Here are the photos from the Photo of the Month series, in case you missed any of them. Other photos that’ve been getting a lot of hits this year include samurai Colonel Sanders, the claw machine with live lobster prizes, the ‘ultra big’ condoms, the vomit bar, Tsuruhashi (Osaka’s Korea Town) and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (my favourite skyscraper). Just click on the thumbnails below to check out the original photos.

Anyone who was living in Japan in 2006/2007 will no doubt be familiar with the tarako commercials, which I wrote about in this article. The Kyūpii advertising campaign was one of the most memorable in recent years, and the tarako craze is still going strong. Here’s an inflatable tarako I found in Kyōbashi shōtengai.

Nipponbashi Street Scene

One of the major streets in Osaka’s Den Den Town, an area with loads of electronic stores and similar in atmosphere (though smaller in scale) to Tokyo’s Akihabara. Like that area, Nipponbashi is also famous for its maid cafes.

Smash and Grab

A broken maneki neko display at a Shinsaibashi restaurant.

Sake Ippai

A lot of sake, in the kind of barrels often seen in Shinto shrines.

Daigo-ji Pillar

A pillar at Daigo-ji Temple where people carve their names into the paintwork and adorn it with stickers for good luck.

Uji River Fisherman

Sunset by the river at Uji.

Boy’s Day Carp Flags

Koinobori carp flags used to celebrate the Boy’s Day (also known as Children’s Day) public holiday on May 5th.

Cherry Blossom Puddle

Fallen cherry blossom petals in Osaka-jo koen. Thanks to Emma Patey for the idea for this one.

Ume (plum) blossoms at Kitano Tenmangu, Kyoto

Now that it’s March hopefully Spring’s just around the corner. While cherry blossoms are famous for heralding the start of Spring in Japan, plum blossoms actually come out a little earlier.