Zuru Zuru

Summary

Spooked – Episode: "Zuru Zuru"

Podcast: Spooked (KQED and Snap Studios)
Host: Glynn Washington
Episode Release: December 12, 2025

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Overview: Ghosts, Ribbons & What Lingers

This episode of Spooked, titled "Zuru Zuru", explores true supernatural encounters in Japan, focusing on themes of memory, haunting, and the invisible threads that tie people, places, and events together—sometimes across decades. The centerpiece is Max Dionisio’s chilling experience in a Yokohama apartment, underscored by Glynn Washington’s own reflections on eerie encounters abroad and the uncanny persistence of the past.

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Main Story: Max Dionisio’s Night in Yokohama

Arrival and An Ominous Room (09:48–14:46)

• Max arrives in Japan, thrilled to explore Yokohama and stay with his friend, Jeff.
• The apartment has a quirky, slightly shabby charm. Jeff hands over house rules but emphasizes one strange warning:
  "Do not sleep in the living room. When you go to bed, sleep in the bedroom." (12:36, F)
  • Max is puzzled but assumes it’s due to pests or comfort.

The Zuru Zuru Incident (17:06–26:23)

• On the third night—alone, cold, and tired—Max breaks the rule, opting to sleep under the cozy kotatsu table in the living room.
• He wakes around 1 or 2 AM, paralyzed except for his head and eyes.
• He hears a soft ‘zuru zuru’ sound—the sliding of silk. Looking down the hallway, he sees feet in traditional Japanese tabi socks.
• The feet belong to a woman in a kimono, her face unseen, gliding slowly toward him.
• Terrifying moment:
  “It was just bone chilling, terrifying. It was a kind of terror that I really never known in my life.” (20:44, F)
• She steps over his head, moves through the apartment, and disappears into the bathroom. After this, Max is able to move.
• He spends the rest of the night rattled, glued to the TV for comfort.

Confirmation: She’s Real (26:23–26:58)

• The next day, Max calls Jeff, who immediately understands what happened.
  • Jeff:
    “Oh, you slept in the living room. That means you’ve met her there.” (26:51, F)
• Jeff explains that both he and the landlady have experienced the same apparition—the reason for the infamous sleeping rule.

The Landlady's Story: The Woman in Kimono (29:19–34:16)

• Max returns the apartment key to the landlady and, over tea, gently presses for answers.
• She tells the story of a young woman who came to Yokohama decades ago to find a better life, ended up working as a hostess (possibly for yakuza-controlled bars), was ostracized, and ultimately died by suicide in the bathroom.
• Crucial detail: “Whoever sleeps in the living room is destined to meet her ghost. She does not cause any harm. All she does is try to get them to come to the bathroom.” (32:19, F)
• Max is unnerved but grateful to have closure and deeply empathetic for the lost woman:
  “It’s a tragic story. And of course I feel quite poorly for that poor woman who had to suffer so much.” (33:13, F)
• He concludes:
  “But you can be sure I am never stepping anywhere near that apartment again.” (34:04, F)

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Host Glynn Washington: Reflections on Haunting & Connection

Haunted Neighbors in Kyoto (02:56–09:48)

• Glynn shares his own story as a young man in Kyoto, stuck renting next to a neighbor who builds a “monstrosity” in hate, and who constantly curses him with the word “kore” ("this"—which is contextually ambiguous but, here, deeply hostile).
• Long after the neighbor dies, Glynn returns and finds the anger, the “thing”, still radiating in the alley—proof that some energies, resentments, or spirits linger.

The Mystery of “Ribbons” (37:53–38:18)

• Glynn circles back to his recent visit to Japan, where serendipity reunites him and a friend with an old companion, as if fate (the “ribbon”) pulled them all together spontaneously.
  “The ribbon pulls you back.” (37:50, F)
  “What ribbon did this? How does any of this work?...Are these ribbons only in Japan or am I just missing them back home?” (38:05, A)

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Key Quotes & Timestamps

• Max on the ghostly encounter:
  “I could hear something as well. And it’s a soft, soft sound. It’s a zuru zuru sound...I turn my head...and I happened to see a pair of feet. They were in these traditional socks that are called tabi.” (18:40, F)

