I’m not really one to spend too much time looking at the statistics for this blog (would make depressing reading!) but when I do look the one article which people seem to look at is the C*ck A Load Of This one from a couple of years back about the penis festival. With that in mind here is a blog entry which could be described as the natural follow up. Last Friday myself and Michael went a couple of hours west of Tokyo to Atami which is loved by the domestic market but not of such interest to international travellers.

  

The Japanese are obsessed with onsen (hot springs) and travel far and wide to soak naked in a big communal bath. Not for us though. Instead, we walked along the quite picturesque harbour-front to the ropeway where it was not so easy to actually find a way up the hill as the idea of not taking the ropeway is something that Japanese just don’t consider! We didn’t go in the castle at the top as it seemed expensive. The views across the harbour are supposed to be reminiscent of Naples. I don’t know about that but on this sunny day the view sure was pleasant.

  

Our main port of call was a little further down the hill and was Atami Hihokan; the extremely over-priced ‘Adult’ Museum. Needless to say that I was very amused by this sex museum and its silly and fun exhibits. These included a replica of a Whales sexual organs, traditional Japanese sex-art drawings, interactive displays including a Marilyn Monroe mannequin with a crank attached which you turn to create wind for her skirt to blow up, window boxes displaying some funny figurines involved in sex fetishes, amusing holograms, video’s, a 100 yen penis to ride on, old-school video games to grab some cr*ppy sexual prizes and the ubiquitous souvenir shop which inevitably featured a load of phalic shaped food and crafts.