Two otters travel across the ocean to search for “He-John” in this funny and heartwarming video.

Earlier this year, British-born American talk show host John Oliver became obsessed with a Japanese otter mascot called Chiitan.

This self-described “0-year-old fairy baby” once acted as an unofficial “Tourism Ambassador” for Susaki City, but after complaints from residents over the mascot’s unruly behaviour, Chiitan was ordered to cease and desist all activities.

This left Susaki City’s official mascot, a fellow otter called Shinjo-kun, without a friend, so Oliver sent over Chiijohn, a “41-year-old near-sighted English fairy baby” to help fill the “Chiitan-shaped hole in Shinjo-kun’s heart”.

Thus began the heartwarming tale of Shinjo-kun and Chiijohn, who appear to have been living happily ever after since they met in Susaki seven months ago.

Now, though, the talk show host who brought them together has been thinking about them, saying he’s been missing the duo’s particular brand of “unmitigated joy”.

In order to cheer himself up, Oliver set out on a journey to find the pair, giving birth to “The Journey of Chiijohn Chapter 2“, which can be viewed below:

The heartwarming reunion starts with Oliver, or “He-John” as he’s referred to by the narrator of the video, throwing a message in a bottle out to sea, which, as fate would have it, winds up on the shore at the feet of the two mascots.

After reading about He-John’s desire to see them, Chiijohn and Shinjo-kun pack up their things, grab some plates of sushi, and head out to the airport to visit their old friend, saying goodbye to all the local fish on the way.

▼ “‘We’re dead’, replied the fish.”


The two mascots board their flight and arrive in America, searching for He-John on the streets of New York and inside a comedy club, where Chiijohn does a set on stage and kills it. Then someone there points them in the direction of “TV’s best late-night host“, and that’s when they arrive on the set of Late Night with Seth Meyers.

▼ Shinjo-kun falls a little in love with the “very handsome” Meyers and has to be gently coaxed away from him.

Just as the two are gazing out at the water about to give up their search for He-John, they turn to look at a man next to them at the seaside.

The man turns to look at them and…it’s He-John! He runs up to them and is overjoyed, hugging Chiijohn and bowing to Shinjo-kun, who embraces him, filling He-John with renewed hope that “soon it will be a new day”.

▼ The Japan-based otters reply, “Where we’re from, it already is.“

Awwww. That turned out to be a lot sweeter than we thought it would be! Their reunion does appear to herald the start of a new day in the clip, and perhaps even the start of new chapters to come in future episodes of the show.

This heartwarming tale now has us wondering if Oliver will be returning to Japan for a tour of Susaki with the two otters. After Conan O’Brien came to Japan for a tour of Conan Town in Tottori Prefecture, there’s every chance a Chapter 3 entitled “The Journey of He-John” will be coming to our screens soon.

Source, images: YouTube/LastWeekTonight
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