• Max’s terror:
  “It was just bone chilling, terrifying. It was a kind of terror that I really never known in my life. I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. I’m thinking to myself, please, I don’t want to see her face.” (20:45, F)

• The aftermath:
  “Even though I’m shaken up and a little bit perturbed, I calm myself down… But you can be sure I am never stepping anywhere near that apartment again.” (29:19, 34:04, F)

• Glynn on lingering malice:
  “Wild, overgrown, his thing reeking of madness, still burning with malice. I know for sure this man has long since left this earth, but his echo remains.” (08:39, A)

• Glynn on fate and cosmic threads:
  “The ribbon pulls you back…What ribbon did this? How does any of this work?...They are both glowing like lanterns. I wonder. I wonder if I’m glowing too.” (37:50–38:10, A)

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Notable Moments & Structure

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:56-09:48 | Glynn’s story of the cursed neighbor in Kyoto | | 09:48-14:46 | Max’s arrival in Yokohama | | 17:06-26:23 | Max’s supernatural experience in the living room | | 26:23-26:58 | Jeff confirms prior knowledge of the haunting | | 29:19-34:16 | The landlady shares the tragic backstory of the ghost | | 37:53-38:18 | Glynn’s reflection on fate (“the ribbon pulls you back”) |

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is steeped in unease, wonder, and empathy. The hosts and guests speak candidly, with a tone that is both suspenseful and full of genuine cultural curiosity. There’s reverence for the supernatural, but also compassion for the tragedies behind ghosts and the memories people leave behind.

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Conclusion

"Zuru Zuru" is a classic Spooked—not just a ghost story, but a haunting meditation on memory, shame, the afterlife, and the inexplicable bonds (“ribbons”) that draw people, stories, and spirits back together over time.

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For listeners interested in the supernatural, Japanese folklore, or the ties between place and memory, this episode offers a moving, chilling, and beautifully told experience. Be afraid—and be moved.

Transcript

[A]

She begged me not to tell her secret. I smiled and called her friend. But after I had spread her tale, I found that witches make amends. You've crossed over to Spoot, say.

[B]

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[C]

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[D]

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[C]

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[E]

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[A]

In my 20s, I moved to Japan and it's super hard to find a place to live in Kyoto. But after searching and searching, what I think is my lucky day off a back sort of urban alley, this lady agrees to rent her spot to the likes of me. It's not a modern apartment, kind of decrepit, but I'm thrilled. It's a grown up place, so I must be a grown up man having a grown up life. She warns me about the neighbor tells me he's not gonna like you, but that's okay. I'm from Detroit City. That does not faze me. Well, to say he doesn't like me doesn't capture the loathing, the contempt, the bile this old old man has for me. Several times a day I walk past the alley and I see him building, pouring his energy into this thing. And I don't know what it is. Sometimes it looks like a statue or a fountain, a totem, maybe a cage. It grows, morphs, menaces, twists. There's concrete, there's wood, feathers, like a outward manifestation of inner hatred. I try to rush by fast, don't want any trouble. But the old man has that super hearing Spidey senses his turns, eyes furious, face twisted, finger pointing at me or pointing at my companion or my groceries or my shoes or my being. Always the same one word, comment, which if you look in a dictionary, kore just means this. But in practice, quere can be the foulest curse, the most vile comment, or kindly put question, it can mean anything. But he means I am from hell and to hell he wishes me to return. Quadra. Every single day, the threat, the abuse, Even as this monstrosity grows in size, menaces rocks and tiles and faces of angry gods sheared from stolen statues. Fix his corner. I try to ignore it, I do. But this one day, I don't know why, but this one day I'm tired, coming back to my own apartment that I pay the rent for. And here he comes, indicates the whole of me and I've had it. So I point to his little swamp project Koda. He's all taken aback, so he hits me again. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not done. We're shouting back and forth, screaming the exact same thing to each other. Finally I retreat into my house so we can do it all again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the day after that. I never see him smile to the day I'm moving out Corre in victory, like his battle is won and it has been decades, decades since I've gone back to that place. But last year, I do wander down that side street, walk through that little gap in the alley, find my door, and out of curiosity, and knock. A nice lady comes out. I tell her I used to live here a long time ago. She laughs. We talk, and she asks me a question, tentatively. Toto. If you lived here back then, she says, trying to hide a pocket of dread, maybe you can tell me about that. She gestures. She doesn't turn toward it. She almost hides from it, but I see it. Wild, overgrown, his thing reeking of madness, still burning with malice. I know for sure this man has long since left this earth, but his echo remains. Sam. Now it's 2003, and Max Dionisio is traveling to Japan. See, Max just loves the Japanese language and culture. He's actually been studying East Asian civilizations for 10 years now. But this time around, he's going to the city of Yokohama, where he plans to do some research on local history and meet up with his friend Jeff Spoot.

