Dandadan merges Japanese mythology with urban legends in a fresh way, blurring the lines between spirits, aliens, and yokai.

Japanese mythology and folklore set down in the Kojiki, Nihon shoki, and other ancient chronicles describe Japan’s yaoyorozu no kami—all the diverse, countless gods throughout the country.

THE JAPANESE MYTHS: A Guide to Gods, Heroes and Spirits, by Joshua Frydman. (Thames & Hudson, $24.95.) A professor of Japanese literature ushers readers through the country’s mythology from the ...