Quirky Japan Photo Blog - Pictures of interesting and unusual, people, places and things in Japan. All photos from the old Quirky Japan photos section are gradually being posted here. Out of the way places, bizarre festivals, love hotels, odd temples and shrines, street life, subcultures, quirky sculptures, costume play, unusual architecture, sex, death, and much, much more. Updated weekly!

Off the Beaten Track in Tokyo and the kanto region - Shibamata, an old traditional neighborhood, Design Festa Gallery, The Edo-Tokyo Tatemono En, The Nihon Minka En (a collection of old houses), watching early-morning Sumo practices, Yabusame (horseback archery), The Izu Cactus Park, and Kawagoe, a town iwth beautiful old buildings - Updated: April 2009

Off the Beaten Track in Kansai - Kyoto and Osaka-Mt. Ikoma, Traditional Architecture Museum, Amerika Mura, Tennoji, Maritime Museum, Osaka Human Rights Museum, Himeji Castle, Cormorant Fishing, Byodoin, Awashima Jinja (Doll shrine) in Wakayama

Getaways - Places to get away from the crowds and see traditional Japan. Includes Sekigahara War World, Momotaro Shrine, Kanazawa, Matsumoto, the Nakasendo, Shirakawago, Takayama, Kanazawa, the Tottori Sand Dunes, Hokkaido, the Yuumin Bokujo Horse ranch in Okinawa, Aizu Wakamatsu, and Shikine Jima. Updated: April 2009

Love Hotels - Love Hotels are Japan's sexual playgrounds, no-tell motels where you can live out your sexual fantasy in anything from a princess' bedroom to a Mickey Mouse theme room to an S&M durngeon. Quirky Japan brings you the best love hotels around Japan and I've written a book called Love Hotels: Inside Japan's Sexual Playgrounds.

Magazine Articles - Breaking Out of English Teaching; A Woman's Hair is Her Life: Japanese Combs and Hair Ornaments; 'The Japanese Study Issue' - 'Pass the JLPT', 'Choosing a Japanese Textbook and School', 'Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Japanese'; The Danger Issue' - Whatever happened to the 'safety country', Japanics, the dumbest criminals in Japan; 'Ramen Nation'; "The Nampa Issue"; 'The Death Issue' - A look at Japanese death customs, death-related tourist attractions, suicide, etc.; Japan's Quirky Festivals - Penis festival, Onbashira, Danjiri Kenminsei: Prefetural Peculiarities

Nandakke's - New Japanese words to explain the unique situations foreigners find themselves in.
Orei Taikai (Bowing contest) These competitions are held on street corners all over Japan as people try to out-polite one another and little bowing wars break out. Points are awarded for not just the number of bows, but also depth and duration..."

The World's Most Difficult Japan Quiz - Some really tough questions about Japan. What is Mr. Sulu's name in Japan? Name Japan's three most famous festivals. What is the proper name of a haiku? What is the real name of the famous Golden Pavillion Kinkakuji?

The Foreigner Persons Consciousness Survey - In cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Education, The Office of Cultural Affairs and the Imperial Agency for Japanese Uniqueness, the Quirky Japan Homepage is presenting this important survey in order to help the government understand the wants and needs of its foreign guests. Please take a few minutes to fill it out.

Crime and Conspiracies - Crime: Japan's Most Wanted, 21st Century Yak, The Most Dangerous Man in Japan, Rules for Young Yakuza, How to Talk Like a Yak, Yakuza Fashion Guide, Why Do Yaks Cut Off Their Fingers, Yakuza Blood Baths, Yakuza By the Numbers
Conspiracies: Tobacco Companies, Bout-rigging in Sumo, Price-fixing, Monopolies, Press Clubs etc.

Television and Videos - Big Dreams, Little Tokyo, Japanarama (a compilation tape of quirky TV shows), Gamewave, Grasshoppa!, Hitozuma Onsen, Itouke No Shokutaku, Namidame, London Hearts Thunderbolt, Denpa Shonen, Jungle TV and Happy Family Plan. Last Update: Sept. 2007

Music - Interesting and unusual Japanese musicians:
Ua, Ajico and Sunny Day Service

Festivals and Holidays - Mikoshi (portable shrines), fertility festivals, Hanami (Cherry Blossom viewing), The Japan International Birdman Competition, and holidays--White Day, Bean-Throwing Day, etc.

Useless People - Election Wavers, Arrow Fetchers, Real Estate Agents, Crossing Guards at traffic lights, Lobby Ladies in banks, Department Store Elevator Girls, Electronic Shops Employees, etc.