[F]

Arriving in Japan, I just love it. I can't believe I'm here again. I took the express train from Narita airport to Tokyo. I'm a train fan, so this is really exciting. I am looking left and right, and I'm seeing houses go by. I'm seeing people on bicycles. We're getting closer and closer to Yokohama. I can see something called the Minato Mirai, which is the city center. There's a skyscraper. I can see the Ferris wheel. Off in the distance, I can see the harbor. I'm really excited to get out there. We arrive at Yokohama Station. The neighborhood itself is quite old compared to some of the newer areas. The buildings are definitely older. Some of them are about maybe 70 years old. The apartment is several stories high, five or six. I find the elevator go up and the elevator itself is a little bit rickety and old. I know Jeff's apartment number, so I knock on the door and Jeff answers. When I walk in, there's a small area where I take off my shoes and then I step up into the apartment. The living area is quite nice, I think. It's maybe 12 tatami mats big, so it has a television, it has a little couch, and then there's a kotatsu in the middle of the living room. A kotatsu is a think of a low table that has a heater in the center. You put a blanket on top of it and you can pull yourself underneath. It's a piece of winter furniture. It's lovely. It's great. I'm looking forward to Using it. My idea is to stay with Jeff for four days. So I start telling him about some of my plans. Hey Jeff, I'm thinking about this so when you're done with school, we can go out for drinks, go see friends. And he says, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to go visit my girlfriend in Aizu. I'm going to leave. The apartment is going to be yours. This is a bit of a surprise to me because I expected him to be there. He starts telling me how the logistics of my stay are going to work. And then he asks me to go downstairs to the first floor and knock on the landlady's door to pick up the spare keys. So I take the rickety elevator back to the first floor. Found the landlady's apartment and I knocked. This older woman comes to the door and so I'm speaking my most polite Japanese. I introduce myself. This landlady looks at me, she goes to get the key. She asks again something like, where am I staying? And I say, in Jeff's apartment. And then she says, ah ano heia da la. Oh, that room. The way she said that room puzzled me. What is it about that room? Why not say Jeff's apartment? She gives me the key and I assured her that I would not be a bother. And I go back up to Jeff's place. That's when I get the bulk of the house rules. Clean up after yourself. Don't eat all my stuff. If you eat all my stuff, make sure you replace it. And then Jeff tells me one very odd rule. Do not sleep in the living room. When you go to bed, sleep in the bedroom. Say why? And he says, don't worry about it, but just do me a favor and sleep in the bedroom. And so I think of, oh, you know, maybe there's cockroaches or something. It's an old building. You might expect for that to occur. I'm going to sleep in the bedroom. No problem. So he says goodbye, he makes his way out, and so the place is now mine.

[B]

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[C]

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[D]

Like Tis the season of gifting and holes to deck and the who's in Whoville were in love with new tech. Where can we find Sonos and Samsung and Nintendo? They shouted. Would they find it in one place? This they questioned and doubted when suddenly a who yelled, walmart's the place to start. And each who added headphones, TVs and games to their carts. With Walmart, their shopping was done in a flurry. They cried out, who knew? And ordered their gifts in a hurry. Shop the latest tech gifts in the.

