“LOOK, THAT’S ME!”

It’s not every month a Japanese raccoon dog gets in contact with Fourfourtwo to thank us for an article on him, but this has been one of those months.

Tokyo Dorompa had been picked as FFT’S mascot of the month in September’s issue, and was swiftly made aware of his sudden worldwide fame. “He was super delighted to see the feature in the magazine,” says supporter Reiko Sakai, who gave Dorompa an issue.

So super delighted, in fact, that he went round signing several copies, as a number of supporters turned up brandishing them ahead of FC Tokyo’s J-league encounter at home to Kawasaki Frontale last month. Dorompa even went as far as to scribble a thank you message to FFT and then hold it up for the cameras.

That complete, he went back to doing his usual mad stuff, like staging a press conference to reveal details of a birthday party that has been planned in his honour. We’ll be honest, we have seen some far better pressers in our time, what with him being a mute mascot. Any questions? Nah, thought not.