Second Hand Shops - Where to find used CD's, software and books in Tokyo, Kansai, and Sapporo

Japannotations - Have you ever wondered what the ads on the trains, the tissue packages you get from the station or the housing plans from the real estate agents actually say? Japannotations helps you understand what's written in the world around you.
Topics: Airstage, Costume Model Magazine, Pink Chirashis, Love Hotel Diaries, Dr. Kopa's Feng Shui of Brand Name Goods, Japanese Graves, Genki Drinks, Ema, Yakuza Fashion, The Senju Kannon, Anti-Yakuza Ad, Email Do's and Don'ts, and more.

The Honest Photographer - Photographers in Japan must be the most dishonest, deceitful, manipulative people in the world. We carefully frame out telephone wires and pachinko parlors from our temple pictures, get up early to beat the tourist hordes, andelight in winter scenes so that the urban ugliness is covered with snow.

Museums - The Parasite Museum, The Salt and Tobacco Museum, The Laundry Museum, Museum of Criminology, The Rubber Baseball Museum, The Toy Museum, the Ramen Museum, the Little Prince Museum the Kite Museum, and more.

Budget Travel - Information about cheap JR tickets, ferry travel, and how to live in Japan on 500 yen a day!

Books - Strange Books about Japan, including Cafe Haiku, Saying Yes to Japan, Roadside Japan, Dogs and Demons: Tales From the Dark Side of Japan, Japan Swings, A Pale View of the Hills, The Lady and the Monk, Japan Inside Out, Midaregami, The Ronin, Strnage But True Stories From Japan, and The Broken Commandment

SAQ - Seldom Asked Questions--What does the 'MOS' in 'MOS BURGER' mean? What do Japanese people wear under their Kimonos? What's my sign according to the Japanese Zodiac? And more...--Last Update: July 2006
Quirky Japan Index - Unusual statistics about Japan. Did you know that 99.98% of defendants are found guilty by Japanese courts?

Temple Lodging and Hot Spring Resorts - Shukubo (Temple Lodging) and Onsen (Hot Spring Resorts) are Japan's most wonderful accommodation options.

Cheesy Tourist Attractions and Disappointments - Sounkyou Onsen (Hokkaido), Toei Eigamura (Kyoto), the Sapporo Snow Festival, Ueno Park, The Sapporo Clock Tower, and Japanese beaches

Fringe Groups - Uyoku (right wingers), Bosozoku (speed tribes), Anti-Giants, Hikkikomori (the socially withdrawn), Otaku (Geeks), Freeters (the voluntarily unemployed), and Parasite Singles

Japanese Movies We'd Like to See - A look at what some famous movies might be like if they were remade in Japan.
"9 1/2 Weeks - This remake of the sexy Kim Bassinger/Mickey Rourke film starts Kimura Takuya and Noriko Fujiwara. To make it more palatable to the Japanese audience, however, the strawberries, whip cream and ice cubes that Mickey Rourke used while making love to Kim Bassinger have been replaced with natto, umeboshi and seaweed."

What's Normal In Japan? - Nihon no Hyoujun (What's Normal in Japan) is a collection of excepts from a fascinating Japanese homepage that asks people to write in and vote on questions like: "Do you use wash you hands in the stream of water that comes out of the toilet tank?", "At what age does a person become middle-aged, or "What flavour did you order the last time you went to a ramen shop?"

Odd Shops and Vending Machine Heaven - Unique businesses and strange things you can buy in vending machines in Japan
Pachinko - A look at the world's most mindless pastime

Food - Strange foods like Fugu (poisonous fish), Sakana No Ikizukuri (fish eaten while they are still alive), Suzume (grilled sparrow on a stick) and the Yakiimo Man (Japan's bizarre equivalent of the ice cream man)

Understanding Japanese Buddhist Sculpture - Why does the thousand armed Kannon statue have only 42 arms? How come the Buddhas have such strangely-shaped ears? If Buddhism is so peaceful, why do some of the statues look so fearsome? The answers to these questions and more, plus how to identify the Buddhas and deities.

Quirky Writings - short stories and essays - The Kiosk Lady, The Grand Old Man of the Callahan Clan, and The Slaves of Tony Wheeler, Tell 'Em a Story: Bargaining Tips for Travellers, Alternative Long-Term Accommodation in Japan, Haiku, Cartoon Evil and How to Appreciate Shrines and Temples--Last Update: April 16, 2001

Links

E-Kanji - This website is designed to help students of Japanese improve their reading. It consists of reading passages, in which every Kanji is hyper-linked to a pronunciation key and a definition of the word to make reading easy. No more Kanji dictionaries. No more giving up on a reading because of one or two difficult kanji. There's also a guide to passing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and an advanced level grammar guide. The URL is: http://www.geocities.com/easykanji/.

About Quirky Japan - Answers to some frequently asked questions.

Travel Advisor--Answers to questions sent in by visitors about travelling to, or living in Japan