Tag Archives: Japan

Winnie the Pooh Exhibition

Walt Disney Archives has an international traveling exhibit that is touring around Japan featuring Winnie the Pooh. Pooh is incredibly popular in American and Japan. The original books were translated in Japanese and the Disney movies released in theaters to much popularity.

The human loves Pooh bear and has high hopes that this exhibit, or one similar, will come to the US some day. If you live in or can visit Japan you might be lucky enough to see this one as is, and if not D23 did a nice write up where you can see more pictures here.

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The exhibit features items from the Disney archives like animation cells, movie posters, maquettes, books, and toys. The goal is simply to celebrate the art, history, and legacy of Winnie the Pooh.

Here is the entry way:
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Some of the items on display:
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Books in Japanese:
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Maquettes:
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Toys:
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The Winnie the Pooh Exhibition opened in August in Tokyo, and has moved to Mitsukoshi department store in Fukuoka. The exhibit will continue traveling to different parts of Japan for the rest of the year and on into 2015.

Pooh bear is clearly a very popular and well loved bear. Don’t miss this chance to learn more and see items not usually available to the public if you are near the exhibit as it moves around Japan!

-Cola and Fizz

Don’t forget to see these photos and more on D23.com.

art Disney entertainment Events No comments

Shake Hands With An Otter

Otters are playful and adorable. Or so states the human, who has pictures of these creatures playing and I suppose being cute. Have you ever wanted to touch one? This is not something one gets the opportunity to do everyday.

otterpaw
(imgur)

The Keikyu Aburatsubo Marine Park in Japan has a special exhibit set up for their otters called “Otter Finger Touch, Fish Catch.” Visitors pay 500 yen, or $5, to offer a fish at special holes in the glass enclosure to lure an otter to put a paw through to possibly touch your finger and to definitely get a fish.

otterpaw2
(rocketnews24)

The exhibit opened July 13, 2014, and only runs until September 13, 2014, so if interested you need to act quickly. Visitors are encouraged to make a reservation in order to guarantee an opportunity to try for an otter hand shake. The exhibit is open for all those who enter the park to see the otters, but the touch experience has a morning and evening session with a max of 10 people. I am not sure if it is 10 each session or ten total for the day. Of course, you need to be in Japan or able to travel there for this experience.

Here are pictures from reporter Meru Rinko‘s trip to the exhibit:
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(rocketnews24)

Some species of otters can be vicious, people are attacked by them, so I would not advocate just trying to offer fish to wild otters. The otters in the exhibit are Asian Small Clawed Otters, the smallest species, who have little finger like toes with small claws unlike the webbed feet of the larger North American River Otter. Asian Small Clawed Otters are a vulnerable species due to habitat loss, and are now extinct in some areas which used to have large populations. You can of course see this type of otter in the US at places like Seaworld and the San Diego Zoo, but no other place offers finger touches.

Baby Asian Small Clawed Otters:
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(zooborns)

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(animalfactguide)

Adult:

Asian Small-clawed Otter
(zoochat)

This is a very unique opportunity for otter lovers, so take advantage of it if you can!

-Cola

You can read more here to get details of when/where/how and see even more photos of that reporter’s trip here.

Baby Animals Cute Events fun Zoo News No comments

Eating Out With Stuffed Animals?

Japan has a culture that supports all things cute! The Moomin Cafe lets solo diners sit with large stuffed animals at their tables to keep them company!

Our owner does not go out to eat by herself that often, but this must make the experience more fun! Definitely something to talk about later and take pictures of when a solo meal would have been otherwise uneventful.

Take a look:
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(RocketNews/Twitter)

Moomin Cafe is a themed restaurant, based on a Finnish book series about hippopotamus like creatures, also known as Moomin, by author Tove Jansson. Some of the main characters:
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(Screengrab/RocketNews)

There are nine books total in the series. The main character of the Moomin series of books and comic strips is Moomintroll, who lives with his father (moominpappa) and mother (moominmamma). There is also a host of other characters. The books and comics have inspired different tv series including one popular in Japan, animated movies, and a children’s theme park called Moomin World.

Diners have been flocking to the restaurant and many pictures have been posted online of patrons with their stuffed animal friends, and often just the stuffed animals themselves.

Here are tables with stuffed animals awaiting new human freinds:
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(RocketNews/Twitter)

A diner’s picture of their stuffed animal enjoying some dessert:
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(Instagram)

A stuffed friend across the table with themed table covering:
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(Twitter/RocketNews)

The walls are covered in drawings from the series, so too are the table cloths. Even the food is themed to fit with the book series:
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(Twitter/RocketNews)

Love this idea (but it needs more guinea pigs)! This is a unique restaurant concept, and with a theme more easy to relate to (Disney etc) it could work in the US. It is interesting and family friendly. The restaurant could even have a way to buy the large stuffed animals as well.

– Cola and Fizz

All photos from the Business Insider

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