The inimitable Mr. Sato is such a big fan of Funasshi, the unofficial jiggly pear mascot of Funabashi City, that he even created his own mascot-to-the-mascot, Satosshi. This Halloween, Satosshi decided to head down to the famous Shibuya crossing to make friends with fellow costume-wearing Tokyoites.
Might there be other, kindred spirit Funasshi fans there? Will Satosshi be busted as an unofficial impersonator? Could Mr. Sato’s journalistic efforts be thwarted by a sudden attack of deadline confusion? And worse still, what if no one recognises him? Join us after the jump for a photo report from Satosshi’s big night out.
On this adventure, Satosshi is joined by his sidekick Sanmarinasshi, who also shares his love of pears, dancing, and belly flops.
▼ Yoroshiku onegaishimasshi!
▼ Time to leave the office!… (er, sorry, offisshi)
Satosshi and Sanmarinasshi hopped in a cab and rolled on down to Shibuya. They were expecting it to be busy, but they were still amazed by how many people there were! At first, they found themselves in the middle of a crowd of so many people, they couldn’t even move.
▼ “There’s no way we’re going to get acrosshi!”
Just when he was starting to wonder why he’d come at all, Mr. Sato suddenly remembered something even worse – he still had work left to do tonight! Luckily, he had his laptop with him, so he escaped from the crowd, sat down on the pavement and started working.
▼ “I don’t know if I can finisshi!”
Around him, Satosshi heard the voices of passers-by making disgusted comments about something. “What’s that?” they sneered. “So gross!”…”It’s not cute at all!”
Satosshi’s little yellow heart sunk as he realised: people were talking about him. Of course. In Shibuya on Halloween, the standard of costumes is amazingly high. How could he even have thought he could fit in here?
Then, suddenly, Satosshi heard another voice from behind him: “Can we take a picture together?” And then, one after another, a series of beautiful girls came to ask to have their photo taken together! It was like a dream!
▼ Is this the real life? Is this just fantasshi?
▼ They can’t believe their eyesshi!
It was worth coming after all, Satosshi realised, as he and Sanmarinasshi then got to meet hundreds of partiers in awesome costumes.
▼ Satosshi has fans from all walks of life (and death).
▼ They found another costumed pair who’d come as each other’s sidekicks!
▼ Sanmarinasshi tried to pout, too, but his mouth can only make a smile now.
Overall Satosshi was amazed and impressed by the range of costumes on show this Halloween.
▼ Check out the triple Jibanyans in the back!
▼ Well we know Mr. Sato loves coffee, so it stands to reason that Satosshi does too!
▼ Three very tall Marilyns.
▼ Zombie schoolgirls!
▼ Kayakuda Don!
▼ And a very cute Princess Fiona!
But best of all, they found a kinsman and friend: a Funasshi!
▼ One of us! One of us!
Although very impressed with the costumes he saw, Satosshi couldn’t help but notice that most of the party-goers who’d really gone all-out were girls. All-in-all, he felt the guys he saw were holding back a little with their outfits. His message for any reluctant male costume-wearers next Halloween? Give a really out-there costume a go! There’s nothing wrong with standing out from the crowd, after all.
All photos (c) RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]