Vending machines and traditional wooden kokeshi dolls are both icons of Japanese culture, and a hot spring resort in northeastern Fukushima Prefecture has combined the two. The novelty of being ...

KYOTO--A huge limbless “kokeshi” doll lying on its side has impressed tourists and local residents at Higashi Honganji temple in Kyoto’s Shimogyo Ward. The 12-meter-long balloon object made ...

Galvanized by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the manager of a kimono fabric store in the city of Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, began crafting kokeshi dolls in 2014 to promote his ...

On the way home one day, Homma found a dirty kokeshi doll, cleaned it with a handkerchief moistened with water, and placed it on the flowerbed. That night, a strange young woman (Yui Kawagoe ...

Two towering wooden kokeshi dolls stand welcoming visitors, their vibrant hues contrasting sharply with the rising steam. Here, you will find a wide range of hot springs, from rustic rotenburo ...