Instead of golf balls or bottles of whiskey for Fathers' Day, dads in Japan this year may be getting time on the links or a day on a Ducati. "Experience gift catalogs" are gaining in popularity as an easy way to give unusual presents for all occasions.

"I think people are looking for something new," says Tak Nishimura, CEO of Japan's first experience gift catalog company. "It's wonderful to give your mother carnations on Mothers' day, but I think people like the idea of doing something more original, too. Flowers die. When you give someone an experience, that's a memory that lasts forever."

Traditional gift catalogs have been used as a way to give presents to guests at weddings or funerals or prizes to amateur sports winners since the late '80s. The giver picks a price range and sends the giftee a catalog of items that are all the same pre-specified, undisclosed price. Depending on the brand and price range, the catalogs can include a huge variety of products from fruit, tea, wine and ice cream to jewelry, wallets and designer handbags. Names of popular catalogs, such as "Take Your Choice" and "Ring Bell," hint at how they work: Pick an item, tell the catalog company, and it's soon on the doorstep.