[C]

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[E]

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[F]

My first day at Yokohama is I'm trying to get over jet lag. I'm unpacking, making this space my own and then I go out and explore a little bit. I go back to Minato Mirai. I wanted to see the tall building. Later on I find a bar that looks pretty good. I had a few drinks and then I wanted to be sure I had enough snacks because I'm going to watch some tv. So I went to a convenience store, bought a few curry donuts. They have curry sauce inside. It's delicious. Gogo no Kocha, which is afternoon tea, the milk tea. There are all these sort of crunchy soy snacks that have a sauce base on top of them. They're called Senbei. They have the most pleasing crunch that you've ever crunched. I got up to Jeff's apartment, put out my Array of snacks, turned on the television, and after a while, went up, go into the bedroom, lay out the futon. And that was a perfect way to end the evening. So it's the third night I had gone for karaoke. There is one Japanese song I always like to sing in English. It's called Sukiyaki. Jeff is in Aizu with his girlfriend, so. So I sing by myself. That's fine. People do that too. They practice. I'm back. I have snacks in hand. The TV's on, and this night it is cold. And when I get cold, my joints start to hurt. I slide under the kotatsu and I pull the blanket up to my neck. The heat is gorgeous. I feel my whole body now warming up. Evening progresses, snacking happens, and I get to that point where I need to sleep. This night, I said to myself, it's so cold. I'm not going through this whole liturgy of going up, taking the bath, getting back into the cold. I'm just going to stay here. So I turn off the television. I pulled the cord to turn off the light. And so I go to sleep in the living room. It was probably one or two in the morning. I wake up. It's dark in the room. I can't see really well, and I'm keenly aware that I can't move my body. I can only move my head, and I can blink my eyes, but nothing else. I'm feeling very scared, but I think to myself, oh, is this sleep paralysis? But this had a completely different air about it. I felt intense fear, and I could hear something as well. And it's a soft, soft sound. It's a zuru, zuru sound. It's a rubbing sound. And it starts to grow louder, but just incrementally. I'm trying to sort of turn my head to find where is this sound coming from? I look left, I don't see anything. Turn my head to the right, and my eyes are struggling as I'm looking down that little short hallway that leads to the bedroom, and I happened to see a pair of feet. They were in these traditional socks that are called tabi. It's a sock that has the big toe separated from the others. And these feet are walking towards me. What I'm hearing is the sound of silk as it runs and moves across a tatami mat slowly. I'm terrified. As the feet are approaching closer and closer. I'm now able to look up, and what do I see is that the feet belong to a woman who was wearing a traditional kimono. I couldn't see the face. It was too dark. She's coming closer and closer, and she's walking towards my head. It was just bone chilling, terrifying. It was a kind of terror that I really never known in my life. I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest. I'm thinking to myself, please, I don't want to see her face. So I'm trying to close my eyes, but I don't want to because I need to figure out what's happening. Who is this intruder? And she walks closer. And then she stops. She stops right by my right ear. And then I see one of her feet lift up. To my surprise, she doesn't bend down to show me her face. She steps over my head. The spirit person is walking over me. And as her other foot makes its journey over my head, I can see that the kimono is sort of brocaded. There were sort of horizontal bands of some kind of pattern. I could also see that she had hair. It was long. She's not looking back at me. She turns to walk out of the living room. She's turning into the kitchen. She goes into the bathroom. And then suddenly, I can move. I'm actually free. And so I sit there kind of wondering to myself what has just happened. I grab the string, turn it back on to full light. I push the kotatsu away off of me. I get up and I kind of run into the kitchen, and there's nobody there. It's just me. The door to the toilet is open. And I asked myself, did I leave it open or didn't I? I can't remember. Is this person gonna come back? What's just happened? And then in all this panic, I asked myself, is this what Jeff meant? And so I spend the rest of that night finishing off my snacks and watching really, really late, early morning Japanese television. The next morning, I'm getting all my stuff together, packing up all my clothes. I'm not going to spend another night in a room where I might encounter that thing again. I call some friends in Tokyo, and I say, if this all okay, can I come crash at your place? Thankfully, they say yes. And then I call Jeff. I ask him kind of bluntly and point blank, so you've told me that I shouldn't sleep in the living room. Jeff interrupts me. Oh, you slept in the living room. That means you've met her there. It was. He knew about this person, this. This thing that happened to me.

[C]

Her?

[F]

Who? Who is her? Who is she? What is this person? What is she? And Jeff basically tells me I don't know. When I got the apartment, the landlady told me not to sleep in the living room and after a while that's what I did and saw the exact same thing.

