World’s bizarre ritual – Japan’s the giant penis

You really don’t have to look far in Japan to locate a giant wooden penis. Even outside the love hotel district in Shibuya, there are scores of sex museums scattered across the country displaying phallic symbols and Kama Sutra-esque caricatures. The Hounen Matsuri is the most celebrated largest fertility festival in the land of the rising sun. 

Every March 15th, volunteers vie for the chance to carry a long wooden phallus (2.5 meters in the town of Komaki) across town to bestow its regenerative powers on the local crops – and to ensure fertility and fruitfulness among the residents.