The big Buddha club just got a new member. Located a 90-minute car ride to the west of central Tokyo is Hinode-machi, a rural town of 17,000 which unless you’re an avid hiker or love fall foliage, you’ve probably never heard of. However, Hokōji, a Buddhist Temple in this small town is hoping to change that via their new gigantic …

It’s like the car is driving itself! Getting stuck in a taxi with an overly chatty driver when all you want to do is relax for a few minutes can be a pretty painful experience. However, the Yokohama-based taxi company Sanwa Kotsu has come up with a new and very unique way to put an end to this pesky problem. …

Japan just can’t get enough Snoopy. The Hokkaido city of Otaru will soon be home to the latest location of Snoopy Chaya (Snoopy 茶屋,  Snoopy Tea House), a popular chain of Japanese style cafes featuring food and decor based on Charles M. Schulz’s beloved comic strip: Peanuts. When the Otaru Snoopy Chaya opens its doors on April 19, it will …

Welcome to the uncanny valley, where hotel rooms are cheap and receptionists are unsettling in appearance. The Ginza district of Tokyo is famous around the world for being one of Japan’s most upscale shopping, dining, and entertainment areas. However, as of February 1, this swanky chunk of land will also be home to the latest location of Japan’s robot-staffed hotel …

Sexy legs and big boobs, she is the embodiment of every guy’s fantasy, right? From middle-aged eagle men to giant pink dog poops, Japankyo has covered a number of bizarre Japanese mascots in the past but the one we’ll be looking at today may just take the cake. Who is Paiko-chan?   The name of this bizarre mascot is Paiko …

All you need is the power of kawaii. In an effort to promote tourism to the city of Okayama, the city has released a video that can only be described as “kawaii.” Released on October 7, this new promotional video stars model, actress and Okayama-native HInako Sakurai. The video presents a super “kawaii” (cute) version of the classic Japanese fairy …

Seems like a great excuse to visit Osaka in 2018. In 2015 Universal Studios Japan (USJ) started their wildly successful Universal Cool Japan initiative as a way to promote some of Japan’s biggest entertainment properties and help drum up business for the Osaka based theme park. This ongoing program has resulted in a number of interesting attractions based on some …

Harry Potter, Final Fantasy and Sailor Mooon all in the same place. As part of an ongoing effort to promote Japanese video game and anime properties around the world, Osaka’s Universal Studios Japan (USJ) will soon be opening up attractions based on the massively popular anime series Sailor Moon and the classic video game franchise Final Fantasy. USJ began doing …

You don’t have to be insane to go to Sanatorium. Hidden away on the third floor of a rather unremarkable building on an easy to miss side street in Fukuoka’s lively North Tenjin area you’ll find (if you know where to look) a little cafe/art-gallery hybrid called Sanatorium (サナトリウム). Although not that well-known to the public at large, this place …

A fun place to check out, unless you’re feeling lazy… For the uninitiated, Gudetama (ぐでたま) is an egg-based Sanrio character that made its (his? her?) debut in 2013 and is known for having a totally pessimistic outlook on life and an extremely unmotivated, low-energy disposition. Gudetama’s name perfectly encapsulates all these character traits due to it being derived from a …

Meet Kaisendon The two cities on either side of the Kanmon Straits have come together to promote tourism in the area via a jointly produced video that features some entertaining B-movie level acting and an impressive kaiju designed by the people behind Shin Godzilla. Released at the end of March, this mini-movie was produced as a way to get more …

Steamy onsen action. Just about the most cliché thing an ad for an onsen (hot springs) can do is show naked girls soaking in hot water covered up in all the right places by steam. And apparently the people behind a new series of promotional videos advertising Ibaraki Prefecture’s hot springs realized this because they instead chose to use naked …