're gonna rejoin our original
story already in progress. It's all coming together, all coming together.
So Randy Bass's name is called these drunken Tigers. Fans
are looking around. They're looking for someone. They don't see
anybody that even remotely resembles this hulking American man, any
living any living person but nearby. This is not something
you see typically in the States, or at least I
(17:04):
have not.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Oh that's a good point.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yes, outside of Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC joints in Japan,
you're gonna find a kind of, I think a little
bit macabre statue of Colonel Sanders himself leering at the passers.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
By, daring them to accept the challenge of chicken, exactly,
the chicken challenge.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
And they saw one of those nearby. It was it
was as though it were written in the stars. They
saw one of these nearby, and they goes, that guy
kind of looks vaguely American.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
And in Randy's defense, he does not look like Colonel
Sanders at this time.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Right, there was a little profiling going on. He is
just also American. He's just also American. Did not have
a little little colonel beard. In fact, in the article
from how Stuff Works Ridiculous History, the Curse of the Colonel,
there's a fantastic side by side comparison. They did both
have mustaches, though not you know, Randy's was not pure
white and did not have the accompany being a little
(18:00):
pointed goateee, nor the little what do you call that
a cravat, You have a little kind of a bow
tie thing around a string tie, a string tie exactly.
But yeah, so they they uprooted this thing, right, They
just ripped it out of the ground.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
And then they carried it to the bridge and they
threw it into the river, and everybody presumably went yay.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And then I'm guessing there was a current and it
just got carried away, because if these folks were hanging
out in the river themselves and not just up to
their necks and water, I don't think the statue would
have sunk right away. It probably got carried away in
the current of the river downstream and then they lost it.
It did.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Yeah, it did apparently go under quickly, and that might
be due to current. It's also it's got to be
due to the weight of the statue as well, probably
weigh more than a person.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
You think so I would have I would picture it
as being hollow. I don't think they would have been
able to rip it out of the ground unless it
was just kind of a hollow, plastic shell.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
That's a good point. You know what, we need to
take an extra credit segment, go to pan get some chicken,
and investigate.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
I don't think that's in the budget, ben, but we
can talk to management about it.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
We'll see. Let's write to the tigers, because we're telling
a story that they feel needs to be told. You see,
after they threw the statue in and everyone went yay
Tigers forever World champions, decades and decades went by, and
to date they have never won a championship again. And
(19:28):
the Tigers fans will tell you that this is not
simply a matter of being outplayed or having bad luck
on the field. No, they believe there's something supernatural at work.
They believe there is a curse.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Yes, and what they referred to as I only saw
this printed one place, but it definitely translates correctly as
kanuru Sandasu no norroy or the curse of Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yes, the curse of Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
As well.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They believe that by committing this disrespectful act, the entity
the non corporeal Colonel Sanders, Yes, in the sky, the
demigod of chicken all Chicken Fried, has decreed that they
will be punished for this disrespect And you know, you
(20:22):
have to wonder how much of this is just a joke, right,
and how much people really believe it? Oh well, I
mean well, it falls in line with some other pretty
serious superstitions that exist in Japanese culture, which we'll get
to in a little bit and sports are sports themselves
are very rich soil for superstitions. But after such a
strong showing, I mean, you know, the Colonel definitely brought
(20:46):
down the hammer on them. The Tigers, they just barely
won anything at all. Their best finish was third in
eighty six and in nineteen ninety two, and they finished
last a whopping eight times.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Right, so it was exceptionally bad. Not just not winning, No, no,
it was demoralizing. The fans were utterly humiliated, and they
concocted I guess among themselves. How does something like this
spread just by word of mouth? These people in the
fan community or their message boards. What are we talking?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
These people are great at improv man, how did they
figure out this ritual so quickly? And then how did
they say, oh, okay, well here's the explanation.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
It's also reminds me of one of those things where
it's like a I know what you did last summer
kind of scenario where you and a close group of
friends commit a horrible atrocity and then you are punished
for it later, and then you have to figure out
how to make it right.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I hope someone feels like they saw the kernel.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Exactly did you picture this though, is this this should
be a movie and they should this should be a
kind of Ringo or like the Grudge kind of movie
based around connorou Sandu sou No, no, that could be
the name of the movie.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, and then we'll just translate to the Curse of
the Colonel for the American audience.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Because they banded together to make this right.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yes, they said, just like we would imagine a Colonel
Sanders esque figure. They said this injustice shall not stand
and into But they you know, they didn't say it
with this other accent.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
You don't know, or they did.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Maybe they did. Maybe they were cause playing as well.
