Arsène Lupin III is a formidable thief capable of cracking all the safes in the world. A fictional character introduced by the mangaka (Japanese for “comicbook artist”) Kazuhiko Kato, better known as Monkey Punch, in the 10 August 1967 issue of Weekly Manga Action, Lupin is supposed to be the grandson of another fictional character, Arsène Lupin, a French gentleman thief and detective created by Maurice Leblanc, the best-selling early Twentieth Century pulp fiction author. As the world’s number one thief, in addition to safes Lupin is also a master at disarming traps and alarms. His ventures have proved him quite a talented driver and pilot as well, and he is an expert shot – with a pistol, no less.

For all his skills, however, Lupin has a doltish, even idiotic look. Yet they belie his ferocious reasoning abilities and social charms; Lupin is able to get past folks with about the same ease as when negotiating safes, particularly booby-trapped ones.

When not practicing his art – he seems to steal a lot more for the challenge than for any personal gain, often discarding treasures or not caring if he should lose them after first conquering the quest of acquiring them – Lupin enjoys fishing, gambling, and dating beautiful women – not necessarily in that order!

Giving rigor to the dubious proverb about honor among thieves, Lupin will often foil other criminals who are engaged in activities of a violent, murderous nature. In fact, most of his adventures involve not only the police, epitomized by his nemesis Inspector Zenigata, but really sinister characters of deep malice.

Immensely popular and voted among the Ten Most Iconic Anime Heroes, Arsène Lupin III has been ubiquitous in three television series, five feature films, nearly two dozen television specials, and several original video animations and videogames.

Surgical masks are most often worn by health professionals, but in many Asian countries they’re worn simply as a way of protecting oneself from the smog, a common problem in that part of the world. Asians also wear surgical masks when sick in order to not infect anyone else. Interestingly, such a basic everyday thing is involved in one of the most uncanny of popular legends in Japan.

Kuchisake Onna, or “slit-mouthed woman” in Japanese, was originally a really beautiful woman whose jealous husband cut her mouth from ear to ear, taunting, “Who will think you’re beautiful now!” Ever since then, on foggy nights, she can be seen roaming around in a surgical mask. When she encounters someone, typically youth, she will shyly inquire whether the individual thinks she is beautiful.

If the answer is yes, Onna will take off her surgical mask and ask, “How about now?” Different versions of the legend give different outcomes if the answer remains affirmative, all bad: she will either cut the individual from ear to ear to resemble herself or kill the person – or both – or, inexplicably, give a large blood-soaked ruby and walk away.

Different versions of this tale offer for the same general set of alternatives even if the original answer had been negative – mutilation or murder. Basically, meeting Kuchisake Onna is bad luck. However, much more modern versions these days advise that responding “You’re average” or “So-so” or even asking her what she thinks of one’s own beauty will turn the tables on her and confuse her, providing an opportunity to escape.

And, in one of those only-in-Japan kind of things, there is even the tactic of basically informing her that you must be on your way, so as to embarrass her for forgetting her manners and making her excuse herself from your presence!