It is said that in the city you must carefully dispose of your waste in winter. Anything from the kitchens or living spaces should be burned or buried. It is said that if you leave waste out on winter nights by morning it will frost or freeze over. 

In this frozen state, waste remains in stasis. Cold as it may be, it can still be seen and smelled by passersby. Perhaps not human passersby, but yokai.

In the city in the slums there are tales of a yokai that travels 'round at night, rummaging through people's waste. If it is not burned or buried the yokai will find it and devour it. While it's good that the waste is eaten and gone, the presence of this yokai is said to bring misfortune.

If this yokai comes to eat your waste every night its hunger for more will affect the household. Its gluttony can influence the house's inhabitants, making them want for more and more food, which in turn produces more and more waste for the yokai to feed upon. 

The only known way to keep this creature away is to properly dispose of your waste. If burning or burying is not an option, then leave the waste in closed capsules far away from human spaces. The yokai will then be drawn away from the houses by the smell of food. Better they feed in the woods than in the streets, yes?

While no one has died from daily visits of this yokai, it has been known to leave houses in ruins. Houses overcome by intense gluttony spend all their money on food. Some houses have been known to go into debt by their extreme hunger. 

It should be noted that many of these families are already starving, and perhaps the yokai itself is a personification of their famine.

But it should also be noted that there have been spotting of this creature. One account describes a shadowy figure with a bulbous head and glowing eyes. Its hands are said to be knobby and bony, with long nails that nitpick at the waste for the best pieces to consume. 

If you should happen to lay eyes on this creature be warned. Look directly at them and you'll be overwhelmed by the yokai's spell of gluttony!