If the Night Owl had an honorary state, it would be Florida. If it had an honorary country, though, the United States would be a distant runner-up to Japan.
Once again, they have decided to surpass us.
Animal head costumes have been around for years as part of team or company mascot outfits, and in recent months they’ve been located at places like Wal-Mart. Giant animal head masks, sitting in a mesh display in the middle of a department store, staring blankly at the passers-by. Not disturbing at all.
They’re not completely new, though, just freshly mass-marketed. Previously, mascot heads were popular among the subgenre of science fiction and cartoon fandom known as furry fandom, but they had to be custom made and tended to be quite expensive.
Now a Japanese company, Shindo, has decided to up the ante by producing not merely custom-made mascot heads, but realistic oversized heads modeled on someone’s pet. They’re called “My Family” and they’re the stuff that household animal nightmares are made of.
Go ahead. Click on the “My Family” link. Scroll down to look at the image of the cat staring at the mask-wearing person, face to face, and tell me it isn’t thinking that it’s somehow wound up in a Japanese feline hell.
And then come back and watch a person wearing that mask explain why vaping is superior to smoking (I’m thinking it has something to do with the mask – and thus the smoker’s head – not quickly bursting into flame.)
Congratulations, Japan. The rest of the world of the strange continues to follow in your orderly, street-sign eschewing wake.
Question of the night: What’s the most annoying thing you’ve done to one of your pets?
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