Retro Space Saka

Deep in the wilds of Nishiken, Sapporo hides a den of artefacts that will twist your head and warp your very concept of what-is-real and what-should-probably-be-kept-private. Ladies and germs I give you - Retro Space Saka:


I believe that the elderly gentleman closing the fence there is the owner, we overheard him talking to some other visitors about his collection and he was locking up just as we left. Here's the story, as I understand it: he is Mr. Saka, owner of the Saka Biscuit Factory in Sapporo. One day he found an abandonned mannequin and took it home, which started him collecting almost everything he could lay his hands on. I guess there's some kind of conceptual leap between him finding a mannequin and collecting everything from dolls to matchbooks to business cards, but I don't find this hard to believe at all. The desire to collect was probably latent in him, lying dormant waiting for something to trigger it. Anyway, he owns this big biscuit factory, and has all this space to spare so he converts part of it into a museum for his scarily schizophrenic collection. Thus - Retro Space Saka.


Bunny found Retro Space Saka when she was seaching the internet for cool places in Sapporo, and if you have a taste for somewhat odd tourist attractions, as I decidedly do, I would thoroughly recommend it. Today's special adjective for Retro Space Saka is bewildering. It's just floor to ceiling retro artefacts and old collectable objects, that in some cases I'm sure no-one's ever considered collecting before. Racks of key chains, cabinets of sixties drinking glasses, cameras, a novelty phone, old stoves, typewriters, magazines, dolls and dolls and dolls and dolls... And you see in the above photo, those naked ladies? There's a lot of that too, which makes the whole thing a little creepy, but somehow not too creepy since they're alongside retro pharmaceutical boxes and holiday picture postcards. Wait does that make it more creepy? The nook dedicated to ladies underwear and the wall of famous Japanese actresses' glamour shots? The rack of wooden figures holding novelty guitar bottle openers like guitars? The Britney Spears T-shirt?


I thought the place was amazing, it's clearly a labour of love and there is some truly remarkable stuff there. Staying there for too long however would probably cause nosebleeds and dizziness, so be careful. There may also be an upstairs - there was a closed off stairway with a no entrance sign that looked like it might be open sometimes, so there's the possibility that it might be even weirder or better still.

Oh, and there's the factory shop there, so you can buy biscuits. I did, they're really cheap!