Weirdly wonderful illustrations from 70s Japanese children's books by Gōjin Ishihara, including much nightmare fuel from the Illustrated Book of Japanese Monsters
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jul 30, 2010 - 24 comments

"And much like Christmas, originally about the birth of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about buying things for people and hoping that they buy more things for you, much how Easter, originally about the death of a religious savior-figure named Jesus, is now about receiving rabbit- or egg-shaped chocolates, now and forever Obon is about collecting all of the Pokemon." Japan, trains, marketing, pachinko, hordes of stamp-seeking children.
posted by silby on Aug 7, 2009 - 34 comments

Meet Obasan: Adorable demon-possessed little girl and Japanese professional wrestler for the horror-themed Triple Six promotion. More highlights: (1) (2)
posted by StopMakingSense on May 12, 2007 - 30 comments

Kodomo no kuni - children's book illustrations and songs from 1920s Japan. I found the artist's index the best way to navigate. (via the always entertaining quiddity)
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 21, 2004 - 12 comments

Kodomo no hi : May 5 is officially Children's Day in Japan, but it is traditionally all about boys. On this day, Japanese households make a display of ningyo musha (Samurai dolls), prepare and eat special food, hang carp streamers (koinobori) outside the house, and sing the Koinobori Song.
posted by SealWyf on May 5, 2003 - 6 comments

Teddy Bears to watch you While other countries are banning teddy bears from Children's hospital rooms, Japan is putting digital high tech teddy bears that will watch you and inform doctors when you need help.
posted by AsiaInsider on Feb 21, 2002 - 5 comments

Curly and Motly are kinda cute, but Luncheon and Lambchop look might tasty. The children from St Canices school in Westport New Zealand welcome you to Lambs Online, where ten of our students are ‘fostering’ 10 lambs which have been ‘adopted’ by a group of Japanese school children from their sister city in Amagese Japan. Each lamb has its own personal website and we invite you to follow their progress through the eyes of our students by clicking on the photos and links below.
posted by adampsyche on Oct 26, 2001 - 6 comments

The Fox Family Channel is going to debut a Hello Kitty cartoon this weekend. Will it be cool in that kitschy girly-pop Sanrio sort of way, or will it just blow major chunks? The only person I know who really really loves Hello Kitty is Leslie, and I'm not even sure she has a tv.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe on Mar 3, 2000 - 2 comments