# Japan Authorities Hostile to Vagina Kayak **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368 "2014-07-17T15:59:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/1 "2014-07-17T15:59:43Z")
Yep, it’s the same [old story.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/17/japanese-artist-arrested-for-letting-people-3d-print-replica-of-her-vagina/?tid=recommended_strip_2) Um. Actually, no. It’s a story that, in my view, should count as at least a little bit new: > [@](#): > > Last year, Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi rowed across Tokyo’s Tama River in a kayak created from a 3D print of her own vagina. The purpose of her project, CBC News reported, was to confront the county’s taboos regarding the female form. > > But once she started distributing data that would allow others to print her genitalia in the same way, Tokyo police said no, claiming she was violating Japanese obscenity laws. > > The 42-year-old artist, who works under the pseudonym Rokudenashiko, meaning “good-for-nothing girl,” was arrested this week after e-mailing the data to some 30 people who responded to a crowdfunding campaign to finance her kayak, the Guardian reported. Vagina-based kayak designs are, so far as I am aware, a new thing, notwithstanding a certain pre-existing and coincidental similarity of general shape. Putting aside the observation that the man in the boat is a woman, I have to say that to my mind, the Japanese authorities are overreacting. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/2 "2014-07-17T16:05:53Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/3 "2014-07-17T16:11:23Z")
they will allow the kayak if it’s pixelated. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/4 "2014-07-17T16:17:16Z")
So who’s afraid of Vagina Kayak? The government, evidently. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/5 "2014-07-17T16:26:22Z")
From the same country that has an [annual Penis Festival](http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2014/04/10/japanese-festival-celebrates-the-penis). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/6 "2014-07-17T16:30:40Z")
Heh. Whatever floats your boat. (actually, the hydrodynamics of modern kayaks is such cool science, I can’t see the point) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/7 "2014-07-17T16:52:15Z")
When I was scanning through the New Posts for a moment I thought this thread was “Japan Authorities Hostile to Salma Hayek”. . ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/8 "2014-07-17T16:58:32Z")
That is a fun, funny way to be provocative and make her point. Reminds me of a story I heard about the beginnings of Nike: When Phil Knight was working with the U of Oregon track team to try out some designs for Nike’s original running shoes, the students nicknamed his prototype The Vagina: not much to look at, but feel soooo good when you slip inside them. 😉 No clue if that is true or apocryphal, but it is worth a smirk. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/9 "2014-07-17T16:59:42Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > That is a fun, funny way to be provocative and make her point. > > Reminds me of a story I heard about the beginnings of Nike: > > When Phil Knight was working with the U of Oregon track team to try out some designs for Nike’s original running shoes, the students nicknamed his prototype The Vagina: not much to look at, but feel soooo good when you slip inside them. 😉 > > No clue if that is true or apocryphal, but it is worth a smirk. Or you were being swooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/10 "2014-07-17T17:12:40Z")
Well, when one goes up against a cultural taboo, there is often a prickly response. Not that the effort isn’t worthwhile at times. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/11 "2014-07-17T17:24:45Z")
Did anyone notice the byline on the WaPo article linked in the OP? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/12 "2014-07-17T17:26:32Z")
As I understand it, the joke usually involves a canoe instead of a kayak but it still works. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/13 "2014-07-17T17:33:09Z")
Brings new meaning to the phrase [“little man in the boat.”](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=little+man+in+the+boat) ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/14 "2014-07-17T18:13:47Z")
It has to be a surreal experience to sit in your own genetalia. I wonder how they decided how big to make the hole for her to sit in. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/15 "2014-07-17T18:21:56Z")
I hear it’s best to exit the craft head first. Any other orientation may require outside assistance. Of course, if an adult male gets in he won’t ever want to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/16 "2014-07-17T18:25:34Z")
That’s a big vagina. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/17 "2014-07-17T18:48:17Z")
That has to be the most visually arresting headline I’ve read of late. Good job! > [@Sunspace](#): > > Well, when one goes up against a cultural taboo, there is often a prickly response. Not that the effort isn’t worthwhile at times. Dude, you passed up a perfectly good pun. You could’ve gone with prick-ly. 😃 For me, I think the photo would’ve been better if she’d have been amongst pussywillows. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/18 "2014-07-17T19:02:04Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Or you were being swooshed. Oh, bravo, sir! ---
**Author:** ![irae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f0a364/32.png) [@irae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irae)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/19 "2014-07-17T19:49:13Z")
Something, something douche-canoe! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368/20 "2014-07-17T19:57:44Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Vagina-based kayak designs are, so far as I am aware, a new thing, notwithstanding a certain pre-existing and coincidental similarity of general shape. Kind of like a marine camel toe. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japan-authorities-hostile-to-vagina-kayak/693368.md?page=2)