[Review] My happiness leveled up when I began living with an octopus wiener pillow!

Do you have any special items for relaxation or to reduce your stress such as herb teas, eye masks, or the like? Of course, those are good ideas.

However, today I'd like to introduce you to a new cute item and how to use it effectively.

It's a body pillow shaped like an octopus wiener (tako uinnā タコウインナー) and it's made by Shimamura, a famous Japanese fashion chain!

What is an octopus wiener?

spike | © PIXTA

An octopus wiener is a sausage that has been cut (and sometimes additionally decorated) to look like an octopus, as you can see in the cute bento lunch shown above. タコ tako means octopus in Japanese.

The way to make a basic octopus wiener is really simple. If you cut one end of a little wiener sausage and grill or boil it, it will end up looking like an octopus! Boiling is a better way to make the tentacles spread out. If you want to make it even cuter, you can add two black sesame seeds for the eyes (use a toothpick to poke small holes, then insert the seeds there), and a piece of cheese for the mouth (cut sliced white cheese into a small circle, and stick a small piece of a dry spaghetti through the center and into the wiener to hold it in place).

Octopus wieners are one of four most popular foods for lunch boxes or picnics. The other most loved foods are rice balls (onigiri おにぎり), fried chicken (karaage 唐揚げ), and rolled omelets (tamagoyaki たまご焼き).

H.Kuwagaki | © PIXTA

You’ll often find octopus wieners in anime and manga, so maybe you can find one! I can remember at least six anime where I saw an octopus wiener.

Big! Cute! Fluffy!

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

One day in June, an octopus wiener-shaped body pillow arrived at my home.

What? So big!

Okay, to be honest, I knew it would be arriving but I didn’t check the size very well until it arrived. When I saw an image of it, I thought “Oh, this is cute. I want one!” and somehow, I assumed it would be about 30 cm tall. However, it was actually 60 cm tall and 24 cm wide. It's almost twice as large as I expected!

I was a little bit surprised, but after opening the plastic bag, I fell in love with its soft and fluffy texture and adorable face.

So, let me introduce the three ways you can enjoy a happy life with an octopus wiener!

Hug your octopus wiener while playing video games

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

Do you like playing video games? If so, hug the octopus wiener when you play! It’s so comfortable, it will bring your happiness to the next level!

It’s important to level up your character in game, but your happiness needs leveling up too.

Try this. Even if the game you play is unbelievably difficult and you constantly see the words “You died” across the screen, you’ll be ok as long as you have this body pillow.

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

Of course, watching videos and TV is a nice way to spend time with the cute octopus. It’s like chilling out with your pet. You might want to eat snacks while you’re watching videos, but whatever you do, don’t eat takoyaki (octopus balls, a popular Japanese snack or light meal), wieners or sausages of any kind! It’s too cruel for your fluffy octopus...

Have the octopus wear your headphones

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

The next way to make you happy is to have the comfy octopus wear your headphones. By doing this, it’s not only cute but also very practical. Now the body pillow is a headphone stand! It looks like it enjoys watching YouTube videos or listening to music.

This is incredibly cute, isn’t it? Just imagine, such a cute being is in your room! Can you feel your happiness level increasing!?

Put the octopus near the entrance before you leave home

The last one is really powerful, but just as easy to do as the other two. Just put the octopus wiener near the entrance before you leave home.

What will happen? I’ll show you!

“Ahhh, today was a long day!”

Click (Opening the door)

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

Oh? I can see something cute and red in the gap.

Photo by Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki)

Ta-da! The octopus wiener will welcome you!

This is great, isn’t it? The process is quite manual, but this will definitely make you happy!

Having a cute octopus to welcome you, play games with you, watch videos with you, and look after your headphones sounds like a great life. No body pillow, no life!

Sadly, this octopus wiener-shaped body pillow is not sold anymore because it was only available for a limited time. However, Shimamura sometimes sells various types of body pillows on their website. Follow their Twitter to get the latest information about body pillows. Find your favorite one and try out these three ways to live happily with your body pillow!