Japanese man who spent £12,480 so he can become a dog takes his first walk

Toko, the Japanese man who spent thousands of dollars so he could get a hyper-realistic dog costume, finally took his first walk as a dog.

He took to social media to share a video of himself taking a walk in his dog costume last month. The video has just become a rage on the internet, and the clip has gathered more than 5 million views.

In the video, the dog/man can be seen being adored by strangers as they go past him. Some even patted him on the back, believing that it was indeed a dog. He could be seen roaming around in the streets, performing tricks, and interacting with real dogs.

The man and his love for dogs became the centre of attraction last year when he began to speak about his journey on social media and revealed his reasons for doing a seemingly bizarre thing.

He approached an agency called Zeppet, which makes sculptures for movies, advertisements, and amusement parks. It took 40 days for the company to make the costume after multiple changes and alterations.

After it was posted last year, a clip of the man masquerading as the dog racked up thousands of views on the video-sharing platform YouTube. He even posted photos of himself wearing the costume on Twitter.

In one of the videos posted on his YouTube channel, he asks: "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."

Speaking about his love for dogs, he said: "My favourite is quadrupedal animals — especially cute ones. Among them, I thought that a big animal close to my size would be good, considering that it would be a realistic model, so I decided to make it a dog."

"I made it a Collie because it looks real when I put it on," he added.

He also thinks that his family and friends might not approve of his fascination with canines, per a report in The New York Post.

"I haven't told anyone about my transformation into a dog," he said in one of his videos. "I am still afraid that my friends will find my hobby bizarre."

A video of Toko dressed in the costume shows him rolling on the floor and waving his legs and paws in the air. Some of the videos show him playing fetch and snuggling with stuffed animals.

Zeppet later said in a statement that it was very difficult to make an animal costume that could suit a human body and that they had to do multiple revisions before Toko finalised a version of it.

"The point is that the skeleton of a dog can be reproduced on the skeleton of a human. Since the structure of the skeleton is very different, we spent a lot of time studying how to make it look like a dog," said a Zeppet employee.

"In addition, we collect photographs taken from various angles so that the beautiful coat of the collie can be reproduced and devised so that the coat will flow naturally."

Even though social media users have been mostly amazed by what Toko has done, some have called his hobby frivolous. "Silliest thing that one can ever commit to," commented one user, while another wrote: "This is like a car accident; it's disturbing, but you can't stop looking."

Some found it hilarious, while others were left completely stunned by the craftsmanship. "If UFOs land this week and see stories like that, they will get their spaceship and leave the earth ASAP," commented a user.

"Very rare to see this level of tailoring nowadays, even on the wealthy," commented another person.