scattered around buddhist temples in the tohoku region of japan there are mummified bodies enshrined in . practitioners of an ancient set of rituals known as shugendô, these monks actually mummified themselves in a prolonged act of asceticism. believing that they could attain enlightenment in a mere ten thousand days (about 8 years, […]

planning a trip with the kids? looking for something a little bit more original than disney? or maybe you want the kids to experience something educational while they’re having fun. well if your visiting japan, korea, china, or vietnam; you might consider the following amusement parks.
probably NSFW

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in what is one of the more disturbing trends in contemporary japan, the maid cafes and other perverted male otaku hang outs have spawned a new branch of cafes for female otaku, ones based one gay comic book porn. that’s right, women who want to indulge their childhood fantasy of young effeminate men dressed […]

Politics watchers all over Japan have been shocked by the first week of the new Fukuda administration, which has been completely unmarked by any form of controversy whatsoever.
Even the revolving door at the Ministry of Agriculture appears to have stopped spinning. When asked how the new Agriculture Minister had managed to hold on to […]

This familiar scene on Japanese trains appears innocent enough. But it’s not, according to the An Englishman in Osaka blog. Because one of these salarymen is actually dead.
That’s right, on their way home one of these guys drifted into a light sleep before passing peacefully away, moving on to that great office in the […]

I pass this sign fairly regularly, but I’ve never turned right and visited the Synthesis Friendship Terminal. I can’t begin to imagine what it is. And there’s something about the mystery that I like, so I don’t really want to find out what it is.
But what do you reckon it is?

The Japan Times has published a story about Shun Akida, a reporter who is investigating the tunnels that lie beneath Tokyo and the possibility that there is are hidden tunnels that are being deliberately concealed from the public.

The bulk of Shun’s book covers the development of the subway system and questions the many inconsistencies between […]

Under the headline “11 school kids hospitalized after talking about ghost stories”, the Mainichi reports
Eleven junior high school students suffered hyperventilation and were rushed to hospital after talking about ghosts on a bus during a school trip Saturday afternoon, school officials said.
They are fully conscious and their conditions are not serious.
Yeah, they didn’t die, or […]

Last week, in Toyota, Aichi prefecture (where else?), an elderly couple were surprised to find a bag containing cash to the tune of ¥3,000,000 in their kitchen. Police reported that an 85-year-old woman came home to find a paper bag containing three bundles of 100 million yen and confectionery in the kitchen, and she […]

JAPUNDIT reader Joshua Richley kindly sent along this shot of a can of whale meat he found in a small neighborhood grocery in Osaka back in April.

So I guess the whale is out there.
To tell you the truth, the last time I ate whale was many moons ago, in the form of whale steak and […]

All the news about North Korea these days paints a picture of a NORK military that is a steely-eyed, cold-blooded killing machine. But surfing around the Web for a while has got me wondering just which are the real faces of the NORK military. . . The ones on the left, or the ones on […]

Today is Megumi Yokota’s birthday.

Megumi was was abducted from near her home in Japan by the North Koreans on November 15, 1977 when she was only thirteen and taken to the North for the purpose of training NORK spies so they could pass as Japanese.
Is she still alive or did she commit suicide […]

I ran across a discussion over at Plunge Pontificates concerning the term Japanophile.
Plunge reports that he got into trouble using the term on a website where it was claimed Japanophile is a derogatory term. Plunge says:
I never started using it until those at Japundit were using it and never felt it to be […]

A recent survey by MTV Japan indicates that teenagers here are safer in their sexual practices than those in their 20s.
Over 70 percent of teenagers surveyed by a satellite television broadcaster said they use condoms whenever they have sex.
In comparison, less than half of those in their late 20s surveyed by MTV Japan Inc. […]

A man and a woman became victims of a serial butt slasher in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station recently. The two individuals discovered that their buttocks had been slashed while waiting for a train on a crowded platform shortly after midnight.
Neither of the two victims is in a serious condition. Local police suspect that the same […]

While running around the local department store the other day in search for some Janglish with which to grace these pages, I came across this. . .

Now, if you can tell what this is without peeking, you’re a lot sharper than I.
If you can’t, click here to see what it is.

We are pleased to report to all you cat lovers out there that you will now be able to go to bed at night without worrying whether you will be waking up in the morning with all of your appendages attached.
It seems that an animal protection group is questioning last week’s claims by […]

Officials at a nursing home in Saitama, Japan suspect that a cat chewed the toes off the foot of an 88-year-old woman as she slept.
After the victim’s roommate alerted officials early in the morning hours, they found the elderly woman, who suffers from senile dementia, bleeding from her feet. Closer inspection revealed that […]

Yon-sama (Bae Yong Joon) and Harry Potter. . . separated at birth?
You be the judge.

Endgadget is reporting that the mysterious looking briefcase shown below was found recently on the sidewalk in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

I wonder if someone checked it out for a hidden knife, exploding tear gas canister, collapsible AR-7 sniper rifle with infrared scope, and 50 gold sovereigns hidden in the spine. . .