On the third Saturday of every October, it’s a semi-Halloween tradition for Kyoto’s Ichijo-dori Street to host a giant procession that recreates the recreation of…

With a name that translates to “Killing Stone”, the Sessho-seki (殺生石) in Nasu, Japan is ominous in its own right. The famous rock in Nasu,…

Coming in at the upper end of any must-see-must-do Japan travel bucket list is the act of visiting an onsen. With so many options to…

Setsubun 節分, the day before the beginning of spring in Japan, is mostly known for two traditional practices, one is eating a giant ehōmaki 恵方巻…

We’ve seen a number of interesting takes on masks in Japan lately, including glow-in-the dark gamer masks and transforming horror creature masks from a special…

Japanese oddity retailer Village Vanguard has definitely tried their hand at eccentric masks before, including polygon animal heads and almost terrifyingly realistic anime masks. Now…

The ghosts, demons, and spirits of Japanese folklore are known as yokai. Yokai can be friendly, neutral, and even malevolent (the famous “Momo” sculpture and…

What is Setsubun? February 3rd was Setsubun (節分) (meaning “seasonal division”) in Japan, a holiday marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring…

Update: Police have now recently issued further warnings about the “Momo” game being related to data harvesting schemes. Authorities in several countries have issued warnings…

Ultra-realistic dolls bring characters from Japanese folklore to life. There’s been quite a bit of surprise at how “creepily” realistic Japanese “love dolls” have become…

Junya Kono is somewhat of a renaissance man when it comes to yokai(demons and ghouls of Japanese folklore). He’s an event and art producer, lecturer,…