Conclusion: is there a “Japanese” fantastic?

My answer would have to be an extremely qualified “yes,” but only in a matter of degree, rather than indicating any essential dissimilarity between Japanese and Western literature. Obviously, certain themes and images are more emphasized in Japanese fantasy than in that of the West, but this study has found no one specific theme that is unique to Japan. Individual authors and specific periods give rise to particular uses of the fantastic, but it would be reductive to say that these treatments are somehow uniquely “Japanese.”