If you thought the picture of the elderly man walk around with a giant turtleneck looked queerly familiar , you ’re not alone . Give the man some sunglasses and beard , and he could be misguided forMaster Roshi ’s long - lost twin pal from Dragon Ball . Alas , this man is not skilled in the kamehameha , but is special for another intellect : his friendly relationship with an African goad tortoise .
The man in the pic is Hisao Mitani , a 69 - yr - old funeral director who lives in the Tsukishima orbit of Tokyo , Japan with his tortoise , the 26 - year - old Bon - chan . Mitani and Bon - chan are no strangers to internet or real - life fame . The story of their friendship has been a valued electron beam of light on the sometimes - bleak net for yr . In Tokyo , their hebdomadal walk have become legendary and amust - see eventfor anyone in the area .
“ I never had any tyke , but 19 eld ago my wife caught the eyes of this little tortoise and felt an instant bond with him , ” Mitani said in recent year , according toNewsweek . “ I could n’t impart the store without it . But we had no mind he would become this braggy . ”
Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi (Getty Images)
As told by Mitani , when his wife buy Bon - chan home plate from a favorite store , the little tortoise fit into the palm of his hired man . He thought the reptile would uprise slowly over the row of its lifetime , but once it was 10 years old , Bon - chan started to grow rapidly , the funeral theatre director say . In late year , Mitanihas saidthat he believes Bon - chan weighs about 154 pounds ( 70 kilograms ) .
Bon - chan was diagnose to after the JapaneseObon festival , an yearly event where people call up their gone congeneric , whose intent are believed to visit during this time , in commemoration of the clock time Mitani got the tortoise .
In addition to experiencing a growth squirt when he was 10 years honest-to-goodness , Bon - chan also got to take his first walk with Mitani around the neighborhood at that age . The pair have n’t stopped since . The funeral director and the tortoise have a variety of walking routes and lean go out two or three times a hebdomad in the former good afternoon . Fashion is authoritative to Bon - chan , who will sometimes gambol handmade covers over his carapace and a trivial adornment on his head or shell .
Mitani shared that the tortoise have it away his paseo and experience the itinerary , which take about an hour and a half to finish because Bon - chan is n’t exactly a sprinter .
“ Bon - chan knows the road by heart and is very unattackable - minded , so it is more me that follows him , than the other way around , ” the funeral director said , as note byNewsweek . “ We walk the neighborhood and we are pretty noted around here . ”
Although a 26 - year - old tortoise might seem ancient to us humans , the African spurred form can grow to be150 years old . It is the third largest tortoise in the world , and the expectant on the African continent , allot to theOregon Zoo . Its long lifetime lamentably stand for that Bon - chan will belike survive Mitani , whohas saidhe will have to find the tortoise a new owner in the near futurity .
“ I hope there will be a person who ’ll tell me that he or she can take care of Bon - chan , ” Mitani enounce in 2019 , as account byPlay Tokyo . “ I assume that I can take the air with Bon - chan another 10 days . ”
We ’ve collected some of the most endearing shots of Mitani and his trounce companion .
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