Who is that cheerful man with the adorably double-braided beard and why is he dressed up as a Japanese schoolgirl? Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft has the scoop: This is Hideaki Kobayashi and he’s known (and rightfully so) as “Sailor Suit Old Man.”

Recently, Japanese sites and Twitter users in Tokyo have spotted an old guy dressed in a sailor style school uniform—a truly unusual sight to behold. People were amused. People were baffled. What the hell was going on?!

Japanese site IT Media met Kobayashi and asked him the question on everyone’s mind: Why do you dress like a Japanese schoolgirl?

“That’s a difficult question,” said Kobayashi. “It’s not really something I’ve thought too deeply about. Hrm. I guess it’s because sailor suits look good on me?”

We hope Mr. Kobayashi has some inkling of just how awesome he is. We can’t stop smiling as we look at these photos. Head over to Kotaku to learn more about “Sailor Suit Old Man,” our new hero of Japanese weirdness.

Kaiju Christmas! This awesome Godzilla Christmas tree was erected inside the Aqua City Odaiba shopping mall in Tokyo, Japan back in 2000. It even blew steam/smoke out of its mouth. Fantastic.

[via Toxel]

It’s Awesome Christmas Tree Day on Geyser of Awesome!

Japanese artist Rie Hosokai of Daisy Balloon creates awesome dresses using balloons. His latest pieces were constructed as part of ‘Piece for Peace’ - a charity art exhibition at Parco Gallery in Tokyo that runs until January 9, 2013.

Photos by Satoshi Minakawa and Hiroshi Manaka respectively

[via Design Boom]

The 2012 Tokyo Hotaru Festival took place recently, releasing 100,000 blue LED lights to float in the Sumida River. The bulbs rolled along the waves of the river bank, mimicking hotaru (the Japanese word for “fireflies”), for the festival that celebrates the Japanese tradition of watching fireflies float along a watercourse. The spectacular event lit up the waterway with a sparkling sapphire radiance against the night sky.

The solar-powered LED balls, known as prayer stars, were designed to illuminate when they came in contact with water and were provided by Panasonic, one of the event’s sponsors. At the close of the festival, the bulbs were gathered by giants nets and removed from the stream. 

Visit My Modern Metropolis to view more photos of this awesome spectacle.

Photo credits: saihouan, Jeremy V, makure, ajpscs, Mai Suzuki, Hideya Hamano, maikegotchi

Do you recognize this awesome robot? You should if you’re a fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s anime films. This sculpture is a life-size version of the robot soldier from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, which wasStudio Ghibli’s first feature film.

And guess what! You can visit him in person for the price of a flight to Tokyo and admission to the Ghibli Museum. It’s definitely on our To Do list.

[via Technabob]

A cyclopean little girl dressed as a young Leela from Futurama at the Wonder Festival in Tokyo. While we cannot deny the awesomeness of this costume, we also admit that we’re afraid of turning the corner and finding her staring at us with her single, unblinking eye.

[via Danny Choo]