A man in Japan who identifies as a dog, specifically a collie, just spent $14,000 on a hyper-realistic collie dog costume, a full-body outfit that he says will help him realize his longstanding dream of “becoming an animal.” He then went viral on the internet for a video of his first stroll in public in the dog getup.
The video was first posted to the YouTube channel of “Toco” as the man who identifies as a collie goes by online, about a month ago. The YouTube channel has about 47,000 subscribers and is called, appropriately enough, “I want to be an animal.”
In the video, Toco, in the hyper-realistic collie costume, rolls around on a lawn and in the street, plays fetch, and plays with other, actually real dogs. Toco also says, “Do you remember your dreams from when you are little? You want to be a hero or a wizard. I remember writing in my grade school graduation book that I wanted to be a dog and walk outside.” Toco adds, “When I fulfilled that dream, this is how it turned out.”
Twitter personality Oli London tweeted about the video, saying, “Japanese man who identifies as a dog goes for a walk in public and enjoys being stroked by strangers. The man spent over $15,000 on a custom made realistic collie dog costume. Weird or cool?”
The New York Post, reporting on the get-up and its cost of production, said, “Zeppet, the company that manufactured Toco’s collie costume, says it took 40 days to create the furry fashion item, which cost a cool $2 million Yen (USD $14,161).”
Further, a spokesperson for Zeppet told news.com.au that the costume is modeled after a collie and is meant to reproduce the look of such an animal walking on four legs. In the spokesperson’s words, “Modeled after a collie dog, it reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs.”
Toco goes on to say in the video that a collie was chosen as the basis for the costume because their average size is not all that different from a human on all fours, making the get-up easier, and also because it is his favorite breed of dog. Toco added in the video that he isn’t tired of being human, but just wants to be a dog. “Sometimes it is reported that I am tired of being human, but I have never said that,” he said in the viral video.
Continuing, Toco added that he knows his desire to be a dog would likely be viewed as weird by other people, so he generally keeps it hidden: “For example, if I told the people I work with that I wanted to be an animal and I became a collie, they would look at me funny wouldn’t they? I feel a bit of inferiority complex about it so I rarely talk about it with others. If anyone notices who I am, please don’t tell anyone around me!”
Numerous videos of Toco in the dog suit have been posted to the “I want to be an animal” YouTube channel, with this one being the most recent:
