The Museum of Fantastic Specimens

This is a bit of a strange post, because I'm going to rely on a referring site before the primary site. I stumbled across the Museum of Fantastic Specimens via a Google search, but my total inability to read Japanese made navigating it a nightmare. Thankfully, I was able to backtrack to a post on the Pink Tentacle site that includes an extremely helpful guide to the Museum's collection.

"Each specimen has a clickable thumbnail that links to additional photos and historical and background information (in Japanese). The basement contains a bookshop and a cafeteria serving dishes prepared with some of the beasts featured in the museum (such as umiushi sashimi, served fresh from the tank and wriggling on your plate, with a balsamic vinegar sauce).

All of the creatures showcased in the museum are sculpted from paper, modeling paste and bamboo and are completely imaginary, claims Emoto -- perhaps a disappointment for hunters of the legendary tsuchinoko in search of an actual specimen, but an amazing collection of critters nonetheless."

These are some of the best sideshow-style gaffs I've ever seen, so the revelation that they're essentially paper mache came as a real surprise. The level of detail is simply amazing.