I'm officially recommending reading "The Mist" if you like the tense atmosphere sort of stuff. It's quite effective and spooky. I would equate it to how I remember "Alone in the Dark" (the original polygon game) being when I played it when I was younger. There wasn't anything jump out at you scary necessarily, just like...you can feel the character's fear sort of. Shrug, hard to explain. Give it a try when you get some time
And I hear that praise for Japanese horror all of the time. I really wish I would get through every other kick I'm on right now (Classic movies, cheap slasher horror, books based on movies) and move onto my Japanese film kick. I hear great things and I just haven't gotten around to watching any of them.