This little otter from Hiroshima is only four months old, but has already enamored Twitter users across Japan with its photogenic human-like expression.

The above photo was tweeted with the caption “This baby otter has a total doya face.” “Doya!” is a Kansai dialect phrase someone might say when feeling rather full of themselves like “How do you like me now?!”

The person who took the photo goes by the name of Manbou on Twitter and is a self-professed otter enthusiast. They said that they’ve traveled around various aquariums in Japan when time is available looking at all the different otters.

“The charm of otters is partly their human actions, expressions, and chubby-cheeked smiles that they sometimes show us. Each one is an individual and I never get tired of watching them.” (Manbou)

However, this particular otter whose photo was taken at the Miyajima Aquarium in Hiroshima has made a big splash with people drawing comments like “I just burst out laughing on the train!” and “He looks like an Isono. They should call him Katsuo.”

“Isono” is a reference to the family in the manga and anime series Sazae-san. For those unfamiliar with the series, faces in it look somewhat similar to Simpson’s characters… which this otter also happens to look like.

As far as the “doya face”, I didn’t really get that vibe from the Asian short-clawed otter. It seemed more like a neighbor who recently got born-again and in a really tranquil voice likes to share his love of the lord with you when you pass his yard. Let’s A-B that.

Hard to say. Perhaps otters’ faces are like Rorschach blots; everyone sees something different in them. What does this little guy look like to you?

Source: Twitter – @manbou400
Original Article by Usagi Yumeno
Sazae-san Image: Amazon

Miyajima Aquarium


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