Tired-looking bear plushies in IKEA Japan go viral as they remind Japanese of themselves

Quite relatable.

Nigel Chua| January 28, 2021, 01:51 PM

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One of the products available in IKEA's Japan stores is a jumbo-sized bear plushy, named DJUNGELSKOG.

Not that you would often see them standing at their full one-metre height though, as viral photos of the bears seem to show them perpetually slouching or slumped over.

Photo via Ikipooh on Twitter.

A tweet with photos of the bears has gone viral, with over 45,000 retweets and 161,000 likes since it was posted by user Ikipooh on Jan. 26.

While it's not clear whether the user was the one who arranged the bears, that hasn't stopped netizens from having a bit of fun with the bears' state of permanent repose.

Work troubles

One user suggested that the bears were having a rough day at work, providing a caption which many office workers might identify with:

Screenshot via @aurora_661 on Twitter.

Hungover

Meanwhile, another netizens shared a photo suggesting that the bears' tiredness could be due to alcohol consumption:

Photo via canon_kn on Twitter.

Copycats

Other netizens who visited IKEA outlets appear to have spotted more sleepy-looking bears arranged on furniture as well.

They also appear to have been dressed up with hats and a scarf.

Bears were introduced in Japan in 2019, are famous elsewhere too

The bears were apparently introduced by IKEA Japan in 2019.

They are also a hit elsewhere in the world, including among cats, apparently:

Not currently available in Singapore

The bears are not currently available in Singapore, unfortunately, as IKEA Singapore's website shows only two plush toys above 80cm in size, neither of them being the bears.

However, IKEA Singapore continues to stock the metre-long BLAHAJ shark plushy, which went viral in 2019 after the sharks were spotted cooking, reading, dining, and doing other human activities at IKEA stores.

Screenshot via IKEA Singapore website.

Related story:

Top image via Ikipooh and aurora_661 on Twitter

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