Tokyo’s best-dressed nude statue changes into the jolly old elf for the month of December, but sometimes his costumers get a bit…creative.
When they started in the year 2000, the first few years were pretty tame…
Then someone gave him a pet reindeer
Which ushered in a period of hog-wild experimentation…
that provoked some sort of backlash, and he wasn’t Santa at all for a year
For a couple of years, caped Santa and pom-pom Santa ruled
But now it feels like they’ve come full circle
You can visit the peeing statue anytime you happen to be in Tokyo—he’s dressed in new togs every month—and he lives at the far end of the Shibuya-bound platform at the JR Hamamatsucho station.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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