Japanese Horror Story – It'll Get You in the End!

There are gimmicks, and then there are gimmicks. And today we got the drop on a story that will make you want to drop your drawers and settle in for some alone time. Seriously. Why take a book into the bathroom when you can actually read the toilet paper?

According to Yahoo! News that’s what’s happening with author Koji Suzuki’s latest short story, the appropriately titled "Drop", about sinister happenings in a Japanese latrine. Suzuki, author of the Ring novels, is debuting his nine-chapter novella on rolls of toilet paper throughout the country courtesy of Hayashi Paper. Each roll will carry multiple copies of the tale.

The company promotes the toilet paper, which will sell for 210 yen ($2.20) a roll, as "a horror experience in the toilet." Toilets in Japan were traditionally tucked away in a dark corner of the house due to religious beliefs. Parents would tease children that a hairy hand might pull them down into the dark pool below.

This is something you certainly don’t hear about every day. How long do you suppose until America tries to remake this idea?

- MattFini