Japanese Urban Legend

Hanako-san is a Japanese urban legend from the 1950s to nowadays. It is the most influential urban legends in Japan about a young lady Hannako-san who was killed in the bathroom. Her soul is still remaining and haunting in the bathroom. This is similar to Harry Potter's Moaning Myrtle. Till the 1980s, the story of Hanako-san was widely known. At the beginning of the 1990s, people started to make anime and movie about this urban legend Hanako-san. The reason why this became a Japanese urban legend is that people know this is nonexistent, and it is only a trick for adults to indoctrinate students or children. Hanako-san became so popular, significant, and relevant to modern society that people started to intimidate children by making an urban legend: after Hanako-san was killed in the bathroom by a villainous person, her soul haunted in school's bathroom; whenever students linger in the bathroom, she will kill the students by drowning them in the toilet. When a student didn't do their homework, teachers will intimidate the student with the urban legend.

This means a lot to me because when I was young, my teacher did the same thing by telling a similar ghost story. Because of this story, I was afraid to go to the bathroom alone. I understand that this is a cultural thing. Asian counties share a similar urban legend because they have a similar experience.