Then there are more offbeat, strange museums. In Japan there are, of course, many large, prestigious museums; but it also, for whatever reason, seems to have a ton of really unusual, weird museums. Some of these are major institutions, but many are run out of peoples’ houses, labors of love to their strange, but fascinating interests.

Here are some of the stranger museums you can visit in Japan:

Sex Robot Museum

During Koichi’s first season of TofuguTV, he visited a sex robot museum (鬼怒川秘宝殿) in the town of Nikko. Not a museum about sex, not a museum about robots, but a museum featuring both.

The footage remains in the TofuguTV archives, as it’s a little inappropriate for TofuguTV for hopefully obvious reasons, and presents many challenging editing problems.

Wow mister tengu, your nose sure is long!

Even if the footage never sees the light of YouTube, here’s Koichi’s impression on the museum:

Technically an animatronic sex museum and not a robot one (robot sounds cooler, though), this gem of a place is located in Nikko, which is mostly known for its hot springs, not “hot springs,” if you catch my drift. When I went we were greeted by a friendly older (and presumably extremely perverted) older gentleman who asked us to take as many pictures and video as possible, something I’m not usually used to. It makes me wonder if he knew this place was on its last legs, so he wanted as much of it preserved on people’s cameras as possible. I could be wrong, but I doubt that it’s still around (and if it is, it probably doesn’t have long to go). It will probably make for a stellar haikyo someday, though.

The museum itself had several “exhibits,” most of them including animatronic naked dudes and ladies doing unspeakable things while the full volumed sound system made sounds like “ohhh Ohhhh OHHHHH” – *machines whirring* – “IYAHHHHH.” They would awkwardly slide/move around in their predetermined paths doing their predetermined things, and each exhibit was surprisingly different . . . yet not so different. Upon exiting the museum part, there’s a gift shop full of *ahem* “interesting” things, a theater for watching, uh, you know, and a half-naked statue of Marlyn Monroe. I think this was their most prized possession as it seemed to be the best taken care of (though unfortunately it didn’t move).

All in all, the hot springs probably would have been a better choice to visit, but I can safely say that this definitely is the weirdest museum I’ve ever been to, so at least I can take away that much from the whole experience.

Trick Art Museums

Whether it’s trying to decipher an M. C. Escher illustration, or getting lost in Akiyoshi Kitaoka’s mind-bending creations, optical illusions are incredibly fascinating puzzles that almost everybody seems to enjoy.

Fortunately, there are not one, not two, but at least three museums in Japan that specialize in optical illusions or, as they call them, “trick art.” Each has its own different theme: the trick art museum in Tokyo seems to favor an Edo-era style of Japanese supernaturalism, while the Takao museum focuses more on Egyptian and Western-style art.

You’re not a real sushi chef!

Many of the exhibits at both museums are interactive, or at least present some kind of photo opportunity for visitors. Even though these museums don’t teach visitors about fine art, natural history, or any of the normal subjects covered by museums, any one of these trick art museums sounds like a lot of fun to visit.

Takao Trick Art Museum – http://www.trickart.jp/

Tokyo Trick Art Museum – http://www.trickart.info/

Nasu Trick Art Museum – http://www.trick-art.jp/index.html

Meguro Parasite Museum

Located in Tokyo’s Meguro district, the Meguro Parasite Museum claims to be the world’s only parasite museum: a claim that surprised me, but haven’t been able to refute.

The Tofugu team got the chance to visit the Meguro Parasite Museum earlier this year, and were blown away by this unique collection.

Despite its small size, The Meguro Parasite Museum boasts an impressive collection of preserved parasites of all shapes and sizes. Among its specimens are frighteningly long tape worms to organisms that had been infested by parasites—I remember seeing a sea turtle’s decapitated head floating in a jar of what I assume is formaldehyde. The museum also features interactive learning exhibits, and a very cool parasite codex (see header image).

The gift shop is great too! After trying to decide between a phone strap and some stickers, I ended up buying an official Meguro Parasite Museum tote bag as a gift. If you know somebody who loves parasites, I can’t recommend a better gift.

Meguro Parasite Museum – http://www.kiseichu.org/Pages/default.aspx

Suwa Lucandiae Museum

Beetles are, for whatever reason, are a prevalent theme in Japanese culture. Kids catch beetles to have them wrestle, sumo-style, in tiny rings; there are countless Japanese games about capturing and fighting with bugs; and there are several beetle characters in Japanese pop culture (RAAAWWRRRR MEGALON).

Try not to think about all of the beetles coming alive at once.

Given that, it should come as no surprise that there’s a beetle museum in Tokyo. The Suwa Lucandiae Museum (“lucandiae” is the scientific name for stag beetles) is the ultimate labor of love. The owner, the “Suwa” in “Suwa Lucandiae Museum,” runs the museum out of the ground floor of his house, using his personal collection of beetles to stock the exhibits.

