The most irritating thing about all those AI slop photos of Japan that come up when you search for the marvels you’d like to see is that the REAL Japan is so much better! Don’t believe me? Here are just ten sights I’ve seen that AI can’t begin to hold a candle to.
OK, how about a photo of myself being swarmed by adorable friendly bunnies?
Like this?
No, need more bunnies!
Everywhere you roam on Okunishima Island near Hiroshima, all you have to do to be swarmed by packs of friendly buns is to offer them a handful of rabbit food.
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Show me a forest of trees covered with gazillions of super-pink flowers but without those awful cherry blossom crowds
Once you see a plum grove bursting forth in pink profusion from mid-February to mid-March, you’ll never chase the cherry blossoms (or crane your neck to see above their crowds) again.
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How can I make it look like I learned some wicked ninja skills in Japan?
Want to know how can you get a REAL picture of yourself defeating ninjas, being swallowed by a shark, or fighting demons without using AI? Pose in one of the Tokyo Trick Art Museum’s 45 life-sized, super realistic paintings and snap away to your heart’s content!
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I want to see a turquoise forest pool that’s so blue I won’t even be tempted to crank up the color to make people go “WOW!”
Hokkaido’s Biei Blue Pool really is this color.
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OK, now show me a BIG display of Girls’ Day dolls
No, more!
NO, MORE!
Is 40,000 enough for you? For a month leading up to Girls’ Day on March 3, the entire town of Katsuura is given over to doll displays.
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What if there were life-size samurai figures, but they were made out of living, bonsai chrysanthemums?
And these are just the beginning of the marvels Japanese gardeners grow with Japan’s imperial flower.
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All right, how about something really weird—give me pictures of famous people, only they’re huge and made from rice fields
The view from the tower at the Gyoda Ancient Lotus Park delivers new celebrities every year, painted in ripening rice paddies.
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Well that obviously wasn’t weird enough. Give me a museum where gallery after gallery is filled with art that’s got live goldfish inside
The experience of strolling among countless rare breeds of goldfish languidly fanning their fins in the ever-changing light play at Art Aquarium is so far beyond AI, it’ll take your breath away.
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What if I need a picture of myself walking across a vine bridge that would make Indiana Jones quake in his boots?
The Kazurabashi bridge in the Iya Valley on the island of Shikoku really is made of vines. No steel cables, no safety net, all kinds of rocks and rushing water all too visible between the slats beneath your feet.
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I want to wander through a wondrous digital world filled with waterfalls that splash on my head but don’t get me wet without no bulky, stomach-churning VR rig
TeamLab Borderless is a gorgeous, seamless, surprising digital world. Yes, it’s generated on computers, but only TeamLab’s human designers could dream up this ever-changing fantasy environment that will awaken your sense of wonder in ways you never imagined.
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I hope this has persuaded you to avoid all those false expectations generated by AI slop and seek out the REAL Japan, which is so much more amazing than anything a machine can hallucinate! (And it goes without saying that every photo you see here on Only In Japan is untouched by AI and shot by me, unless otherwise credited.)
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Would you like to be whisked away to Japan, wherever you are?
“The Samurai’s Octopus is a truly remarkable book, one that surprised and charmed me at every turn of the page…an enchanting, fascinating journey. You’re in for a treat.”
—James Ziskin, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity Award-winning author of the Ellie Stone mysteries
Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
