Coulrophobia

Almost as bad as Japan's fear of any outside culture

ZING
definitely not as bad as japan's fear of working slightly less

Are people actually afraid of them?

I’ve never really understood this one.

Even the creepy clown trope in horror movies is kinda underwhelming and overdone in my opinion. It feels forced.

There are people in this world who are afraid of balloons. Irrational fears don't care about how illogical they are, they just exist.
I think in this case, Japan doesn't really have circuses the way that the west does. Therefore they don't have a very large number of people who dress as clowns. So childhood encounters with clowns which could potentially create adult phobias don't really manifest.
The Japanese have a few unique phobias not found in the west as well. So it's not as one sided as the article makes out.
- Ooh, can you name some unique phobias?
  The only one I was able to find is the phobia of embarrassing over displeasing others.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijin_kyofusho
It is a real phobia; irrational, yes, but no less real. I know more than one person that reacts to clowns the way others might react to heights and spiders.
What confuses me about phobias is people who have them often do nothing about it. Fear fades when we choose to understand rather than avoid. I used to be terrified of spiders, until I took the time to learn about them, and in learning my fear turned into wonder. They are fascinating animals and deserve none of the hate they receive. Same for clowns, I guess...
I think it's more of a boomer fear. They had clowns at birthdays and on TV as major cultural staples of childhood. And strange adults dressed silly and acting funny may usually be delightful or something, but its not surprising that plenty got freaked out, especially if they had a bad experience with one.
As a millennial they're discomforting to me, but largely in a way of a bizarre cultural staple from not too long before my time but definitely well before it. They represent the veneer of innocence of the 50s and 60s, including what it covers up.
- I find Gacey to be the guy who could have almost single-handedly instiledl fears of clowns in many american people.
Phobia's can be genetic and the US had a serial killer that dressed as a clown in the 70s

I have it kind of the other way, a mild caulrophilia. It's just a bit of a bump, but a girl that is already attractive to me, will likely be more so in well-done clown make-up. Which is ironic, because when it comes to normal makeup, I tend to prefer the look of a lighter touch.

Though I think it is probably more about emphasizing and exaggerating facial emotiveness. I tend to have trouble with facial expressions, so when someone can do something to make them clearer, or overact them, it's very helpful/comforting. A clown-girl voice helps too for the same thing. They usually add more emotion to their speaking to go with the overacting.

Actually the characters alot of V-tubers portray is kind of the same thing.

I wonder what causes it that does not exist within Japanese culture. Is it that American children are potentially exposed to them as children, and circuses just aren't a thing in Japan?

(The fact that children would find clowns scary, having no explanation for such eldritch beings, is not surprising to me.)

I'm not sure that exposure to clowns as a child is as common as it once was, but now that fear of them is a cultural touchstone, our media revels in it and exposes us to explicitely and intentionality scary clowns and nurtures the phobia.

I think it's the "horror clown" trope. I haven't seen any Japanese clown related horror stuff. But in American culture it's a classic and every kid has caught a glimpse of a spooky clown
think like sharks. sharks are usually non confrontal and dont often attack humans. but jaws as a franchise has irreversibly made sharks as a symbol of fear for the waters, despite how insignificant shark attacks are.
I wonder if John Wayne Gacy has anything to do with it.
- Almost certainly yes. Almost every "horror clown" that exists marks Gacy as an inspiration.
  Americans also have Stephen King's "It" as a well known cultural touchstone, as well as just the general fear of being around a strange man who hides his face.

In the middle of the night, it's darkest hour, I got up in a cold sweat and a swamp of cum. Inseparable, my fear of death came with the lust. I was on a brink, on the edge of doing something to myself, when I brought my partner of ten years a squeaky nose and a palette of makeup. It felt unnatural at first, to have a hatefuck with them, to have a bonner pumped up by my own dread, but I wasn't shy of requesting it again, and again. My phobia got my phalos going like nothing else could. I was not a man I believed I was, but I ran with it anyway.

The more intentionally "scary" the clown is, the less bothered I am. It's the "totally normal" clowns that are freaky. I think it's the makeup. Perhaps a bit of the uncanny valley at play. I also find insane over the top drag queen makeup to be creepy. (Just to be clear, I have no issues with basic drag, crossdressing, or trans people.) It's the over the top makeup that makes them look like clowns or aliens that creeps me out.

I'm terrified of clowns, my wife put on clown makeup one time for a photo shoot and i could not look at her face at all. Just dread.