The Spectator’s Peter Hoskin tries to figure out why so many of the big childhood crazes of the past three decades had their beginnings in Japan. (Transformers, Power Rangers, Pokémon.) Part of Japan’s secret may have to do with the fact that many of their kid brands are not just for kids. “Japan likes to entertain adults too. One of the strangest things about the country’s culture, which only a qualified anthropologist could explain, is how it ignores puberty.”

+ Related: A ball pit for adults just opened in London.

+ Japan also has the highest ratio of vending machines to landmass in the entire world.