What’s it like to take Chinese ghosts to Japan for a “cultural exchange” in local customs and traditions?
Zhang Daoxuan said, “Thanks for asking. I’m in Tokyo, just got off the plane, and my merit points are already overflowing.”
Japan likes staging night parades of a hundred demons, right? So I turned around and put on a “Chinese Army of the Dead Crossing the Border.”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman asked why my ghostly palanquin procession was taking up her road. Black and White Impermanence promptly slapped her in chains that bind the soul, charging her with “illegal street trading.”
The long-haired goblin showed up at my manor to mooch a meal? The next second, Lord Taotie swallowed him whole, ghost and all, then complained that imported food didn’t suit his taste.
When Japan’s proud great demons were being kicked around like balls by the ancestors in my family, Amaterasu, who had been hiding behind the scenes, finally couldn’t sit still.
She demanded, “Are you trying to start a war between the gods?”
I silently took out the “Cross-Border Cooperation and Exchange Permit” issued by the Jade Emperor.
“Sorry, I’m under orders to earn merit. All gods, stand aside!”
