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Top Obscura
The Creepiest Amusement Park of All Time? 
21 Amazing Bangalore Breakfast Dishes 
Why Chinese People Eat Sea Horse 
Classic Chinese Torture Methods (and their cute names) 
Learn How to Speak North Korean 
Amazing Old Bollywood Poster Shops 
Beijing’s Single Most Horrific Meal 
Castration Classes at the Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall 
The 38th Reich: Korean Nazi Cosplay 
Beijing’s incredible (and completely fake) Disneyland 
Nazi Fashion in China 
China’s all-time favorite (and all-time darkest?) comic book: Sanmao 
India’s Incredibly Cool Hand-Drawn Movie Posters 
This Hindu God has 1,000 Vaginas! 
18 Terrible Moments from a Taoist Hell 
Why Chinese People Eat Deer Penis 
About Andy Deemer & AsiaObscura 
Why Chinese People Eat Ants 
Beijing’s Dongyue Temple and Their 19 Incredible Taoist Gods 
What the Fortune Teller Told Me (Hong Kong) 
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites 
Prosthetic Noses, Red Wigs, and Whiteface… American Characters in Chinese Films 
The Poem I Can’t Find… 
The Sick Collector and His 1000 Pairs of Shoes 
Small Children Feeding Live Animals to Tigers in a Chinese Zoo 
Why Chinese People Eat Snake as Medicine 
Whoring in Chiang Mai - Awesomely Steampunk Portable Corn Roaster
- The Disastrous Fall of Sanmao
One Ghostly Cambodian Ruin 
Another Abandoned Beijing Amusement Park 
American Imperialist Bastards in a North Korean Comic Book 
China’s first sci-fi movie: Death Ray on Coral Island (1980) 
The Taj Mahal… Murder, Incest, and Fratricide 
A Postcard from Erenhot 
Medicinal Sea Horse Soup 
Our Six Best China Stories! 
North Korea frightening customs declarations form 
Inspector Black Cat: China’s Gore-Soaked Answer to Tom & Jerry 
Porn, Rats, and Antique Projectors at Sri Lanka’s Classic Cinemas 
Deranged Clown Cream Biscuits 
The Great Chinese Chip Taste-Off 
Antilia: The Most Gratuitous House in Mumbai 
Noel Wilson’s Awesome Soccer-Themed House 
Relive the Cultural Revolution (aka The Weirdest Dinner Theater in Beijing) 
Chisney & Koreansney: Local Disney Knockoffs 
Dr Shankar’s Wonderful Collection of Brains and Other Medical Obscura 
Beyond the Valley of the Dwarfs: The Strangest Theme Park Ever? 
13 Amazing Indian Circus Posters 
The Insane Monkey Bar in Tokyo
Category Archives: Cute & Kawaii
Cute & Kawaii
Best Pix from Bangalore’s First Ever ComicCon
The blog has been ill-attended these last few weeks, with the move to India. Several grand projects are already underway here, but we'll have to keep those hush-hush for the time being. But in the meantime, we did manage to escape the craziness of the city for Bangalore's First EVER Comic Con this ...
Cute & Kawaii, Extraordinary Eats
Hello Kitty Dreams, Hello Awesome Reality
"You ever feel like you're stuck in a wind-up music box?" Michelle asked. The walls were pink. The waitresses were dressed as dolls. Piano keys tinkled softly. There were balloons and glitter and an off-season Christmas tree. We were trapped in a music box. That's how Hello Kitty wants you to feel. Welcome to Hello ...
Cute & Kawaii
Bangkok’s Sweetest Secret Dance Party
Bangkok is awesome. Pad thai, ping pong balls, reclining buddhas. But nowhere is sweeter than this hidden corridor of Central World Mall, where crowds of high school kids practice their sweet dance moves every weekend. Each gang brings their own routines and own MP3 players. Any reflective surface--shop windows, aluminum panelling, ...
Cute & Kawaii, Extraordinary Eats
Hello Kitty, Hello Beijing!