So they went to search for the statue. They went
to the bottom of the river and attempted to recover it,
and in two thousand and nine they found a piece
of it.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I actually read two bend that in one of these attempts,
a twenty four year old fan named Maseya Shitababa actually drowned.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Hm. I read that as well.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, so I mean this was no joke. They were
This was not a lark. They were out to break
this curse, right, and as you were saying, Ben, they
did find some success.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yeah, And in a way, in a very strange way, Noel.
This death led to the discovery because after the death,
the community announced plans to build a new bridge that
would make it more difficult to jump into the river
from and then they began constructing this in two thousand
and four. But while they were constructing a walkway in
(23:19):
two thousand and nine related to this new bridge, that's
where they found. They didn't find all of the statue.
It's like the torso in the head and the arms,
but not the hands.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
So there was no mistaking that rictus grin of Colonel Sanders,
even with the decay, that was definitely him. So you know,
they were reasonably overjoyed and decided they needed to find
some of the other pieces.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yes, because what if I love this horror movie that
you just pitched to me. What if they haven't appeased
the angry spirit of the statue until they assemble it all.
You know, they find the hands, they find the glasses.
Some were worried that until the statue was made whole again,
the Tigers would never win another series.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
And you know, superstition and sports in general are super
common even right here in the States.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you might be referring
to another famous curse, my friend, one that affects Boston
Red Sox fans.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
The Curse of the Bambino.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yes, yes, the Curse of the Bambino, where the Red
Sox fans believe that their team was cursed for almost
a century eighty years for trading away legendary player Babe Ruth.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, they probably just you know, Babe Ruth was really
good and they would have done better if they'd had him.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
I but I love the I love the high dramatic
stakes from a storytelling perspective of a curse. I feel
like I have never encountered a curse, nor have I
laid a curse upon someone, because I'm you know, I'm
actually a really kind purseon. But I would love to
just be involved in like a curse type situation, like
(25:05):
solving a curse.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Would you curse like someone who really had it coming?
Maybe some maybe one of an enemy I.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Guess so, But I don't really have enemies really, Yeah,
that's cool.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I don't either.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I wish you all could see no slight eye rolled there,
But yeah, I would like to solve a curse. And
a lot of sports fans of course would like to
do the same. We had an interesting quotation here in
observation from a sports columnist named Dick Harmon for writing
for The Desert News, who described athletes and superstition this way. Athletes,
(25:43):
says mister Harmon, by their very nature tend to be superstitious,
especially when it comes to preparing for events. I've seen
players wear the same socks beneath their actual game socks,
listen to the same song or music, eat the same food,
hit the bathroom at the same time before going out
on the court or field. I don't think this is
hatched out of fear, but of comfort, not of jinxing themselves,
(26:05):
but of setting their minds straight.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Agreed. Yeah, Ritual to me is all about getting in
kind of a zen state, you know, where you feel
in control of your surroundings just by virtue of doing
something the same way. I personally am a creature of habit.
I typically get the same things to eat at restaurants,
and you know, take the same routes home, even if
there's a quicker route that my map is telling me,
(26:29):
I'll typically go the way that I'm super comfortable with,
And to me, that's a way of kind of doing
all I can in the little way that I can
to control my environment and my chaotic life.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Right the vast incomprehensible universe that cares not which way
this great world spins. We must exercise some control over
our existence. With podcasting, for instance, you know, I've been
doing this a while. I've got rituals, and we as
a cohort collectively a house of works. A lot of
(27:00):
podcasters have their own rituals. Chuck used to do a thing,
remember with his cheeks.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
I I don't know about that. And now I know.
