15 « August « 2009 « Capybara Madness

Kapibara-san gifts from Japan

Don’t know how many of you know this, but Japan is the center of capybara culture. We are worshiped in Japan, as we should be worldwide. This love has been cultured and nurtured by the Kapibara-san cartoon.

Kapibara-san does not actually look much like a capybara. Sure, they got the big head right. And maybe our cute ears and little mouth. And I’ll have to grant them the big eyes. And we are all nose. But other than that, Kapibara-san doesn’t even look like a capybara. Specifically, I am referring to the legs, of which Kapibara-san has none. That animal could not swim if its life depended on it (although there is a good chance its life wouldn’t depend on it since it looks like it would float).

That doesn’t mean that I don’t love Kapibara-san. I do! He’s the greatest (next to Capyboppy). And so you can only imagine how excited I was when my twitter friend @kotaro, known as Kotaro Yokoyama on FaceBook, sent me these amazing Kapibara-san artifacts.

Plush Kapibara-san dangly

Look how cute that thing is! I could just eat him up!

Kapibara-san phone dangle

Phone dangles are very big in Japan. My owner said that she went to a big business meeting and all the engineers had dangles on their phones. Why hasn’t that caught on in the US? I hear the iPhone doesn’t even have a place to hang a dangle.

I can’t figure out what the capy is eating though. Is it a pick tomato? Do they have those in Japan?

My own Caplin/Kapibara-san phone dangle!

I saved the best for last. Look at this! A Kapibara-san phone dangle with my name on it! How did he get that? Look, it came in its own little package. Is Caplin a common name in Japan? Then why isn’t it in Japanese script? No, it has to be just for me! Amazing.

It does leave one perplexing question…why is Kapibara-san drinking a martini? Do Japanese capybaras drink alcohol? And why isn’t it sake then? I think I would like that better. This is a real mystery to which we may never know the answer.

Update on Coney Island capybara

Found a couple of new articles about the capybara(s) at the Coney Island carnival.

I read and replied to this one. The good news is that the capybara’s situation is monitored by local authorities. Another good thing is that the capybara is not there all the time, they are rotated out every three weeks or so, which explains why some people see an adult capybara and some people see a youngster.

Here’s another article. This one even references this blog.

What my owner and I would like is for the poor capy to have some hay to sleep on and to munch, maybe a solid wall or two in the back where it could feel a little less exposed and a decent sized water bowl to soak in. I’m not saying it has to be able to swim or anything. Maybe something as big as a kiddie pool. It’s just we feel so much more comfortable in the water.

One last thing. My owner and I are not against carnivals or carnival animals. There are always good and bad in any mix of people or events. Branding everyone in any group on the basis of a subset is prejudice no matter what the group is. Well, unless you’re in a hate group, like the IHC (I Hate Capybaras).

Another capybara on display:

Thanks to Paula King for taking this video of a capybara at the county fair in Hamburg, NY. Notice that this capybara has enough water to roll in (this is a 50 gallon horse water trough, I have one just like it), a surface with traction and plenty of hay for munching on. The water is pretty disgusting, but we capybaras poop in the water which makes it difficult to keep clean. I would assume we are seeing this late in the cleaning cycle and someone will take care of it soon.

How difficult would it be for the Coney Island people to set up something like this? Not hard at all and so much better for the capybara!