Did you know that Mickey Mouse has a teddy bear?
Well, he does, and his name is Duffy. This character is sold en masse at Tokyo Disney Sea.
Why am I writing about this? I teach at a university, and I can not believe how many female students have Duffy toys. Everywhere you go you see girls with little Duffy stuffed toy accessories hanging off their bags. One of my students has seven of them.
There are, of course, 'seasonal' and 'themed' Duffys (Duffies?), which one can rotate according to the time of year. Aforementioned girl with seven Duffys did have a Hallowe'en Duffy on her bag; now some girls are busting out the Christmas ones.
I have also just noticed that there is a female version of Duffy, called Shelly May. Basically identical except she has some pointy eyelashes and wears skirts. I've seen several girls with twin Christmas bears - this year's Christmas Duffy and Shelly May - hanging from their bags.
Disney Land and Disney Sea are extremely popular here. I could write reams on this subject. I'm not sure why this particular teddy bear is flavour of the year, but it could be worse. At least Duffy is cute, in a bland and benign sort of way. Better by far than those creepy Cubic Mouth products. Excuse me, I think I have to go hide under my bed...
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Oh - I was looking forward to a piccie of a Duffy... but then again, the Disney Lawyers would most probably be down on you like a tonne of.... Duffies (Duffys).
ReplyDeleteIt's true though just how prevalent these things can become in Japan... actually... I'm kinda wondering how I could go through life and never know that Mickey Mouse had a teddy bear - that and if I should go out tomorrow and buy one for myself now that I know...
?;-)
Sorry, I don't have any pictures of Duffy. You can see them on Google Images anyway - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&biw=1183&bih=537&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=duffy+bear&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
ReplyDelete^_^
Don't worry, I think the Duffy industry is thriving without your support. ^_^