[B]

Looking for a last minute gift for your people? You know, your people. That weird bunch of friends and family that you love dearly. Well, here's an easy idea. Oregon Lottery Holiday Scratch. It's because your people, they're the ones that, amidst all the holiday crowds and endless notifications, help you find the fun, which calls for a little gift that brings big cheer. Oregon Lottery Holiday Scratchets. You know where to find them. Grab some today. Must be 18 or older to play Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only.

[C]

For delicious meals, you could go out to eat or you could just make a Marie Callender's meal. Marie Callender's classic Chicken Parmigiano bowl is so good. It has marinara sauce that's made from scratch and creamy mozzarella cheese over pasta. It's delicious with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and 30 grams of protein. You can find it in the frozen aisle. Marie what Having it all tastes like.

[D]

The who's down and who Newville were making their list, but some didn't know Walmart has the best brands for their gifts.

[F]

What about toys?

[E]

Do they have brands kids have been wanting all year?

[A]

Yup.

[F]

Barbie, Tonys and Lego.

[E]

Gifts that will make them all cheer. Do you mean they have all the brands I adore?

[F]

They have Nintendo, Nespresso, Apple and more.

[D]

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[C]

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[E]

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[F]

Even though I'm shaken up and a little bit perturbed, I calm myself down and I tell him I'll call him later and I hang up the Phone. So the dictates of society require me to check in with the landlady to return that key in person. So I go to her door. I knock, she answers. I tell her I've come to return the keys to Jeff's apartment. And she invites me inside for tea. I thought, why not? I mean, this is an opportunity to maybe practice my Japanese and try and get a little more information. She invited me to sit at a table, and she made tea for me. We start talking a little bit. I'm asking questions about the apartment, you know, her life. She tells me about how the neighborhood has sort of, over time, degraded. And that also, unbeknownst to me, there were nearby large centers where crime families had taken over some of the buildings. And by crime families, I meant the Yakuza. She's talking about local history. And I find all this very interesting. But, you know, I really kind of want to know more about the room. And I sort of say, you know, would you. Would you mind if I asked you a question? And I confessed to her that I slept in the living room. And I asked, you know, could she share anything with me? I didn't ask was it a ghost? I didn't ask was it an intruder. I just asked her if she would share something. There's this little bit of a pause, and she begins to tell me a story of a young woman who had left the countryside about 30 years ago to try and come to Yokohama to make herself a better life. Apparently, according to what I understood of the story, she didn't have much of an education. And so she found herself working in some of the local bars and nightclubs as a hostess. She was approached by some of the young gang members who propositioned her, and she refused. And because she was working for a place owned by the Yakuza, she wasn't able to find work. Things got so financially bad for her that out of maybe fear or desperation, she apparently died by suicide in that apartment. They found her in the bathroom. The landlady tells me that whoever sleeps in the living room is destined to meet her ghost. She does not cause any harm. All she does is try to get them to come to the bathroom. I'm feeling goosebumps kind of come up. I'm thinking, this is a pretty unbelievable story. And yet here I am, thousands of miles from home, talking with a woman I've never met, explaining to her that I've just seen a ghost. And I think Jeff corroborated what I saw. It had to be true. It's a tragic story. And of course I feel quite poorly for that poor woman who had to suffer so much. But in the moment, I just want to let it go. So when I feel that I think I got as much information as I could, it's time to make my excuses to leave. The most I could do was to say thank you for allowing me to stay. That was almost 17 years ago. So that's been a long time since I've been back. Maybe one day I'll be able to go back to Japan and I'll be able to see some of the sights that I really love. I don't often think about the woman I encountered that night because I get cold thinking about it. But when I do, I do pray that her spirit has found some peace. But you can be sure I am never stepping anywhere near that apartment again.

