What's with all the horny women in ukiyo-e and old Japanese paintings? How did they get so excited without the wonderful sex toys of the modern day? Were the samurai just that good? Well, maybe, but it turns out that feudal Japan's women got their kicks from "higo zuika," the dried stem of the Giant Elephant Ear Plant from the province of Higo. These little pieces of folk craft don't look too sexy at first, but soak them in water, and they get soft, slick, and...stimulating? Higo zuika has saponin in it, a chemical that stimulates and increases blood flow wherever it touches. We don't ...

Kanamara Matsuri is a yearly festival in Kawasaki, Japan, where throngs of onlookers gather to cheer on a parade of giant phalluses. Legend has it that in the olden days, a sharp-toothed demon hid inside a Kawasaki girl's vagina, and a local blacksmith built an iron penis to break its teeth and free the young woman. The penis resides in the local temple most of the time, but one day a year, it is taken out and paraded around the town, its carriers shouting "deka mara!" (big penis). Shops line the streets of Kawasaki, selling the typical festival assortment of mochi, chicken skewers, and ...