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Jun 26 2020 9 Comments

A disturbing Japanese clown head kids playground

Some Japanese playgrounds are almost delightfully bleak, whereas others are just bleakly disturbing.

a disturbing concrete clown head in a Japanese playground

Categorized: Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Coli says

    6/26/2020 at 8:58 am

    OMG I think this is more frightening than all of the ambiguous concert animals I’m used to seeing. This could definitely be used as a scene in a gore film. I’d imagine if this were taken in black and white with someone in the frame it would make it even all the more unsettling. Either way wonderful find!:)

    Reply
    • Coli says

      6/26/2020 at 8:59 am

      Concrete *

      Reply
      • Lee says

        6/26/2020 at 6:37 pm

        Yeah, some of those animals are unsettling to say the least, but this is on another level. Saw it from a distance, and it just got worse as we got nearer!

        Definitely. With the right person in the frame, it really would be something. Might have to go back. Maybe after dark too!

        Reply
  2. Jenn says

    6/26/2020 at 12:11 pm

    OMG! 😮 This would have been soooo traumatic for me as a child…………

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/26/2020 at 6:39 pm

      Quite something, isn’t it? The requests to go and play in the park are probably on the low side in this neighbourhood!

      Reply
  3. cdilla says

    6/26/2020 at 6:25 pm

    Wonderful find. I bet kids love it – it’s the parents with the coulrophobia that will be disturbed by it.
    As a kid I liked clowns – my brother had a child sized doll of a clown. Of course now I know what is likely to lie behind the makeup they have lost their magic, but I can’t say I have any negative thoughts about them – though that’s from someone who enjoys Slipknot, Insane Clown Posse (Who doesn’t like “Miracles” ?) and has seen Killer Clowns from Outer Space more than once šŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/26/2020 at 6:51 pm

      On the whole, I don’t find clowns particularly disturbing. In some cases yes, but that’s arguably the case with anything if it’s presented in the right (or wrong) way. This thing on the other hand was quite different. Even from a distance it stood out. A dark, malevolent presence in a dreary little park. So needless to say I couldn’t wait to get up close and photograph it!

      Reply
  4. Once an Expat says

    6/26/2020 at 9:40 pm

    Hmmm . Guess it didn’t occur to whoever designed this piece that rainwater would collect inside and in summer be the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes…

    Reply
    • Lee says

      6/27/2020 at 10:00 am

      Yeah, I ended up with a nasty bite too, although not necessarily from here. Even after all these years, my foreign blood is still wildly popular with the local mosquitoes…

      Reply

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