Bears fan

I have commented before on the popularity of Care Bear paraphernalia in Japan. Despite my awareness of the retro cartoon craze, I was still quite surprised by this Quirky Quentin when we spotted him on our first outing to a Japanese bowling alley. Though his jeans were equipped with twenty belt loops, the only thing around his waist was a battalion of colorful stuffed bears (above, right). As an equal opportunity animal enthusiast, he had also diversified his collection with one or two misfit toys. Though they probably weren't, the sheep and panda looked woefully generic, homemade even, alongside the rest of his crew (below). The theme was accented by a tee adorned with the ubiquitous image of Rilakkuma, a character I can only describe as Hello Kitty's chief rival in kawaii (cute) contests. As if all of this were not nearly decorative enough, upon closer inspection, we noticed that each belt loop was fashioned different swatches of traditional Japanese fabric. There was something vaguely shamanistic about the whole ensemble. Perhaps the entire getup was a kind of talisman designed to enhance his bowling performance? Regardless of his reasoning, the gentleman was more than happy to oblige us with a photograph.