Atami and the Ratbones

In the Izu peninsula of Japan, Shizuoka prefecture, there’s a strange seaside town called “Atami”. I had the pleasure of visiting it yesterday.

Atami has the distinct vibe of a holiday seaside town that was once glamourous and hip in the 70’s and 80’s – but is now washed out and run down, never quite making its comeback after the economic burst of the early 90’s.  

From my experience I can tell you that this discovery was in no way unique. When you start to avoid the modern tourist traps, you will find that Japan is full of places like this.

What does make Atami different, is it’s impressive “hihokan” – adult sex museum. And, as impressive as the views were high up in the cliff side where it is located, that is certainly not what I left remembering from my visit.

As you follow the course of the museum, you are lead from bizarre exhibition to bizarre exhibition. Many of the displays require you to push a button/sit on a chair/look through a hole/ insert a coin, etc… and then see what unpredictable strange thing happens. 

The museum does not take itself seriously in any respect, in fact it’s clear that it’s more of a sex-joke museum then an “adult” museum. Needless to say, I laughed a lot.

The worst part of my visit was buying an omikuji from a mysterious sex guru and receiving no fortune (had the machine simply run out... or was it a sign of some awful event in my immediate future.....?). The best part was when I played a game on a very old pachinko machine and won a pair of fluffy handcuffs!

After our visit to the museum, we walking into the town of Atami and went to the Atami geiko getaway dance hall (or 熱海芸妓見番歌舞練場), which is a traditional geisha theatre, where we saw “Yanagiya and the Ratbones” play live, accompanied by burlesque dancing, a traditional geisha performance, a flamenco dancer, and the auctioning of a cocktail drink.

The venue was all tatami mat. We gathered round a small table, drank cheap local beer and homemade food that was sold at the event. We each bought an official merchandise T-shirt, which I will be sure to wear next time!

Each member of the 12-man band was dressed in a different genre of rock

With the singer

Dancing with Joelle for the encore

This hairy-pitted dancer came onto the stage wearing a different costume for each song

Geisha performace

Thank you for the invite Duncan!