Fun with Clumps!

I'm not sure how many of you know about this (I'm gonna go with "everyone under 30"), but there's a particular line of video games for the Playstation called "Katamari Damacy." It has no real English translation (at least, not one that makes sense), so they just went with the original Japanese title when they released it in the U.S.; extremely roughly, it means "Clump Spirit" ("spirit" as in "school spirit"), named thusly because the two kanji look kind of similar. Visual pun, don'tcha know. Anyway, not important.

The point is that I had hoped, in my dreamiest of dreamy dreams, that Japan might resemble the world of Katamari Damacy, which looks like this:

Not David Bowie, but an incredible simulation.

The game centers around the efforts of the Prince of All Cosmos rolling around a sticky ball and picking up successively larger objects, from dominoes to cows to mountains; the purpose of this activity (as if you needed one) is to make objects to replace the stars of the galaxy, which the King of All Cosmos (pictured) destroyed during a particularly rowdy night. All in all, it's a raucous, hilarious romp through a world of whimsical whimsy, something that Japan does very well. Again, this game is one of the reasons I came to Japan: I hoped that, perhaps, there might be some place on Earth that actually looks like that (before you ask, I somehow forgot to mention this fact to immigration personnel and potential employers). Also, I figured that if Japan really is a world of dancing pandas and rainbows, it might explain some of Japan's weird behavior.

People of the world: yes, Japan does look like Katamari Damacy. Proof:

Any given street in Japan.

Whimsy? Check! Similarly-sized objects grouped everywhere you go for easy rolling?

Traditional Buddhist monasteries were constructed without regard for whimsical alien intervention.

Double-check! The only real letdown is the indigenous katamari of Japan. They do, in fact, roll around the house, collecting tiny objects as they go. Unfortunately, they look like this:
You lied to me, video game industry!