Japan’s Fascination with T-Rex Costume Racing
Over the last couple of years, more than 40 T-Rex costume races have been hosted around Japan, making it one of the fastest-growing racing events in the Asian country. T-rex costume racing is believed to have originated in 2019, when dozens of people donning inflatable Tyrannosaurus Rex costumes gathered on the Emerald Downs racetrack in […]
64-Year-Old Woman Busted for Counterfeiting Luxury Bags Using Her Sewing Machine
A 64-year-old Japanese woman from Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward has admitted to counterfeiting luxury bags and wallets in the comfort of her own home and selling them in her small shop as originals. The unnamed woman’s story began a few years ago when she opened a small bag shop in Katsushika where she tried to sell […]
Incredibly Realistic Wool Felt Dog Took Over 500 Hours to Complete
A Japanese artisan spent over 500 hours making a hyper-realistic wool felt model of a Miniature Pinscher. Terumi Ota’s latest creation, a wool felt Miniature Pinscher, received over 32,000 likes on X (Twitter), and for good reason. At first glance, it looks like a real dog, which isn’t really the case with wool-felt sculptures, especially […]
Japanese Fashion Company Launches Sunfish-Shaped Sweater
Japanese clothing brand Felissimo recently took social media by storm with an unusual garment inspired by the unique shape of the giant sunfish. “For those of you who want to become a sunfish, we have created room wear that allows you to wear a sunfish,” the Felissimo social media team posted last month. “Opportunities to […]
Fishbone Beach – White Japanese Beach Is Actually Covered in Fish Bones
A stretch of beach in Hakodate City, Japan’s Hokkaido Prefecture, has been dubbed ‘Fishbone Beach’ after being covered by a thick layer of brittle fish bones. In December of last year, thousands of tons of dead fish were washed ashore in Hokkaido, in an event that many linked to the release of treated water from […]
Trendy Ice Cream Shop Specializes in Hyper-Realistic Edible Flower Bouquets
(THISIS)SHIZEN is a Kyoto-based café that has gained popularity mainly thanks to its artistic ice cream cones which resemble intricate flower bouquets. We use the phrase ‘too beautiful to eat’ to describe food art pretty often here on Oddity Central, but the edible ice-cream bouquets created by (THISIS)SHIZEN really look too pretty to eat, regardless […]
Ukrainian-Born Woman Wins Miss Japan Beauty Pageant, Sparks Controversy
A 26-year-old model who was born in Ukraine and moved to Japan at the age of five was recently crowned Miss Japan, sparking a heated debate regarding national identity. Carolina Shiino speaks and writes impeccable Japanese, she spent most of her life in Japan and identifies as Japanese. But she wasn’t born in Japan and, […]
Newspaper-Powered Rice Cooker Proves Invaluable during Earthquake
An ingenious rice cooker designed to be used with rolled newspaper instead of gas or electricity has proven surprisingly useful during the recent earthquake that hit Japan. The Tiger KMD-A100, aka ‘Tiger Kamado’ used to be ridiculed by people who simply didn’t believe in the premise that you could cook soft, fluffy rice with only […]
ChecKEY II – An Ingenious Key Accessory That Lets You Check if You Locked Your Door
Don’t you hate it when you can’t remember if you locked the front door when you last left your home? It’s a dreadful feeling that you don’t have to experience again thanks to a cool little accessory called CheckKEY. Developed by Japanese lock manufacturer company Miwa, the ChecKEY is a sleeve-like accessory that goes over […]
The Crow Buster – A Translucent Piece of Plastic That Keeps Crows at Bay
A Japanese company that has been developing crow repellants for 15 years claims that its Crow Buster, a translucent piece of yellow plastic, is more effective than any scarecrow. Crows are auspicious omens in Japanese culture, but in day-to-day life, they can be quite pesky pests. Notoriously intelligent and highly adapted to both rural and […]
Japanese Man Has Four Wives, Three Children and No Job
Japanese media recently reported the controversial story of a 35-year-old Japanese man who allegedly has four wives and three small children but hasn’t worked in over a decade. 35-year-old Ryuta Watanabe of Sapporo, on Japan’s Hokkaido Island, has become an overnight sensation in his home country due to an unconventional lifestyle. Watanabe reportedly lives with […]
Tokyo Cafe Caters Exclusively to Negative People
Mori Ouchi, a cozy cafe in Tokyo’s laidback Shimokitazawa district, is famous for only catering to pessimists and people with a generally negative mindset. Negative people tend to get a bad rep and are constantly told to be more positive, but, if you think about it, is there really anything wrong with being negative? The […]
This Japanese Restaurant Makes the World’s Smallest Sushi
Tokyo restaurant Sushiya no Nohachi reportedly serves great sushi, but it is most famous for its gimmick – making the world’s smallest sushi with a single grain of rice. Located in Asakusa, a slightly quieter part of Tokyo, Sushiya no Nohachi is the place to go if you want to enjoy the tiniest, most adorable […]
The World’s Largest Gashapon Store Is Home to More Than 3,000 Coin-Operated Machines
Tokyo’s Ikebukuro shopping district is home to the world’s largest gashapon capsule toy store – a 1,250m² area decked with over 3,000 gashapon machines filled with various figurines. Gashapon machines have been a big part of Japan’s recreational culture for over half a decade, but while these toy capsule-filled machines are ubiquitous in the Asian […]
Japanese Artist Builds Lightest Life-Size Land Cruiser SUV Ever
Toyota recently teamed up with Japanese artist Masumi Yamaguchi to celebrate the return of the iconic Land Cruiser 70 SUV to the market in a unique way. SUVs aren’t known for being the lightest of cars, but the one created by Masumi Yamaguchi is probably the lightest ever made. Even though it is a 1:1 […]