Okay, that claim is a bit out there. I haven’t been to all of Japan’s parking lots, and I’m not even sure this piece of land is one. But humor me as I tell you the story.
It was November. I was in Iwate and was making my way from Denshoen to Kappabuchi, phone in hand as Google Maps told me which way to go. As I got closer to my destination, the first unusual sight came into view: a statue wearing a workman’s clothes, fishing something from the stream below. Moving even closer, I realized that the end of its fishing rod is a gruesome figure of a small kappa. From afar, The hair makes it look like a decapitated human head.
Awesome. I’ve come here for the bizarre and have spotted my first scoop; something that wasn’t in the travel magazines and blogs I read. But as I continued on, something else caught my eye.
Lying across the road is a peculiar set of… statues? I couldn’t make out what they were from where I was, the only thing I knew for sure was that they were indeed strange and begged for attention.
So I made my way across the road and the first thing that greeted me was an anemic-looking statue of Mickey Mouse, or perhaps just an anthropomorphic mouse that’s a stone throw’s away from a copyright infringement. Beside him was a cardboard sign saying “駐車場” or “parking lot.” As I looked around, excitement bubbled. Copyright Infringement Mouse has friends… all of them just as wildly bizarre as him.
There’s a couple of large birds, a female kappa leading horses by a rope, another kappa sitting on a frog with its mouth wide open, and a Shiba Inu that maybe is Softbank’s otosan mascot, maybe not.
On the other side also stands a human statue dressed like it’s directing traffic, a mannequin head wearing a helmet attached to a rusty, old post box, and a very naughty statue with a workman’s clothes, a hose where his genitals should be.
The very peculiar collection reminded me of Kyoto’s Chaos Room, except that this was out in the open, beguiling curious travelers and passers-by. I spent a good hour just taking photos in this place. It was mid-day with fair weather. I imagine someone passing by at night would have a very different impression.
I left the place in high spirits, went on to Kappabuchi as I’d originally planned. But a year later, as I began writing about the whole experience, I realized that the mystery wasn’t over. When I went to this place, there was a sign saying “parking lot,” so I had mistakenly thought that the area was part of a public space. As I tried to locate it on Google Maps, however, no results came up.
So I traced back my steps and entered Google Map’s street view to find the exact location, and after a few tries, I found it; the land unmarked. Now, it’s very strange for Google Maps not to identify a parking lot, so after reviewing my photos, reverse searching my photos, and scouring the web for any piece of info that could help, I’ve come to this conclusion: the signboard was part of the odd collection, I was on private land the whole time and didn’t know it. Whoever owns this set of statues gets two thumbs up from me; one for having impeccable taste in the peculiar and another for knowing how to boggle the minds of passers-by.
How to Get to “Japan’s Best Parking Lot”
Just a note: there are a few places in Japan where people would put out a private collection of peculiar things. These are mostly in the countryside, where the houses go further than the main road and there’s considerable distance between houses. I assume the owners find it as amusing as the passers-by, and judging from the blog posts about these collections, they don’t mind photos and videos being taken, so long as you do not disturb their homes. You won’t be disturbing them by default because the house is usually a bit more of a walk to get to, but it’s important to be respectful nonetheless.
