Cutest Japanese stopmotion crocheted beachside critter ukelele video ever

Mark usually has Boing Boing's ukelele beat covered, and Lisa's our go-to Japan expert. But neither of those guys are blogging today, so here goes. U900, "Diamond Head" Japanese Ukulele Duo! Features a crocheted bear and a bunny on a beach, and is the very definition of kawaii. They has a myspace, too. (thanks, Susannah Breslin!)

Update: Mark previously blogged an earlier video from these cuties, "Walk, Don't Run."

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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Anonymous

They’re not just “crocheted critters”. Its a Japanese art called Amigurumi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amigurumi
R2Devo

I’m happy now.
Anonymous

He said -Ten Te Ke Ten Ten- -Uh Hah!-
Anonymous

If anyone is interested this is Enoshima beach in Kanagawa prefecture, about an hour from central Tokyo and part of the famous Shonan strip. A great place to drink in summer!
Anonymous

I want to BE that bear
seancinneide

Here is the first BB post

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/03/ukulele-version-of-w-1.html
Anonymous

Is it me or does the bear look like Pedobear a bit?
ciacontra

Yeah, Mark posted their vid of ‘Walk, Don’t Run’ back in September. Still, no matter how many times I see it it’s cute. Of course, now I permanently associate it with ‘Diamond Head’ and my wife complains about seeing little amigarumis playing it in her head whenever I put it on the stereo.
Anonymous

Why does the multi-talented bear look so pissed off in the rest of the videos? I sense a back story here. Either he is being cheated of royalties or he couldn’t find any horse before the shoot.
- gollux
  
  A friend of mine was asked this once, his answer? “Huh? I was just concentrating on sounding good. I just get a little intense.”
- grimc
  
  Every Tommy Smothers must have his Dick Smothers; every Tennille, her The Captain. This is how the universe maintains balance.
Kenneth Extension

There are no strings on those ukuleles. I call fake on this one.
crab_cakes

Adorable. The animation isn’t exactly stop motion though. It looks like it was animated in After Effects. Not that it matters, it’s still way cute.
Anonymous

I love this so much!!
cuvtixo

Wouldn’t this be considered racist in the U.S.? Is it racist? On one hand Japan, unlike the U.S., isn’t burdened with a long history of minstrel shows. On the other hand, giving the black bunny grey lips, or no lips at all, certainly would have been more “sensitive.” I realize such questions ruin the “cuteness” of it all, but it’s worth acknowledging that it might be offensive to some viewers.
- freshacconci
  
  What on earth are you talking about? I did not see that at all. Because the rabbit is black and has lips, that means it’s a reference on minstrel shows? Minstrels usually (always?) had white mouths. I think you are reading way too much in this.
  
  Maybe that says something more about you than the video.
- EH
  
  No, it’s not worth acknowledging.
  
  Your nick is “oxitvuc” spelled backwards, and I was once attacked by a person wearing horns and a ring through the septum of their nose. Feel like apologizing for my oxen-related trauma yet? Why didn’t you include this obviously-needed apology in your post in the first place?
- gollux
  
  Sounds like you’re one of those self oppressors. Sometimes our failures come from within, and we need to admit that. It’s pretty bad when “The Man” in our heads colors everything we see.
InsertFingerHere

Agree with #3, water isn’t moving, and most important, shadows don’t move. In fact, I wouldn’t put this under stop-motion at all. Doesn’t look like human hands are manipulating the characters frame to frame.

Not as impressive as it should have been, based on the description.
Anonymous

#3 and #9. This is stop motion over a green screen and then the background and shadows composited in after-effects. Doesn’t matter what method used, this is still a stop motion process. After Effects isn’t going to do this automagically for you dudes ;-)
- Anonymous
  
  Sorry #13, it’s not stop motion. The dolls were photographed as a still, then animated in After Effects. You can tell by the flat overlaps on the moving joints. Also, there’s no chatter whatsoever, no fabric reaction to the movements.
  
  But cute is cute anyways.
- agdtinman
  
  This isn’t stop motion at all. It’s more like the current form of South Park, where, while they may have pictures of real objects, all the animation is done in the program.
  
  You can see where pieces are cut out of the background, so they can move them around. Look at the left shoulder of the bunny.
  
  Still cool & sweet looking though.
oheso

Japan does have a long and inglorious history of minstrel-show-type racial exaggeration. This is not it. You’ll recognize it when you see it. It won’t be subtle. It will smack you in the face.

It’s mostly gone now, following some rather public outcry in the 1980s and 1990s. I sat in US Congressional hearings in 1988-89 investigating allegations of racial hiring practices by Japanese firms operating in the US, and interviewed some of the principals involved.</streetcred>
MadRat

I just want to know what they’re saying.
merreborn

This may not be as amusing to everyone else as it was to me, but my 9 month old seemed to enjoy the video immensely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz6TzDeK7jk
patrick_bateman

I dream of a day when I can read this blog without a single ukelele story visible…