Right outside Tokyo, in the town of Saitama, is a museum called the Hall of Curious Rocks. The museum’s founder was a rock collector for over fifty years. He was drawn to unusual and rare rocks. Ultimately his collection numbered over 1,700 stones, but what makes this museum so interesting is that 900 of them are “face rocks”. This basically means they are unaltered rocks that naturally resemble celebrities, religious figures, movie characters, etc. Of course there are the inevitable Jesus and Elvis rocks, but the look-alike collection also includes Donkey Kong, Mickey Mouse, Russian politicians Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev, Nemo the cartoon fish, and even one that looks like E.T. There are also “chorus rocks” that appear to be singing. So always remember this…Japan’s museum scene has something for everyone, even people who dig curious-looking rocks. Now if only someone can find a rock that looks like Dwayne Johnson aka “The Rock”.
Hall of Curious Rocks, Saitama, Japan
