At the end of my last post on Gunma in October last year I said there were some other places I wanted to see just north of Takasaki. Naturally, they were all b-grade sights and I went to check them out at the start of this year.

Yagihara is on the Agatsuma and Joetsu Lines, just one station north of Gumma-soja where I went a few years ago to see the local J-League team play not that the stadium was so close to that station! Likewise for the first of a trio of museums I was visiting in this area. The Life & Sex Museum was the closest of the three to the station but it was still about an hour away on foot! Thankfully the mountain views in the distance (below) were quite wonderful at times. A total absence of people was also nice!

It was a national holiday so I was a little worried that my three hour journey up to this part of Japan may have been a complete waste of time. Never was I more relieved to see a place open for business although I wasn’t so sure at first as the car park was empty and it seemed a little dark inside despite the sign outside and on the door stating it was open.

Warning: Naked pictures coming up which those of a sensitive nature may not appreciate!

If you can’t read the sign on the building exterior then the naked statues outside give a hint to what lies on the other sides of the doors. The ticket machine is on the right as you enter with the reception desk ahead. Even the sanitiser on it was phallic themed! The first giant tallywhacker was just beyond that!

The ground floor of this sex education museum is even open to elementary school kids but the second floor is for over 18s only. As one might expect, there are all kinds of statues with body parts on show everywhere you look! I had to cover my eyes!!

This museum isn’t just a place for cheap titillation though as the “life” part of the display is a serious look at the likes of safe delivery of babies, sexually transmitted diseases  including AIDS, contraceptive methods and much more.

The first interactive element I encountered was a kind of dentist chair which reclined with a female nude mannequin behind. I pushed a button and the seat rose and then went back but I was unable to work out how it could return to normal and get me upright again. Coins fell out of my pocket as I had to climb out of the chair! If anyone had been around to see it it would have looked very strange!

I did take a photo of myself (on a timer) posing as a woman with big boobies as there was one of those cut-out statue things where you stand behind it and put your head through the hole to make it look like it’s your body! It’s a funny picture but I was hesitant to include it here as that’s not the kind of photo I want coming back to haunt me!! Instead, I’ll just post one of me in front of a goddess statue.

The museum is designed to be silly in places whilst also being thought provoking at other times! The various naked statues very much fall into the former category in my opinion! The hidden section behind those mannequins had information about all the bed-hopping that supposedly goes on between athletes in the Olympic villages every four years. Such accommodation is labelled as the most promiscuous place in the world!

In a museum about life I guess there had to be something about death. There’s a corner devoted to that with a coffin, robes, information relating to Japanese-style funerals and the afterlife.

There were a couple of upstairs exhibits accessed via a spiral stair case and just a simple ladder. These hardcore areas were a bit more gross and featured the likes of whips, chains, sex-dolls and bleeding!

This treasure trove of exhibits includes far more than I can show or write about here. Information in English is a little limited so that’s worth bearing in mind. The last thing I remember reading about was a circumcision ceremony in Indonesia!

All the other sexual museums I’ve visited over the years (in the name of blogging content of course!) have been fairly cluttered but this one was a bit more orderly and organised regarding the posters, art, drawings, books, postcards and objet d’art. 

• Life & Sex Museum is located at 1256-72 Kaminoda, Yoshioka, Kitagunma-gun, Gunma-ken. It is open every day between 09:30 and 17:30. Entrance is 1000 yen for adults.

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Private Parts Places In Japan!’

Click here to read ‘A Spiritual Cave, A Picturesque Garden, A Tall Goddess Statue, Botanical Gardens & A Tumbling Doll Temple’

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