Japan Hearts Capybara

One of the harder cute things to explain in Japan is the capybara stuffed animal. A real capybara is an enormous semi-aquatic rodent that lives in South America. I'm not sure how it attained the level of popularity it enjoys in Japan, but somehow it did. You can find them at most large zoos and a number of aquariums. There's nothing wrong with a capybara - they are reasonably cute critters and I can see their place as a curiosity. After all, if you don't grow up with capybara wading through the river in your local jungle, you might not really know how to classify one.

Somehow, though, a clever marketer in Japan managed to make the capybara an instantly recognizable plush toy. While many fad toys pass on quickly, capybara have enjoyed a relatively long success - I can personally vouch for their prominent end-of-aisle position at several stores since we've been in Japan and I had seen them before that.

In the picture you can see the plush toys I'm referring to. Note they come in a variety of sizes and colors.

Of course, once you have an established character in Japan, you are free to dress it however you like. Now, for the year of the rabbit, you can get a capybara dressed as a bunny. I suppose that's not so very unlike you or me dressing as a monkey, so perhaps I shouldn't be so puzzled. They do make for cute pictures - also as would you or I dressed as a monkey.