[A]

Thank you, Max Dianisio, for sharing your story with the Spooked. That story was scouted by Dan Yashinsky. That original score was by Laleen Seyjust. It was produced by Eric Yanez. Now, if you have a story that you need to share, let me know. Maybe it's about a dog that's not really a dog. Or a pen that seems to write of its own accord. Or telephone calls from someplace they shouldn't be coming from. Do you know any stories like that? Do you know someone who does? We are on a quest. Holla at your boy. Spooknapjudgment.org because there's nothing better than a spooked story from a spooked listener. The road to Spook Studios runs through shadow and light, through time and space, only to intersect deep beneath KQED in San Francisco. Don't seek to find it. Does it seek to find you? We've got the special incantation from Spook Legal that reads no SNAP Studios content may be used for training, testing or developing machine learning or AI systems without prior written permission. On Team Spoot, the union represented producers of artists, editors and engineers are members of the national association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Communications workers of America, AFL CIO Local 51. And this moved is brought to you by the team that loves their neighbors as they love themselves. Except for Mark Ristich, his neighbors are hereby warned. There's David Kim, Zoe Frigno, Anne Ford, Eric Yanez, Teo Dicott, Marisa Dodge, Myles Lassie, Su Yi Chu, Evan Stern, Yves Jeffcoat, Eshel Lopez, Jack Darrell, Doug Stewart. The Spook theme song is by Pat Mesiti Miller. I'm just from Washington. As I mentioned earlier in this episode. I returned to Japan last year after a long absence. And I love Japan. Went to school there, had my first adult job there. It's where I started to grow into myself, where I've met some of my best friends, the best people. And I want to visit one person, Tycho. I'm excited. It's been too long. Way too long. And we plan to meet up at a favorite restaurant. So I take the train, rush over to the spot, and there Tycho is. I'm over the moon to see her, but I hear this scream and look who was walking in next to me. And it's Amy, another dear friend, also an American, who studied and worked in Japan the same time I did, but who lives in Chicago. Huh? We both look at each other and shout at the same time, what are you doing here now? What are you doing here? And I'm like, I needed to come. And she's like, well, I needed to come. And the person we both came to see, Taika, she's just sitting there, happy to visit with us both, but wholly unimpressed by this cosmic coincidence. Sometimes she says, the ribbon pulls you.

[F]

Back.

[A]

And I can't get it out of my head. All of us sitting together decades later, grinning at each other. What ribbon did this? How does any of this work? Are these ribbons only in Japan or am I just missing them back home? Whatever I can wait.

[F]

For.

[A]

Now I just enjoy myself. Enjoy this time. It feels special. Feels magical. They are both glowing like lanterns. I wonder. I wonder if I'm glowing too. Never ever, ever, ever. Never ever, ever, Never, never. Turn out. Turn out the lights. The lights.

[B]

Looking for a last minute gift for your people. You know, your people, that weird bunch of friends and family that you love dearly. Well, here's an easy idea. Oregon Lottery Holiday Scratchets. Because your people, they're the ones that, amidst all the holiday crowds and endless notifications, help you find the fun. Which calls for a little gift that brings big cheer. Oregon Lottery Holiday Scratchets. You know where to find them. Grab some today. Must be 18 or older to play. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only.

[C]

For delicious meals, you could go out to eat or you could just make a Marie Callender's meal. Marie Callender's classic Chicken Parmigiana bowl is so good. It has marinara sauce that's made from scratch and creamy mozzarella cheese over pasta. It's delicious with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and 30 grams of protein. You can find it in the frozen aisle. Marie Callender's what Having it All Tastes.

[D]

Like Tis the season of gifting and holes to deck and the who's in Whoville were in love with new tech. Where can we find Sonos and Samsung and Nintendo? They shouted. Would they find it in one place? This they questioned and doubted when suddenly a who yelled, Walmart's the place to start. And each who added headphones, TVs, and games to their carts. With Walmart, their shopping was done in a flurry. They cried out, who knew? And ordered their gifts in a hurry. Shop the latest tech gifts in the.

[C]

Walmart app Suffering from dry, tired, irritated eyes? Don't let dry eyes win. Use Sustain Pro. It hydrates, restores, and protects dry eyes for up to 12 hours. Sustain Pro Triple Action Dry Eye relief did you know?

[E]

39% of teen drivers admit to texting while driving. Even scarier, those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights. Shockingly, 94% know it's dangerous but do it anyway. As a parent, you can't always be in the car, but you can stay connected to their safety with Greenlight. Infiniti's driving reports. Monitor their driving habits, see if they're using their phone, speeding, and more. These reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety. Plus, with weekly updates, you can track their progress over time. Help keep your teens safe Sign up for Greenlight [e-mail] podcast.