With everything going on in the world it seems like a might fine idea to take a few minutes to lighten the mood with Japanese weirdness.

Ah, Japan. The gift that keeps on giving for weird stuff. Just this morning I watched a video on how Olympic officials in the tiny country have said that they are going to prevent people from taking “sexualized” photographs of female Olympians in which their legs, thighs, buttocks or breasts are emphasized. How the plan on doing that I have no clue. In the meantime the video highlighted some of the odder arrests in the country for weird sexual fetishes and, wow, Japan is a weird place.

That being said, let me introduce you to the weird world of “Moemorphism”, pronounced “Mo-eh-morphism”. Its a combination of two words, “Moe”, a Japanese word that refers to affectionate feelings toward characters in media, typically female, and “Morphism”, which is defined as something having the characteristics of something else, typically plant or animal.

What we end up with is “moemorphed” and often cute little characters, typically female, that represent, well, just about anything. From bugs to foods to name brands – all the way up to tanks and warships. Typically these characters will have names ending in “-chan”, which commonly denotes a young child or baby, or simply, youth.

And so, I give you to, some of the interesting moemorphed characters I have seen in the past few days. Enjoy!

We’ll start of with something easy: Poptart-Chan!
Sugar-chan. A sweet thing, to be sure!
Pumpkin-chan is super cute!

Okay, now we dive a little deeper! Name brands!

Vans-chan with her sweet kicks and…swords?
North Face-chan, ready for a weekend hike…..I guess.
How about Strawberry Pocky-chan? Honestly, who doesn’t love strawberry pocky, mermaids and redheads?
Nokia 3310-chan is built like a tank, just like her namesake!

Now a bit deeper. Are you ready for this? I’ll start off easy.

7.62×39 chan! She’s so difficult to find right now, but not as tough as 9mm-chan!
Blue Tongued Skink-chan. How feral looking!
Bonfire-chan. Yes. This is a female depiction of a bonfire.
Carolina Reaper-chan. I hear she gets a little hot under the collar.
Radiation-chan has been through a lot. Most people don’t like her.
Pagoda bagworm-chan is cute, tbh.

Okay, now for the truly bizarre!

Xbox Series X chan is very popular right now, if you can find her!
White spider chan is kind of cute, but creepy. Still nowhere near as creepy as Centipede-chan was (I won’t post a picture of that, its pure nightmare fuel).
Crested Gecko-chan looks very annoyed.
Witness the power of this fully operational Death Star-chan!
Last, but certainly not least, looking great at over 100 years old, USS Texas-chan! Yee haw!

Please, Japan, keep on giving us weirdness to draw our attention away from weird things like viruses, stolen elections, burning cities and our own weird brains! We do love you over here in the states!