Asia's newest Hello Kitty restaurant, Dreams Hello Kitty, may not be open yet, but it's getting reeeeeal close. We snuck inside for a few sweet pix before getting ousted... Looking AWESOME! As cool as Seoul's Hello Kitty Cafe... but with maid outfits!!! I just hope we'll get the sweet potato lattes, too! But sadly, I ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
Sweet Sexy Dolls (and How to Make Your Own)
You've seen those sexy collectable figurines around Asia, right? You know the ones... in Singapore malls, Beijing shopping centers, all over Japan? Nervous kids and creepy adults browsing the aisles... subtly saucy... Creepily paedo... GABOOMBAH with sweet pink hair and sword. Who buys these things? Who actually sets one of these ladies on their shelf, ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii, Offbeat Museums
The Owl Lady and Her Gazillion Owls
I love obsessions, and Myong-Hee Bae is obsessed. She's a freak for owls. Her home is crammed full of 3,000 owl-y items. Clocks, quilts, paintings, stamps, cut-outs hanging from the ceiling, mugs filled with steaming hot tea, candles, toys, and rugs. It was weird. And absolutely wonderful. "Her love of owl started when ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii
Mr. Chiizu: Great New Photobooth App
I stumbled into an old karaoke pal on twitter this weekend. He's now developing iPhone apps. His latest? A stickerbooth app for the iPhone, called Mr. Chiizu. A thing of wonder. Okay, okay, there are no stickers. But also no wading through incomprehensible directions while a Gangnam shopkeeper mocks you in sprawling Korean. No frantically ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii
Hello Kitty & Cuppuccino!
Shoved in a back alley of Seoul's hip Hongdae neighborhood, sandwiched somewhere between "Luxury Ho" Bar and the "F**kFake" Designer Boutique for Men (asterisks not included in actual name), Hello Kitty lives on. Or her cappuccinos do, at least. That's right, even though Hong Kong's legendary Hello Kitty Cafe lost the fight against gentrification, the ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii, Extraordinary Eats
Heavy Petting in Seoul
A little canine with your coffee? Feline with your free time? Find it here at the Dog and Cat Cafes of South Korea’s capital! If you’re feeling that mid-afternoon slump, there are several branches of pet cafes scattered throughout the city where you can un-dull those 4pm doldrums and set your dander allergies on fire. Buy ...
Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
Outrageously Cute Korean Cosplay: The 21 Favorites
While sex workers were planning to set themselves on fire across town (thanks, Comrade Joe), M and I were deep in Comic World at Seoul's SETEC Convention Center. Each and every one of these girls -- dressed like their favorite comic book characters and anime heroes -- was perfect. Ask them to pose for a photo, ...
Consumerism, Cute & Kawaii
Super Mario Street Art Attacks Seoul
Wandering the streets of Seoul's hipster haven, Hongdae, you'll find a treasure trove of awesomeness. But one of the first things to strike you on emerging from the Sangsu subway is this Super-collection of feisty videogame plumbers. They're all here: Mario, Luigi, power-ups and bosses, too, painted on every telephone pole for blocks. ...
Cute & Kawaii, Extraordinary Eats
Soy Sauce Kit Kats (and other awesome flavors)
I was a little confused about the Tokyo airport when I flew through there a few weeks ago. It seemed so... rundown. Ceiling tiles missing, chairs blocking entrances, stores closed. And then I saw this sign. Uh-oh. What had I missed during my media blockout? Turns out the third reactor was ...
Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
And we’re back…
Sorry for the silence. China got wise to the VPN, and issues had to be resolved. But we're back. Hopefully for a while, at least.While we pop the bottles of silkworm baijiu and seahorse bourbon, here's a photo from last night's dinner at Beijing's newest maid cafe. (Sure, Japan had sexy 19th century French maids ...
Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
Hunting French Maids in Tokyo
Fashion: Pink is everywhere, lace is everywhere, it's the Lolita look. But the real style de saison is dressing like a 19th Century French Maid. It's weird, but it's everywhere! Even white girls are buying in! And so, of course, a world of maid-staffed businesses have appeared. They have maid bars, maid cafes, even ...
Cute & Kawaii, Somewhat Perverted
Bangkok Loves Blythe
Siam Paragon Shopping Mall's elaborate (and incredible) Blythe exhibit offered up some leading costume designs for the creepy oh-so-slightly-pedophilic 1972 Kenner doll, which has captured the hearts and sewing skills of, well, at least a few dozen fans. From Wikipedia, "There is a network of hobbyists who customize the doll for resale and create ...