A submission to the September 2011 J-Festa with the theme “Events in Japan“.

The Namamugi Incident was a samurai assault on foreign nationals in Japan on September 14, 1862, which resulted in the bombardment of Kagoshima in 1863, during the Late Tokugawa shogunate. It started out with a samurai attack on British nationals, ended up with the British engaging war on a province of Japan and has an interesting side piece on how the Japanese national flag was adopted.

Body of Charles Richardson, 1862

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Keirin, meaning “racing wheels”, is a track cycling event that originated in Japan in 1948 and gained Olympic status at the 2000 Sydney games. The sport was born from the aftermath of the second world war, when Japan’s economy was at an all time low and the country was recovering from the ravages of battle.

In order to help regenerate local economies and to circulate money the government built numerous Keirin racing velodromes around the country. The government also licensed the sport for gambling as a means of enticing more money out of it’s citizens to contribute towards Japan’s post-war reconstruction.

Image source: Flickr

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Pikachu, an icon of Japanese culture, is violated at the 2007 Pokémon Festa as fans pull and penetrate at his (or should I say her) entrance flaps playing peek-a-boo into an inflatable Pikachu. If you have ever wondered where Pikachu babies come from, wonder no more.

Trained gynaecologists performing a screening test for cervical cancer?

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