Never Eat Alone Again: Japanese Cafe’s Viral Giant ‘Anti-Loneliness’ Moomin Can Be Yours Forever

Japan’s Moomin Cafe went viral when photos were shared of a service they offer to lone diners.

Rather than allow their customers to sit in solitude, a giant sitting pose Moomin plushy is brought to the table as a cuddly dining companion. This adorable move was covered widely in overseas media, calling it an ‘anti-loneliness cafe’ (although the Moomins are offered to groups as well).

Despite the popularity of the oversized plushy, this particular merchandise has never been available to buy and the only place you could meet him was in the cafe itself.

But this year the Moomin franchise is celebrating the 75th anniversary since the first ever Moomin story was released. To mark this momentous milestone, just 75 of the cafe’s cuddly Finnish trolls will be for sale.

And getting your hands on one will only cost you 65,000 yen. That’s just under 600 dollars.

Okay, so maybe this offer is likely to be taken up by Moomin super fans only. But at 75 centimetres high, you can’t say they haven’t tried to give us good value for money. It also comes wearing a special pendant featuring a star charm and a plate engraved with the serial number between one and seventy-five, which will attest to the stuffed Moomin’s authenticity.

Members of the official Moomin fan club have been granted priority in reserving one of these rare Moomins from December 3rd, but the general public can also preorder one from 6th December onwards, either from the official Moomin online store or in any Moomin Cafe or Moomin Shop in Japan. The plushies themselves will be sent out in the middle of January.