At Waseda University they've made available another side to traditional Japanese art in the "Fart War Scroll Picture" (屁合戦絵巻 or He-gassen-emaki), a series of images telling the epic tale of breaking wind competitively in ancient Tokyo. Japanese humor can sometimes be very slapstick and we have trouble relating it to our western chums. Lavatorial jokes are pretty universal, though, and it seems that Edo era Japanese had a liking for this kind of comedy, if this scroll is anything to go by. Beyond this one that Waseda has made available online, there are more examples ...

If you love watching Japanese porn you will notice straightaway one very strange thing: pixelation. There's not a private part in sight -- they're all fuzzed and blurred out by the censors. Why the need for mosaics? Is it some strange kinky thing that men like? Well, maybe it is NOW, since a whole generation of Japanese men have grown up obsessed with porn and sex featuring pixels rather than penises. The real reason for it, though, is a 1907 obscenity law that remains unchanged to this day. (Taro and Tadashi, however, hate mosaic and always get under-the-counter porn that is ...