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Scream Therapy?
Issei Kato/Reuters
Actors disguised as zombies are a good distraction from the horrors of the pandemic, customers say.
With people around the world looking for relief from the Covid-19 pandemic, a terrifying form of escapism has caught on in Japan. A production company called Kowagarasetai (which means “Scare Squad” in Japanese) puts on 15-minute shows in which people lie in coffin-like boxes and watch through a window in the top as performers disguised as chainsaw-wielding zombies act out horror stories. The customers may also get poked with fake hands or squirted with water, all in the name of letting out a therapeutic scream or two. With a cost of 800 yen (about $7.60), the spooky shows are a quick and effective way of letting off steam, according to some who have screamed their way through them. “Lots of events have been canceled because of the coronavirus, and I was looking for a way to get rid of my stress,” Kazushiro Hashiguchi told Reuters after a recent show in Tokyo. “I feel relaxed now.”