Fantasy-Kan seashell wonderland in Japan

For about 3 years I've been meaning to post some photos from the Fantasy-Kan in Japan, about 30 min or so from Nagoya. Basically it means "Fantasy Museum", and it's a quirky roadside type attraction in the seaside town of Gamagori City. It's themed as an underwater fantasy world with dioramas made entirely from seashells that are so elaborate they make jaws drop, and tongues roll out without restraint. There's a walkthrough museum portion which is really the main attraction, plus two huge dining rooms with the same kind of decor, and a gift shop and other stuff. On my one visit, the museum was closed, but we got to wander around in the empty dining rooms and take photos. If the dining rooms were this crazy (good crazy), I really wonder what the museum itself is like. Here are some of the highlights...

The main entrance

Inside the first dining room

What are those decorations on the wall? Refer back to this later to get a sense for the size of these decorations in closeups below.

Seashell table lamps

One of many seashell fish

Seashell mermaids (why do they all look Western / European?)

Now we're in the second dining room

See a tako while you eat takoyaki

You can't have seashells on the walls, ceiling, and tables without putting them on the lamps too!

The impression I get is that the prevailing attitude toward the place is very similar to how people over here react to a lot of old roadside type oddities. Namely, "why would you want to go there?" And another parallel is that in fact the food is supposedly pretty horrible. But that artisanship, holy cockles!

Here is a Japanese website about the Fantasy-Kan. We actually mentioned this place earlier on a thread about Nagoya - check it out to see what finkdaddy found in Nagoya!

-Randy

That place looks incredible! Great find.

Yeah, we knew about it because of the book Roadside Japan, which is a great find in itself, btw. It's like a phone book sized tome of unusual sights in Japan, all with generous color photos. Out of print, but worth the hunt.

If any moderators are looking - I originally meant to post this topic in Beyond Tiki. Sorry - feel free to move it.

-Randy

I bet you has a s hell of a good time there!! :wink:

Luckily we didn't have to SHELL out any yen to SEA the inside!

-Randy

Didn't Lawrence WHELK play there? Or maybe SHELLy Winters?
Must have cost a lot of CLAMs to build that place.
Stop me now, before I pun again...

I love the pics. Used to have a swag lamp or two covered in shells like that, but that place is a wonderfull assault to the senses!