Japan’s Yokai Gather at the Top of a 138-Meter Tower

STRANGE JAPAN SUNDAY SPECIAL

Yokai / Inventions / Festivals / Food / Kaiju / Ukiyo-e

Strange Japan Lives Next Door to the Ordinary

Today’s Japan.co.jp enters the stranger side of ordinary life: holy fungus, sacred mud, dragons, masked writers, a six-step mountain, red-eyed robot wolves, unsettling dolls, machines that dispense prizes and stories, and an 18-karat pollution monster. Fifteen long-form reports explore where folklore, technology, food and modern Japanese life collide.

Tokyo — Japan.co.jp Editorial Desk / July 12, 2026

Complete July 12 edition: 15 new stories + Today’s Art Choice + 4 continuing stories

Today’s edition begins in mud and folklore, passes through machines, food and monsters, and closes beneath Kuniyoshi’s giant skeleton.

Four Stories to Start

Yokai, robot wolves, a gacha vending machine and 18-karat Hedorah.

Japan’s Yokai Gather at the Top of a 138-Meter TowerAichi / Yokai / Twin Arch 138

Robot Monster Wolves Patrol Japan’s Bear CountryHokkaido / Bears / Robot Wolves

Japan’s New Vending Machine Gives You a Drink—and a Mystery CapsuleVending / Gacha / Drinks

Japan Offers a Solid-Gold Toxic Sludge MonsterGodzilla / Hedorah / 18K Gold

Japan Market Desk

Tokyo’s week and the setup before the next open.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Friday rebounded, but the week fell. Bonds sent AI stocks the bill.

The Nikkei lost about 1.70% for the week and TOPIX 0.70%. USD/JPY ended near 161.70 and the 10-year JGB at 2.762%. SoftBank, domestic pension flows, U.S. CPI and TSMC frame the next open.

Nikkei 22568,557.73+1.20% Fri · -1.70% week

TOPIX4,036.08+0.39% Fri · -0.70% week

USD/JPY161.70global close

Read the week in review

Still Worth Reading from July 11

Four major stories carried forward from yesterday’s edition.

Japan’s Bond Revolt and BOJ IndependenceBOJ, bonds and policy credibility

Japan’s Semiconductor Rally Becomes a National StoryAI, chip tools and economic security

Japan Targets 10 Million Robots by 2040Labor shortages, care and logistics

Why Sumo Endures in the Streaming AgeShort bouts, long stories

Today’s 15 Stories

Fifteen long-form stories. Today’s Art Choice closes the edition.

Aichi / Yokai / Twin Arch 138

Japan’s Yokai Gather at the Top of a 138-Meter Tower

Projection mapping moves local supernatural beings into a 100-meter observation deck.

Hokkaido / Bears / Robot Wolves

Robot Monster Wolves Patrol Japan’s Bear Country

A mechanical predator returns to villages after real Japanese wolves vanished more than a century ago.

Saitama / Dolls / Folklore

Japan’s Museum of Slightly Disturbing Dolls Opens in Saitama

Protective dolls, straw figures and ritual substitutes occupy the border between comfort and unease.

Uketsu / Mystery / Masked Writer

Uketsu, the Masked Writer Mapping Japan’s Unease

Floor plans, strange maps and a hidden face turn ordinary space into modern Japanese horror.

Miyagi / Mount Hiyori / Climbing

Japan Opens the Climbing Season on a Mountain With a Six-Step Trail

The three-meter mountain is comic tourism and a memorial to a coast reshaped by the 2011 tsunami.

Festival / Mud / Fungus / Local Culture

Japan’s Holy Fungus Mud-Volleyball Festival

Sacred fungus, mud, sport and harvest ritual meet in one of Japan’s strangest summer festivals.

Enoshima / Dragon / Goddess / Light

Enoshima Summons Its Dragon and Goddess in Light

Lanterns and projection revive the island’s Benzaiten and five-headed dragon legend.

Hotels / Beetles / Summer

Japanese Hotels Turn Beetle Hunting Into a Summer Stay

Family travel and insect collecting merge as hotels sell a managed version of childhood nature.

Vending / Gacha / Drinks

Japan’s New Vending Machine Gives You a Drink—and a Mystery Capsule

A guaranteed beverage is followed by roulette, a physical crank and an uncertain prize.

Literature / Vending / Publishing

Japan Installs Vending Machines That Dispense Stories

A button prints a free three-to-five-minute story, rebuilding literary discovery in public space.

Ehime / Desserts / Vending

Japan Reinvents the Vending Machine for a Nation Tired of Soda

Existing drink machines begin selling pudding and cake as the beverage network contracts.

Natto / Fermentation / Exports

Japan’s Sticky Fermented Natto Goes Global

From straw fermentation and wartime nutrition to refrigerated exports and modern health branding.

7-Eleven / Burrito / Food Culture

Japan’s Convenience-Store Burrito Becomes an Unexpected Cult Hit

A 2026 taco-meat flavor continues a Japanese burrito history that began in 1983.

Verbal Slip / Diplomacy / Japan-Iran

A Verbal Slip Accidentally Creates the “Islamic Republic of Japan”

A verbal mix-up opens a history of Japan’s monarchy, Iran relations and political fact-checking.

Godzilla / Hedorah / 18K Gold

Japan Offers a Solid-Gold Toxic Sludge Monster

The 1971 pollution monster returns as a one-centimeter K18 luxury collectible.

Explore Japan.co.jp

From news into markets, weather, horoscope and archives.

Market DeskReview Tokyo’s week, the yen, JGBs and AI shares.WeatherSunday, Monday and Tuesday across 47 prefectures.HoroscopeThe Strange Japan Sunday AI horoscope.ArchivePast daily editions and long-form reports.

Today’s Art Choice

The giant Edo nightmare that closes the edition.

Today’s Art Choice: Kuniyoshi’s Takiyasha and the Skeleton Spectre

Princess Takiyasha opens the scroll and a giant skeleton crosses all three sheets. The 1840s triptych is the perfect closing image for an edition of yokai, dolls, kaiju and strange machines.

Read the long-form essay →