Jonelle Patrick's Only In Japan
Every day, stuff you'd never see anywhere else.
Just in time for Setsubun—the Japanese holiday on which demons are exorcized with dry beans and smelly sardines—the Sendai Umino-Mori Aquarium built this hilarious (and twisted!) ehōmaki sushi roll hideout … Continue Reading Live eel sushi rolls
Links to the DECEMBER 2020 Japanagram features Hello, friend! It’s me, Jonelle. I hope that the new year is bringing you all kinds of good changes and extra heapings of … Continue Reading The Japanese art of gift giving, millions of twinkling fairy lights, and hilarious Xmas weirdness
Twitter user Derek Wessman is a genius to have spotted (and appropriately translated) these brilliantly vandalized Japanese missionary signs that change the word “god” into the word “cat” by removing … Continue Reading Entertainingly altered missionary signs elevate cats to their rightful place
DENIAL ANGER BARGAINING DEPRESSION ACCEPTANCE • How you doing, friend? (I won’t ask about your hair if you don’t ask about mine ><;;) I hope you’re hanging in there, and … Continue Reading Japanese Capsule Toys Explain the Five Stages of Quarantine Hair Grief
• I hope your own quarantining is filled with small joys every day. If you’d like more fun bits & pieces, join me here! Scroll down & subscribeヽ(*＾ω＾*)ﾉ • And … Continue Reading Gachapon animals ask their mirrors the most burning quarantine questions
If I had to nominate one artist for Most Sanity-Saving In The Time of Coronavirus, it would absolutely be @meetissai, whose miniature sculptures inspired by pet tweets never fail to … Continue Reading Artist Turns The Best Pet Tweets Into Hilarious Tiny Sculptures
I thought I’d seen it all when it comes to Japanese curry rice molds, but these two cuties redefine ADORABLE. The only problem is that it comes in both cat … Continue Reading Cutest Curry Rice Molds On The Planet
By now you probably thought you’d seen it all when it comes to Japanese facial sheet masks – from the squicky & scary to skin treatments that turn you into … Continue Reading Intellectual Animal Beauty Masks
There I was, drinking in the serene green at the Kiyosumi Garden… …when I nearly stepped on this. It’s (weirdly) classified as “invasive” (because China) and “threatened.” Which shouldn’t surprised … Continue Reading I Saw Another New Wild Animal In Tokyo!
Riusuke Fukahori paints 3-D goldfish so real you can’t believe they’re not wriggling. And I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but the exhibit of his work going on RIGHT … Continue Reading 3-D Goldfish Art: Wait, Those Are PAINTINGS?
Art Aquarium, I’m going to miss you! <sob!> Yes, this is the last year they’re going to produce this eye-popping cross between goldfish and SFX, and they’re making up for … Continue Reading The Last Art Aquarium
I was in the Matsuya Ginza food hall stocking up on peanut snacks, when I saw this. I tried to walk past it. I tried. To be honest, I was … Continue Reading Is This Mameshiba Cake Too Cute To Eat?
How did you guess that the moment I caught a glimpse of this vending machine filled with cat shaming gachagacha, all my laundry coins would be history? There was only … Continue Reading The Cat Shaming Vending Machine
I hope you’re in Japan right now, because dinosaurs are invading the Marui Annex in Shinjuku! These delightfully believable photos of the archaic denizens mingling with the good people of Earth … Continue Reading Dinosaurs Delightfully Invade The Real World
Gifting in Japan requires that the wrapping be nearly as precious as what’s inside, but I can never remember how to tie a traditional silk furoshiki without the book that … Continue Reading Japanese Gift Boxes of Overwhelming Cuteness
Sticking to the straight and narrow has never been cuter, thanks to these adorable kittycat gacha-gacha toys, and the vending machine that dispenses them on the Yanaka Ginza shopping street. … Continue Reading Move Over, Monkeys! See-no Evil, Hear-no-Evil, Speak-no-Evil Cats Are Here
The only thing in all of Japan that might be cuter than huskies in kimonos is a parade of shiba inus in kimono. Shibas are well-known for making like the Petrified … Continue Reading Dogs In Kimonos: Shiba Edition!
These days, everyone wants “experiences,” not “stuff,” so how about digging into your Santa sack for presents that deliver #youllneverguesswhatwedids that could only come from (where else?)…Japan! This year, give … Continue Reading Top Ten Crazy Holiday Gifts From Japan 2018
Sporting all the premium quality you’d expect from a ¥400 vending machine, this Santa Claws capelet just might be the perfect gift for someone who dreams of #catsofinstagram glory (and … Continue Reading Department Of Seasonal Pet Humiliation: This Year’s Santa Cat Costume
I know that you’ll be super envious to hear that my kitchen chairs are now prancing around on little cat feet! Gone are the days when the awful screeching sound … Continue Reading Cat Feet Chair Socks!
Aww, a pillow that looks like a cat, just sitting there all furry and begging to be petted. What the…! Yes, the entire purpose of this robot pillow is to … Continue Reading The Wagging Cat Tail Pillow
Finally! A series of shiba inu gachagacha toys made by an artist who understands that these devilish dogs are not just unbearably adorable, they come packed with a level of … Continue Reading The Shiba Inu Vending Machine
Move over Angry Ghost Cats and Drunken Pets! The Fox Wedding vending machine takes tiny collectible toy obsession to a whole new level. Take my coin purse, foxen! Take all … Continue Reading The Fox Wedding Vending Machine
Who can say they never clutched the fence at their local zoo’s lemur exhibit and didn’t long to sneak over the top just for a few minutes (or, okay, in … Continue Reading Mobbed By Lemurs At The Exotic Animal Petting Zoo!
