Quirky Japan Blog
Photos of interesting and unusual people, places, and things in Japan



Kyudo demonstration at the Meiji Shrine (Nov 16)
The Culture Day (Nov. 3) Festival at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo is something I look forward to every year. I’ve been four times, and still get excited about going because it’s so great for photography. I tried out the Jidai Matsuri in Asakusa last year, but a lot of the costumes were kind of [...]


Portable Shrine in the Nakamise Shopping Arcade (Nov 16)
A mikoshi (portable shrine) being carried down Asakusa’s Nakamise shopping arcade in front of Senso-ji Temple during the Sanja Matsuri Festival. Here are some other posts about the Sanja Matsuri.http://qjphotos.wordpress.com/?s=sanja       


Horseback Archery (Nov 13)
This horseback archery event took place in Takadanobaba on Sports Day, October 9. In yabusame demonstrations, the participants gallop a horse at full speed down a track, and try to hit three small targets that are only a hundred meters or so apart. Here’s a video: http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=1030 Another good yabusame demonstration is held at the Meiji Shrine [...]


Outdoor Haircut (Nov 13)
Getting an al-fresco haircut in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park.       


Old Photos of Japan (Nov 9)
This blog by foreign journalist Kjeld Duits is just endlessly fascinating to me. Not only are the old postcards surreally beautiful, but the text that goes with them is brimming with interesting information about Japan’s history and culture. He writes about stuff that you won’t find in English anywhere else on the web, with information [...]


Japanese Kewpie Dolls (Nov 9)
At a street stall near Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa.       


Japanese Leaf Tracker (Nov 7)
It’s easy to laugh about how many Japanese people believe that they live in the only country in the world with four distinct seasons, but I have to admit that people here really do seem to take the change of seasons a lot more seriously than people in other countries do. People really go the [...]


Paradise Park in Izu (Nov 7)
Judge at the gates of Hell. The Izu Gokurakuen (Izu Paradise Park) is a strange attraction in  a popular hot spring in the Izu peninsula, which is filled with gruesome dioramas of the Buddhist hells that would give Stephen King the willies.  There are hundreds of little mannequins and dolls having their heads torn off, their [...]


The One-Man Pro Wrestling Match (Nov 5)
I saw this odd street performer in Kita-senju. He’s called the Hitori Puroresu (the One-Man Pro Wrestling Match)       


Traditional Japanese Inn (Nov 5)
The Tajima-ya, a lovely old Japanese inn in the beautifully preserved old post town of Magome-juku in Nagano Prefecture. Magome is quite possibly the most beautiful place in Japan.