Robert Lamb has a little squishy dinosaur that he brings
in when he podcasts. Robert Lamb from Stuff to brow
your Mind and I personally have been wearing the same
pair of me undies the entire time we've been podcasting.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, and I respect you for that. You know, I
think you've you've gone past the area of diminishing returns
to you were cleaning up now, you know, I do
watch them occasionally. I've heard that, Yeah, I've heard. I
can't remember why I heard that or how it came
up in conversation, but I do remember hearing that.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
You're a very attentive listener, Ben, thank.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You, thank you, And likewise, my friend, we thought this
was fascinating because it's still in play. Like the Tigers
fans will tell you.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Did their fortunes turn around? Though, Ben' that's the kicker here.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Well, we do know we can't predict what will happen
by the end of twenty eighteen. None can, but we
do know that things weren't completely bleak and dire for
the Tigers. In fact, we had some good news in
the early two thousands.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
That's right. They returned to the Japan Series after eighteen
years away, and they had the best record in the
Central League. And many of these KFC outlets, as sort
of a precaution, I guess in the area in Kobe
and Osaka, they personally uprooted their Colonel Sanders statues and
(28:30):
moved them inside until the series was over, you know,
to guard them against any potential desecration by over zeales
Tigers fans.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
This is one of my favorite parts of the story. Now, though,
let's say that you are in Let's say that you
are in the area and you want to eat at
this iconic KFC. You can't because it's closed. But let's
say you travel to the KFC headquarters in Yokohama. There,
(28:59):
if you have permission from KFC management, or if you're
a VIP special guest or you are an honored employee,
you may be allowed to see the rescued colonel.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
And they found most of his parts, right, they found
a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, but you can't. It's not viewable by the public.
That's what's strange to me. Like, you can go in
and see the origin of the curse, but only if
you have special permission.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Well, I propose that we pitch our Curse of the
Colonel horror movie to KFC Japan and they could sponsor
and it could just be like a really elaborate commercial
for KFC, and maybe we can actually get some some
of those chicken dollars to make this thing really hit.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Also, also, here's what we'll sell them on it. I'm
telling you, it'll be cross brand promotion if they make
special meals that are related, Yeah, to the tigers or
to the curse ghost Pepper Chicken just off the top
of the dome.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Why not?
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Why not? You know what I've got to say, Man,
thank you for this one. I've really enjoyed today's episode.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
I did too, and we're going to wrap up just
with a couple of interesting Japanese superstitions. We mentioned it
earlier at the show that this is a thing and
they all have these amazing names. So, for example, one
of them is it's apparently considered bad luck to cut
your nails at night, and this tradition or superstition is
known as yoru nitsume wakit jaken i. And apparently this
(30:39):
is tied to the fact that in the olden days
there were no lights at night due to lack of electricity,
and people believed that evil spirits would come around to
your home at night, and that when you cut your nails,
because they imbue cutting tools of any kind with a
lot of power, and that when you cut your nails,
(31:01):
you're creating a sort of a window between worlds. This
comes up time and time again on a lot of
these superstitions, and that if you do it at night,
you're opening that window and one of these evil spirits
or a kuru could exit the nether world through that
or possess you.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
There's also the one that happens if a funeral hearst
drives past, you have to hide your thumbs in a fist,
and that's because the word for thumb translates to parent fingers.
So it's symbolically hiding your parents from death and if
you don't. Similar to the way there's the old superstition
step on a crack bake your mom's back, this is
(31:42):
one where you hide your parents symbolically from death, and
if you don't do it, your parents will die, it's right.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
And this one is known as rakayusha kara. Oh yeah,
yubi will kakusu. And then there's one that I think
you'll like ben where you shouldn't whistle at night. Yes, yes, yeah,
you shouldn't whistle at night. You're no fui subeki d nik.
And this one is more tied to a functional thing,
right like not necessarily supernatural, although it may there may
(32:10):
be some crossover.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah. So, back in the day in Japan, whistling was
a sign used by burglars and other ne'er do wells,
other good old fashioned nocturnal scumbags to communicate with each other. Yep,
so whistling is associated with intruders, thieves.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's sort of like that urban legend of like flashing
your brights or something, and how that's a sign for
gangs or something, or like putting in your shoes in
the power lines or I don't know, I'm reaching here.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
There are a lot of unlucky numbers too, which is fascinating,
especially we're Did we ever talk about this off air?
