10) Japan - 5. Kappa

Also known as 'Kappa' or 'Kawata-ro', and written as '河童' in kanji. It's a yokai that lives by rivers, about the size of a 4-5 year old child, with webbed hands. It looks like a mix of a frog and a turtle, and is said to have a lifespan of about 100 years. It has a dish-shaped organ on its head that holds water. If this water spills, it becomes weaker than a child, and if it dries up completely, it is said to die. It likes polite people, so if you greet it first, the Kappa will bow its head in return, causing the water on its head to spill. It likes cucumbers, rice cakes, wrestling, and children. It enjoys wrestling with children, and if you carve a name and age onto a rice cake or cucumber and give it to the Kappa, it will help that person. It's also said to have taught humans bone-setting techniques. According to some legends, it eats the 'shiriko-dama' (in Korean, 'buttock pearl') from the anus of people who enter the water. If a Kappa eats this, the person becomes foolish or drowns. This legend is sometimes interpreted as a story created by adults in later generations to prevent children from playing alone by the water.