Okay, usually biting a dog butt would not be top of my to-do list, but I’d totally make an exception for these so-cute-it-hurts shiba dango! Compared to other takes on … Continue Reading Shiba Dango!
Don’t you just hate it when your kittehs get a touch of the walkabout? Well now you can do something about it. A quick prayer at the Tachikawa Suitengu Shrine … Continue Reading The Lost Cat Shrine
Okay, I’m going to come right out and admit I don’t actually have a dog. You would, however, be forgiven for assuming that I was knee-deep in shiba inus, on account of I own a … Continue Reading Confessions Of A Shiba Stalker
Because what nuptial event could possibly be complete without… • If you love a good read, you might enjoy The Last Tea Bowl Thief too “A fascinating mix of history and mystery.” —Booklist … Continue Reading The Wedding Of Your Dreams
I’ve seen fruit for your patootie and warriors for your derriere, but this is the first time I’ve encountered top-of-the-food-chain predators for your butt. Am trying hard not to imagine the Japanese bathroom … Continue Reading A Leopard For Your Butt
Walking down the street in Ome, I discovered something that totally flipped my three-hour trip to see a garden filled with no blooming azaleas into the win column: the tail-wagging cat clock! BEHOLD … Continue Reading The Hypnotic Tail-Wagging Cat Clock
• Read a novel set in Tokyo…
Kawanabe Kyosai. He’d have had the best instagram ever. Of course, these are just a small appetizer – the show is HUGE, and so full of great stuff, it took me … Continue Reading Why I’d Totally Follow This Guy’s Instagram If He Hadn’t Died In 1889
I don’t usually crave a quarter pounder of rice and seaweed in the middle of my day, but if I knew one of these was in my brown bag, I’d be counting … Continue Reading Shiba Inu Rice Balls
Am I right or am I right? • Read a novel set in Tokyo…
-1- Make a wish that you could draw as well as the other visitors at the anime & manga shrine Where: Kanda Myoujin Shrine (Kanda) • -2- Get your warts disappeared by the … Continue Reading 25 Obscure & Amazing Things To Do In Tokyo
So, today I came home and found THIS. I don’t know what kind of shenanigans YOUR gacha-gacha toys get up to when they’re alone in the house, but… This series may be … Continue Reading The Drunken Pet Vending Machine
High on top of a snowy mountain in Chichibu – so far from any train station that you’ll be eligible for a senior citizen discount by the time you get off … Continue Reading The Werewolf Shrine
Here’s what it’s like to visit Fox Village in the snow, when the foxes are at their fattest & fluffiest! I have to confess, when it comes to which animals would get … Continue Reading Fox Village Videos!
I have to admit, I was powerless to resist going to a thing where hundreds of people dressed more or less as cats pranced down the street, some of them raucously performing musical … Continue Reading At The Crazy Cat Parade
So, I went to one of Japan’s famed cat islands…and didn’t see any cats. Well, okay, I saw a few, but nothing like the Bunny Island mobbing I was hoping for. Notes … Continue Reading The Cat Island With No Cats
Turn down the volume on your squee-meter, unless you want to lose a little more of your hearing! Check out the little prickle monsters you can snuggle up with at Tokyo’s new Hedgehog … Continue Reading A Prickly Day At The Hedgehog Cafe
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that my sympathy runs deep for the poor toy designers who have to churn out new adorable stuffies when all the … Continue Reading Uncuddly Stuffies
Not easy, is it? The lovely specimen in the wooden saké box is a painting of a goldfish. Actually, it’s about a gazillion paintings of a goldfish. Artist Riusuke Fukahori builds these 3-D … Continue Reading Which One Is The REAL Goldfish?
Overcome with a burning need for yet more weird plastic toys (hey, don’t pretend this doesn’t happen to you!) I was poking around in my favorite Akihabara gachagacha emporium when I discovered … Continue Reading The Catzilla Vending Machine
If there was a vote on which animal is least likely to be described as “fluffy, “winsome” and “cuddly,” I think tapirs would pretty much win the internet. So why are tapirs suddenly everywhere? Honestly, I’ve … Continue Reading The Gods Of Kawaii Anoint The Most Inexplicable Animal Yet
In Japan, neko and temples go together like fish guts and beer, and every graveyard attracts a cadre of cats to guard the departed. At first I tried not to think about what … Continue Reading Temple Cats, With Attitude
I was wandering through Akihabara doing important book research SHUT UP, when I discovered the key to collecting all those damnably elusive kittehs in Neko Atsume: put out lots & lots & LOTS of … Continue Reading Gotta Catch Them ALL
I thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I finally made it to Zao Fox Village last spring, but it’s a good thing I didn’t actually shuffle off this mortal coil due to fox-induced … Continue Reading Fox Village: Even Better With Snow On Top!
Because what do snow and tropical fish have in common? They both make killer themes for a bar! Yes, this aquarium has a bar (because Japan). Usually it’s called the Coral Bar, but until mid-April, the same artists … Continue Reading Snow Aquarium
I thought I’d reached the highest level of gacha-gacha nirvana when I discovered the Angry Cat Ghost vending machine last year, but yesterday walking through what I’d previously thought of as the ninth-circle-of-hell Shinagawa station, … Continue Reading The Angry Fox Ghost Vending Machine