I think there are a lot of buildings that don't
have a fourth floor.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
Is that correct? I don't know about that for sure,
but I know in the States there's no thirteenth.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Floor, right, yes, yeah, yeah, I know that four is
an unlucky number because the word for for she closely
resembles the word for death.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
So what's a what's a good one? What's an up one?
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Like a silly one? Yeah, I don't know. I mean
it's silly on the on the surface, but then it's
also kind of morbid. You know. You're apparently when it's
bad weather, when there's lightning and thunder, you are supposed
to hide your children's mid sections or belly buttons.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Oh specifically. Yeah, yeah, that checks out as a former meteorologist.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And that's because the god of thunder ryi Gin supposedly
would eat children's entire abdomens or their mid sections. And
he also had a little running buddy named Rai Ju,
who would nest himself supposedly in the belly buttons of
children while they sleep, and this could lead to these
(33:46):
kids being struck by lightning. That's right, because Rai Gin,
in order to jostle his little familiar, I guess from
this little nest, would shoot him with a bolt of lightning.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Right, naturally, right, and this checks.
Speaker 3 (33:58):
Out, And then I assume eat mid section.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
So do take care in storms. But as you know,
we are all about self empowerment, not just for ourselves
but for you, dear listeners. So you might be asking, Hey,
this curse thing sounds cool. How can I get in
on this? How can I make a wish or make
a curse? We'd like to introduce you to oyakudu mari.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Yeah, there's a ceremony even called ushi no koku mari
where when you visit a shrine during a particular hour
sort of the Japanese equivalent of the witching hour I'm
guessing called the hour of the Ox, which is between
one and three am, you can start your very own curse.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Right. Yes, all you'll need to do is visit during
the hour of the Ox, bring a straw doll with you,
representing the person who will receive the curse, and use
a long nail to nail the doll to the shrine's
holy tree. That's for cursing. That's not for a wish.
If you're trying to wish someone's success, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
But there's a kicker ben because if you are witnessed
making the curse, then that curse will visit itself on
you tenfold. I added the tenfold part. But you know
it doesn't sound good.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
No, no, it doesn't. So these shrines are powerful symbolically.
Maybe we should end on how you make a wish.
So we talked about making a curse, but we also
mentioned making a wish. So to make a wish in
a shrine, you must walk from a shrine gate to
its altar or from the gate to a main haul
(35:34):
one hundred times while praying for your wish to come true.
If you want to increase your odds, walk barefoot. A
little life pro tip there a little life hack. Alternatively,
you can visit the shrine and make one prayer for
your wish to come true each day for one hundred days.
That's the long game. This is only scratching the surface
of some of the fascinating Japanese superstitions we found, and
(35:58):
granted there are a lot of fasting US or Western
superstitions as well, but at this point we do not
have a curse associated with Colonel Sanders.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Now, but you know that could change.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Yeah, you know the future. The future stretches before us,
vast and endlessen its beautiful possibilities.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
What are some of your favorite Japanese curses? Can you
think of any that could potentially be as outrageous and
absurd as the curse of the Colonel? We'd like to know.
You can write to us at Ridiculous at HowStuffWorks dot com.
You can hit us up on social media where we
are Ridiculous History on Facebook, Instagram, and I believe Twitter.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
And thank you so much for journeying with us as
we stumbled through Japanese phrases. I feel like we shall
also thank Casey for this. As always, Casey, don't go
change it. You're amazing. Thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
He keeps us honest and I didn't notice him wincing
super hard during any of those pronunciations, but sometimes it's
hard too.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
I think it might have been a baseball related wins
other than Casey's into sports pronunciation, well maybe not American
baseball fair enough anyway. Also, thank you to Alex Williams
for composing our soundtrack YEP.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
And most importantly, thank you to you for listening to
the show. We hope you'll join us for our next
episode where we get kind of grizzly with it.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Yes, we are exploring gold in one of its most
dangerous applications. What will it be? Tune in to find
out in the meantime. On a personal request, if you
guys have any great chicken recipes or you want to
just send us pictures of chicken, please do it now.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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