Children dressed in festival costume sit on the huge paper doll of historical Japanese figure named Hashi-Benkeii on the carts during the Mikuini annual festival on May 20, 2014 in Sakai, Japan. The annual festival takes place from May 19-21 and is attended by thousands of visitors. During the festival people dressed in traditional Japanese costumes pull carts carrying 6 meter high dolls of Japanese historical figures through the narrow streets. The origins of the festival are unclear but its history can be traced back more than 250 years. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

These Animal Cling Rings are by Japanese artist Jiro Miura, working under brand name Count Blue. Miura creates these exquisitely detailed animal rings as well as figurines; his designs have also been used to create mass produced phone plugs and rings. It's a lucky artist who sees his work become so popular.

A robot named “Robovie-II”, developed by Japanese robotics research institution ATR, moves around at a grocery store during a shopping assisting experiment by utilizing the robot in an ubiquitous network technology platform in Kyoto, western Japan January 6, 2010. (Photo by Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

Retired Mongolian-born “yokozuna” wrestler Hakuho (far L), who now goes by the name Miyagino, watches as participants (R) try to push out Japanese wrestler Hakuoho (C) during a sumo class for youngsters on the sidelines of the 14th Hakuho Cup, a competition for young sumo wrestlers from elementary and middle school, at the Kokugikan arena in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo on February 12, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

A statue of a Japanese Akita dog named “Hachiko” wearing a face mask is seen near Shibuya Station Wednesday, April 8, 2020, in Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for Tokyo and six other prefectures to ramp up defenses against the spread of the new coronavirus. Hachiko has waited for his owner University of Tokyo Prof. Eizaburo Ueno at the same place by the station every afternoon, expecting him to return home for nearly 11 years even after Ueno's death at work. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

A humanoid robot named Kansei, meaning “sensibility” in Japanese, makes a facial expression depicting “happiness”, next to the word “Love” during a demonstration at a laboratory of Meiji University's Robot and Science Institute in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo in this June 4, 2007 file photo. Three-fourths of robot installations over the next decade are expected to be concentrated in four areas: transportation equipment, including the automotive sector; computer and electronic products; electrical equipment and machinery. Labor costs have climbed in countries such as China that have been popular for outsourcing production, while technological advances for robots allow them to be more flexible and perform more tasks. (Photo by Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

A Japanese artist is making a name for himself by creating animal sculptures out of balloons. Masayoshi Matsumoto, 29, has thus far created a wide range of intricate figures from the animal kingdom. Here: Blobfish by Masayoshi Matsumoto. (Photo by Masayoshi Matsumoto/Caters News Agency)

A woman holds a hedgehog at the Harry hedgehog cafe in Tokyo, Japan, April 5, 2016. In a new animal-themed cafe, 20 to 30 hedgehogs of different breeds scrabble and snooze in glass tanks in Tokyo's Roppongi entertainment district. Customers have been queuing to play with the prickly mammals, which have long been sold in Japan as pets. The cafe's name Harry alludes to the Japanese word for hedgehog, harinezumi. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)