It’s a modest affair, but if you’re not charmed by Suwa’s efforts, then maybe the impressive collection of invertebrates will win over your heart.

You can read more about the Suwa Lucandiae Museum on PingMag.

Hara Model Railway Museum

Model trains are one of those hobbies that seem to lend themselves to obsessive devotees. You might have an uncle who locks himself in his basement to carefully paint his miniature figures and set up replica towns for his model trains to pass through.

One man turned his obsession into a museum. Nobutaro Hara, model train afficianado, decided to take his impressive model train collection, built over his lifetime, and build the Hara Model Railway Museum in Yokohama.

Even if you have no particular interest in model trains, the Hara Model Railway Museum is impressive on its own merits. The care and attention to detail given to the miniaturized trains and landscapes are incredible, especially when you consider that it’s all largely the work of one man.

Read our earlier post for more details about the musuem.

Hara Model Railway Museum – http://www.hara-mrm.com/index.html

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum

Unlike most of the museums on this list, the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum is a fairly well-known large museum created by a major corporation, Nissin Foods.

Delicious, custom-made Tofugu ramen.

Outside of Japan, the Instant Ramen Museum seems like kind of a novelty, and is unlike any museum you’ve been to. You’re greeted at the entrance by a life-sized statue of the inventor of instant ramen, Momofuku Ando standing atop a giant container of Cup Noodle ramen.

It only gets better from there. From a hall of ramen where you can see virtually every single type of instant ramen Nissin’s ever made, to a make-your-own Cup Noodle factor, the Instant Ramen Museum is unique, and much more fun than a museum dedicated to flash-fried, pre-packed foods has any right to be.

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum – http://www.instantramen-museum.jp/

There are, of course, many more interesting and strange museums all across Japan; but these are the ones that really caught my attention. Am I missing your favorite museum on this list? Let me know in the comments!

The most dangerous game.

Japan, as a nation, has kind of an obsession with the beetle. It’s true – from real-life beetle sumo wrestling to all sorts of media appearance, beetles play an small but significant role in Japanese culture. The Japanese equivalent of man’s best friend? Not quite, but they’re definitely pretty important.

One of the coolest hobbies for Japanese youngins has to be beetle sumo wrestling. Here’s the deal: kids (normally little boys), buy beetles from pet shops or catch ‘em in the wild, and after some Rocky-style intense training, they compete head to head with other beetles in the insect equivalent of sumo wrestling. Two beetles enter the ring (usually a small tree stump), and the first one pushed out of the circle loses. Beetles can also enter into mortal combat on poles or beams of wood (as seen above), or even battle it out in some beetle tug of war! Here’s a quick video giving you a better idea of what I’m talking about:

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98NzGDSJTzo']

But beetle sumo wrestling is only the beginning. You can find beetles pretty much anywhere in Japanese media, whether it’s video games, anime, or movies! The creator of Pokémon, Satoshi Tajiri, loved bugs as a kid. His passion for collecting and fighting these bugs is pretty clear when you watch, read, or play Pokémon.

Beetle sumo match, or screenshot from Pokémon?

Most beetle-related things seem to appeal primarily to young boys. Probably the biggest beetle-related phenomenon in Japan has been the Sega video game: Mushiking: King of Beetles. Mushiking (mushi meaning bug or insect) was a wildly popular video card game where players bought collectible cards and scanned them into arcade games in order to  have beetles fight against one another. Ultimately, the game basically boiled down to a glorified and expensive game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but that didn’t stop tons of Japanese kids from buying up cards and duking it out in their local arcades.

Can you feel the intensity?

And you can’t forget the original Japanese beetle, badass Godzilla villain Megalon, the giant beetle god of the undersea civilization of Seatopia. Unfortunately Megalon’s debut movie, Godzilla vs. Megalon, was a huge flop and to this day is almost universally hated by Godzilla fans. A lot of people took issue with Megalon himself, who they thought was specifically designed for little kids.

Nobody loves poor Megalon.

Japan’s beetle mania even spilled over into the United States! The American children’s show, Big Bad Beetleborgs, recycled tons of footage from Japanese beetle-themed action shows Juukou B-Fighter and B-Fighter Kabuto. Think Ultraman, but with costumes modeled after stag and Japanese rhinoceros beetles. These shows followed the classic formula of Tokusatsu action shows, with fantastic characters, weird villains, and a huge showdown between good and evil at the end of each episode.

Superheroes or beetles? You decide.

That pretty much wraps it up for beetles in Japan! If you can think of any more cool beetle-related TV shows, books, manga, or movies, let me know in the comments or give me a shout out on our Twitter.