Have fun and feel annoyed at the same time!
It seems like these are especially stressful times, no matter where you are or what your background is. Whether it’s from unreasonable behavior, things not turning out as you expect, or being the victim of someone’s cruel actions, we all are inflicted with feelings ranging from mild irritation to raging anger every now and then.
And here to celebrate this part of the human experience is Dododo Land, a temporary exhibit at the Seibu department store in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood. This interactive mini-museum is a tour of the many shades of annoyance, with the goal of turning anger into merriment.
Our Japanese-language writer Asami Oshima paid a visit recently to see firsthand what Dododo Land, wherein “dododo” is the kanji character for “anger” (怒) written three times in a row, was all about. There are different types of tickets, such as the Exhibition Ticket, which grants you basic access to the venue for 2,400 yen (US$15). It is also possible to add on Play Passes for an additional charge that will let you play the mini games inside.
▼ Guests are given wristbands with the exhibit’s mascots, Punda the angry panda and Ussa the angry rabbit.
After going through the main entrance, Asami was greeted by a narrow corridor with “Welcome to Dododo Land” printed in a The-Shining-esque repetition on the walls.
After that, she entered a room with a movie featuring a guy in a cat mask hurling insults like, “Do you really have this much time on your hands?” She’d be lying if she said it didn’t irk her a bit.
The venue is divided into a Punda section and an Ussa section, and Asami decided to go with the panda first.
Along the wall were plaques with “Minor Things I Cannot Forgive” written on them.
▼ Top: “When uncooked rice is spilled all over the place.”
Bottom: “When an item I really love disappears from the convenience store.”
There’s also a Crappy Fortune board, where you can throw Velcro balls at two boards, one of which is about 97 percent “horrible luck” and the remaining sliver is “slightly good luck.” The other board has the four standard blood types. Although it’s not quite clear why you’d need to throw a ball to choose a blood type, it is indicative of a recurring blood-type theme in the exhibit.
There’s also a spot where you can vote on whether a certain transgression should be forgiven or whether a person should be arrested for committing it.
▼ “People who don’t reply to your text, but you see them posting on social media.”
From there, she headed over to the Ussa section. First up was a display of Inexcusable Smartphones, featuring irritating behaviors that appear via texting.
Left
6:54 p.m. A: “I’m at the convenience store. Do you want anything?”
6:57 p.m. B: “Nope, not especially.”
6:58 p.m. A: “OK.”
7:23 p.m. B: “Sorry, you aren’t still there, are you?”Center
8:14 a.m. A: “Are you awake?”
8:16 a.m. A: “The train leaves Shinagawa at 9:30, so let’s meet at the gate at 9:15!”
8:41 a.m. A: “Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
8:42 a.m. A: “You still asleep?”
8:45 a.m. A: Call Not Answered
8:58 a.m. A: Call Not Answered
9:10 a.m. A: Call Not Answered
9:13 a.m. B: “I’ll be at the gate soon.”
7:32 p.m. A: “So, where are we going to meet tomorrow?”
7:34 p.m. B: “Oh my god! I just saw YU-TA! [a famous idol]”
7:37 p.m. C: “Wha? Where?!”
7:46 p.m. D: “That’s nuts!”
Next was an area where people with A-type blood were forbidden to enter. In Japan and some other Asian countries, there is a popular theory that blood types dictate a person’s character traits. While not quite as popular as it was 15 years ago, there are still a lot of people who subscribe to the theory.
According to it, people with A-type blood tend to be more on the fastidious side, and you might even say the “A” stands for “anal-retentive.”
▼ “Unforgivable to an A-type person: Using wired earphones without untangling the wire first.”
Asami was an O-type person, however, which is generally regarded as the most easy-going and adaptable of the blood type groups, so she didn’t really see what the big deal was with most of those things.
In fact, she was even among the people who piss A-types off. Her smartphone screen is a lush garden of unanswered red notification badges.
Beyond that section was the Merry-Go-Round of Filth. A cavalcade of images that will make germaphobes lose it.
▼ “Wearing new clothes without washing them first.”
And from there, Asami entered the Zoo of Angry People. As you’ve probably surmised by this point, Dododo Land was more about looking at the lighter side of anger in everyday annoyances than more serious grievances in our society.
▼ “Person whom everyone ignored during an online meeting when he asked, “Can you hear me?”
There were some live specimens as well, such as the “Adolescent child whose door was suddenly opened.”
Personally, Asami wasn’t especially bothered by many of the examples on display, but it just goes to show that we all have our own set of things that push our buttons. And for those who got particularly worked up from the previous exhibits, there were some mini games to help blow off some steam.
First, there was the FAFO Toss, where you chuck balls at various examples of annoying things written on paper targets.
Also, there was the Beat You Up, Bon Voyage! game, which is essentially the same thing, but instead the annoyances appear on a giant screen for you to defeat like the final boss in a video game, by throwing as many balls as you can at it.
Finally, there was the Flying Crappy Reply game, where you have to send the lamest and most inappropriate social media replies flying into their own graves with a slingshot.
Even though Asami tends to have a live-and-let-live attitude, there were some things showcased at Dododo Land that have been known to grind even her gears from time to time. First was the psychological screw-job of getting a task from work on the weekend. Even though it says it can wait until next week, the very notion of it had already polluted her otherwise carefree mind.
▼ “Getting a message from work on your day off saying, ‘You can confirm this on Monday.’”
There was also the “Are you free?” trap, where someone confirms you don’t have plans before springing an unpleasant invitation, leaving you unable to easily come up with an excuse.
8:06 p.m. B: “Are you free tomorrow?”
8:23 p.m. A: “Totally! What’s up?”
8:27 p.m. B: “My company is having a party to celebrate our new office. Do you want to come?”
8:28 p.m. B: “It costs 3,500 yen, but there’s catering and it’s all-you-can-drink!”
Another one that wasn’t mentioned and really bugged Asami was when using a public restroom, the person who went before left the toilet paper all gnarled and hanging out, leaving only her overactive imagination to guess how it ended up like that.
Overall, she walked away from Dododo Land realizing the broad spectrum of things that bother all kinds of people. It’s probably impossible not to inadvertently upset someone as we go through life, but perhaps we can all do better to not let our own anger dictate how we live our lives. One way is to appreciate the absurdity of the situation and at least find the humor in it to begin to feel better and move on with our lives.
Event information
Dododo Land / 怒怒怒ランド
Venue: Seibu Shibuya Store 1F Basement Hall B
西武渋谷店B館地下1F
Address: Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Udagawa-cho 21-1
東京都渋谷区宇田川町21-1
Runs 16 November, 2025 – 25 February, 2026
Open 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. (Doors close at 8 p.m.)
Website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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